The Washington State Cougars are going to a bowl game this season, but there are a lot of questions from fans about which game will invite the school. The problem is that a lot is riding on the 2017 Apple Cup, with the results of that game determining a lot of the possibilities for the postseason. Until that point, fans will have to rely on the projections from college football experts.
The winner of the Pac-12 Championship Game gets invited to one of the New Year’s Six bowl games. The expectation is that this team will be going to the Fiesta Bowl this season.
After that (in order), the bowl games for the Pac-12 are the Alamo, Holiday, Foster Farms, Sun, Las Vegas, Cactus, and then the at-large invitations.
USA Today bowl projections
USA Today feels that USC will win the Pac-12 Championship Game and that WSU will lose the Apple Cup. A report by the site has USC in the Fiesta Bowl, Washington in the Alamo Bowl, Stanford in the Holiday Bowl, and WSU in the Foster Farms Bowl. According to these projections, it would be Iowa vs. Washington State on December 27.
CBS Sports bowl predictions
CBS has released its bowl predictions, with even worse news for fans of the Washington State Cougars. CBS Sports has USC in the Fiesta Bowl, Washington in the Alamo, Arizona in the Holiday, and Stanford in the Foster Farms game.
WSU has been placed in the Sun Bowl against Boston College on December 29.
ESPN bowl projections
The experts at ESPN also have USC playing in the Fiesta, according to their Week 11 bowl predictions. The debate is about whether it will be Ohio State or Auburn that gets to play the Trojans. Here is where it gets a little interesting, as one ESPN expert states that the Washington State Cougars will be in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State.
The other one predicts it will be UW vs. TCU.
ESPN then has Stanford vs. Michigan in the Holiday and either Washington or Washington State against Iowa in the Foster Farms. In this scenario, it would then be Arizona vs. Louisville in the Sun. The Alamo Bowl is on December 28.
Examining the bowl game projections
Despite being the first-place team in the Pac-12 North, the Washington State Cougars aren’t getting a lot of respect from the college football analysts.
This is despite already beating the USC Trojans earlier this season. The path to the Fiesta is pretty clear though. If WSU beats UW in the Apple Cup and then beats USC in the Pac-12 title game, they will automatically get an invite to a big game. Then the projections and predictions won’t mean anything.