WKU Football: Bowl Projection Round-Up Week 12
WKU Football finally clinched bowl eligibility on the third try as they walloped a hapless Arkansas squad resulting in their coach getting…
WKU Football finally clinched bowl eligibility on the third try as they walloped a hapless Arkansas squad resulting in their coach getting fired. After crossing the six-win threshold, WKU fans can finally start moving forward with plans for a potential bowl trip in December. Here are your Conference USA standings through 11 weeks:
Reminder, Conference USA has five primary bowl tie-ins and three secondary tie-ins. Thus far Rice, UTEP & ODU are out of the postseason race with everyone else still very alive for bowl eligibility. I think C-USA will have at least eight teams that will end up bowl eligible so getting to seven wins will be crucial for WKU to guarantee a spot. With that in mind, here are the latest bowl projections across the internet post-Week 11.
ESPN.com
Bahamas Bowl vs. Ohio
or
Independence Bowl vs. North Carolina
CBS Sports
Boca Raton Bowl vs. Western Michigan
The Athletic ($)
Gasparilla Bowl vs. Ohio
Banner Society
Boca Raton Bowl vs. Buffalo
College Football News
Gasparilla Bowl Vs. UCF
Sporting News
New Mexico Bowl vs. Utah State
247 Sports
Boca Raton Bowl vs. Western Michigan
USA Today
New Mexico Bowl vs. San Diego State
Stadium/Brett McMurphy
New Mexico Bowl vs. Nevada
Athlon Sports
New Mexico Bowl vs. San Diego State
Saturday Blitz
Independence Bowl Vs. Florida State
Last Word on College Football
Boca Raton Bowl vs. Western Michigan
After recent seasons where 6–6 G5 teams have been left out of bowls, it appears that several P5 teams won’t be able to fill their bowl allotments, which should open up more possibilities for WKU even if they don’t get to seven wins. Seven still guarantees a spot but six might get the Tops back to a bowl game this season.
With WKU being around the fourth or fifth team in CUSA at the moment, you can tell their projections are all over the board. The Boca Raton Bowl appears to be a new front runner and I see WKU pushing hard for that for recruiting purposes. The New Mexico Bowl and Independence Bowl also appear to be viable options with both hard to get to for Hilltopper fans due to date and distance away. I still selfishly would want the New Orleans Bowl because WKU hasn’t played in it yet and Bourbon Street would be awesome. That however appears to be a pipe dream with closer schools such as Southern Miss and Louisiana Tech appearing to have priority in the New Orleans Bowl pecking order.
We’ll continue to update you weekly on the projections and as more outlets (Sports Illustrated, Yahoo, etc.) release their projections following Week 11.
What do you think about WKU’s projected destinations? Is the media completely off base with their predictions? Where do you want to see the Tops go? Let us know in a comment below, via Twitter at @TheTowelRackWKU or on our Facebook page.