Mountain West Football Bowl Projections After Week 1
Still very early bowl picks
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Boise State in a NY6 game, already?
Week 1 of Mountain West football brought forth a whole lot of excitement to the bowl slate. Looking at the upset wins by Boise State, Nevada, and Wyoming, the We race to six-plus wins is on and a few teams stole an opening weekend game to get one step closer.
These are going to change quite a bit and maybe even have a little bit of fun with matchups since after Week 1, and also Week’s 2, 3, and even 4 for bowl lineup will not be clear. So… don’t get mad if there are shakeups that seem odd but we will keep bowl affiliations in line with what they should be.
A few notes about the bowl lineups. BYU is going to be in the Hawaii Bowl, if bowl eligible or not in a New Year’s Six game, and will play Hawaii, also if bowl eligible. If BYU is not in the game then it will be an American team. Also, the Warriors have a 13-game schedule and must have seven wins to secure a bowl berth.
There is a new bowl this year and it’s a Power Five opponent from the Big Ten in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Overall, the league has six guaranteed bowl berths and is a backup for the Cheez-It Bowl if the Pac-12 or Big 12 does not have enough teams eligible. As always, there can be trades for the best matchups.
Finally, if the Mountain West is the highest rated team in the College Football Playoff then a New Year’s Six Bowl game is an option at either the Cotton or Orange Bowl.
1. Las Vegas vs. Pac-12
– Famous Idaho Potato Bowl vs. MAC
– Gildan New Mexico Bowl vs. Conference USA
– Hawai’i Bowl vs. BYU or American
– NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl vs. Sun Belt
– Lockhead Martin Armed Forces Bowl vs. Big Ten
– Cheez-It Bowl Conditional for MW if bowl can’t fill a spot.
As for who makes bowl games this week it starts with the obvious in Boise State, who we do slate in a New Year’s Six game. It was a close chose over already ranked UCF and Cincinnati who defeated UCLA for a quality win.
With the Broncos projected to go to a New Year’s Six game then it opens up one more spot for seven total Mountain West teams to go to the post season.
The other teams who should be going bowling are Fresno State, Utah State, Hawaii, Wyoming, Nevada, and San Diego State. Air Force was left out due to beating an FCS team but they definitely will be in the mix going forward and would be a team to consider to fill the Cheez-It-Bowl if a slot opens up.
Previous projections: Preseason
Goodyear Cotton Bowl
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
At-Large vs. At-Large
Projection: Boise State vs. Notre Dame
Gildan New Mexico Bowl
Branch Field at Dreamstyle Stadium, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Conference USA vs. Mountain West
Projection: Nevada vs. Southern Miss
Las Vegas Bowl
Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada
Mountain West vs. Pac-12
Projection: Fresno State vs. Arizona State
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Albertsons Stadium, Boise, Idaho
MAC vs. Mountain West
Projection: Utah State vs. Northern Illinois
Hawai’i Bowl
BYU or AAC vs. Mountain West
Projection: Hawaii vs. BYU
NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl
Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Arizona
Sun Belt vs. Mountain West
Projection: San Diego State vs. Arkansas State
Lockhead Martin Armed Forces Bowl
Big Ten vs. Mountain West
Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas
Projection: Wyoming vs. Northwestern
