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USA Today Sports Media Group

Sport

Jeremy Mauss

Mountain West Football Bowl Projections After Week 13

Only seven teams will be bowl eligible.

Contact/Follow @JeremyMauss & @MWCwire

No more bowl eligible teams.

The Mountain West will have seven bowl-eligible teams this season since the teams in contention to get to six wins all lost. The seven teams are Boise State, Air Force, Utah State, Nevada, Hawaii, San Diego State, and Wyoming.

All have seven more wins except for Utah State and with the Mountain West having just six official bowl tie-ins there is a chance a team could get left out. At this time that team would be Utah State if they end up with six wins. The NCAA has a rule that they must take all teams with seven or more wins before they can choose a six-win team. The Aggies finish the season at New Mexico and that should allow them to get to seven wins.

As where teams will be placed it is getting more clear each week but there will be some changes if the New Year’s Six spot goes to the Mountain West.

The Broncos are in line to win out and have a good chance to do so, but there are two AAC team ahead of them in the pecking order in Memphis and Cincinnati. The latter has struggled mightily against bad teams and just keeps escaping with wins. The new College Football Playoff rankings probably will have Boise State pass the Bearcats but not Memphis. Those two AAC team will play on the final week of the season and then most likely again the following week.

Things can change and as much as Boise State looks to be good enough to be ahead of any American team, that pick can not be justified currently since the Broncos are not the highest-rated team in the Group of Five.

A few notes about the bowl lineups. Starting with the Hawaii Bowl. The game has a vaguely worded tie-in which is a combination between BYU, Hawaii or an AAC team. The Warriors have a 13-game schedule and must have seven wins to secure a bowl berth. Technically, BYU takes the Mountain West spot but a Cougars vs. Warriors matchup would be a classic WAC rivalry renewal.

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
– Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl vs. Big Ten
– Cheez-It Bowl Conditional for MW if bowl can’t fill a spot.