UW's bowl prospects still uncertain, school not overly optimistic

LARAMIE – As was the case last week, officials at the University of Wyoming aren't overly optimistic that its football team will be among the 78 that receive a bowl invitation Sunday.

UW became the Mountain West's seventh bowl-eligible team with its 31-3 victory at New Mexico last Saturday. The Cowboys won their fourth consecutive game, finishing the regular season at 6-6 overall and third in the MW's Mountain Division at 4-4.

However, the six other bowl-eligible teams in the conference have seven wins or more. And UW athletics director Tom Burman said the MW's athletic directors passed a rule recently where the league will push to get its teams with the most victories into bowl games. Nevada and San Diego State have seven wins. Hawaii has eight. Boise State, Utah State and Fresno State have 10.

In other words, the conference's priority is to get its six teams with seven wins or more into bowl games. Unfortunately, the league has only five bowl ties this year.

That doesn't mean the MW and UW aren't working to try to get the Cowboys into one of the 39 bowls. But aside from the bowl ties the conference has, along with its three backup bowls, the math doesn't favor UW.

There are 81 Football Bowl Subdivision teams that are bowl eligible for 78 spots, and there could be 82 if Virginia Tech beats Marshall on Saturday. There also are 13 other six-win teams in the FBS, eight of which are from Power 5 conferences, and Virginia Tech could make it nine.

There are a couple of scenarios this week that could help UW's chances of getting to its third consecutive bowl game, which would be a school record.

Burman said one would be if both Washington and Washington State get New Year's Day bowl invites. Washington plays Utah in the Pac-12 championship game Friday. Washington won at Washington State last week to earn a spot in the championship game. Washington is No. 11 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings. Washington State, which defeated UW 41-19 on Sept. 1 in Laramie, is No. 13.

UW fans should be rooting for Washington to defeat Utah, which is No. 17. If both Washington and Washington State go to New Year's bowls, that frees up two bowls the Pac-12 has ties with.

A second would be No. 8 Central Florida losing to Memphis in the American Athletic Conference championship game Saturday. Central Florida is the highest-ranked non-Power 5 conference team. If that happened, No. 22 Boise State or No. 25 Fresno State would get a spot in a New Year's Six bowl game as the highest ranked conference champion from a non-Power 5 conference. Boise State hosts Fresno State in the MW championship game Saturday.

The MW has ties with the Las Vegas, New Mexico, Hawaii, Famous Idaho Potato and Arizona bowls. Its backup bowls are the Frisco Bowl in Frisco, Texas, the Cheese-It Bowl in Phoenix, and the Redbox Bowl in Santa Clara, California.

The Frisco Bowl has a tie with the American Athletic Conference, and also has an at-large spot. Cheese-It (formally the Cactus Bowl) involves the Big 12 and Pac-12, and Redbox is affiliated with the Pac-12 and Big Ten.

Which four teams make the College Football Playoff and others who play in New Year's bowls could open spots for other teams in these bowls.

Four of the five bowls with ties to the MW are owned by ESPN. The exception is the Arizona Bowl. Many other bowls are owned by ESPN, as well. ESPN has the strongest influence on which teams go to its bowls. Attendance and interest from specific bowl committees in certain teams are factors, but not as strong as potential television ratings.

Burman said the Arizona, Frisco and New Mexico bowls have expressed interest in UW this year, but that doesn't mean it will happen.