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Conference USA could have had as many as eight teams reach a bowl game this postseason. For a league that lacks a national stage, the opportunity to have eight chances to change their image would have been huge.
Instead Charlotte was upset by Rice and UTEP could not keep FAU from driving 96 yards for the win. Now C-USA isn’t expected to maximize their bowl tie-ins for the second straight year.
Here are the tie-ins for C-USA.
- Boca Raton Bowl vs MAC Tuesday, December 20. (Boca Raton, FL)
- Hawai’i Bowl vs MWC Saturday, December 24. (Honolulu, Hawaii)
- New Mexico Bowl vs MWC Saturday, December 17. (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
- Bahamas Bowl vs AAC or MAC Friday, December 23. (Nasau, Bahamas)
- New Orleans Bowl vs Sun Belt Saturday, December 17. (New Orleans, Louisiana)
- Heart of Dallas Bowl vs Big Ten Tuesday, December 27. (Dallas, Texas)
- Independence Bowl vs ACC/SEC Monday, December 26. (Shreveport, Louisiana)
Note: These tie-ins are from Conference USA. However, there’s loopholes that may send a C-USA team elsewhere. Whoever wins the conference gets first dibs out of the tie-ins then everyone falls in line after. The Independence Bowl is a back-up slot should the ACC or SEC not have a team eligible to play in the game.
SB Nation: 6 Teams
New Orleans: La Tech
New Mexico: UTSA
Boca Raton: Old Dominion
Hawaii: Southern Miss
Independence: Middle Tennessee
Heart of Dallas: Western Kentucky
Analysis: The mothership didn’t really change much from last week except for the fact that they now have Middle Tennessee in Shreveport. The Bowl matchups in this projection have two C-USA teams taking on a P5 team as MTSU would play Ole Miss and WKU would play Northwestern.
College Football News: 6 Teams
New Orleans: La Tech
New Mexico: Southern Miss
Boca Raton: Western Kentucky
Hawaii: Old Dominion
St. Petersburg: UTSA
Heart of Dallas: Middle Tennessee
Analysis: Hard to determine if either Louisiana Tech won the conference or WKU in this projection as I could see WKU deciding to end their season in Florida two years in a row but a few of these pairings don’t make any sense.
I would assume Heart of Dallas would choose UTSA over MTSU because not only would UTSA finish ranked higher than MTSU in this scenario due to their head-to-head win but they also would attract more fans.
NBC Sports: 7 Teams
New Orleans: Louisiana Tech
New Mexico: UTSA
Boca Raton: Old Dominion
Famous Idaho Potato: North Texas
Bahamas: Western Kentucky
Hawaii: Southern Miss
Heart of Dallas: Middle Tennessee
Analysis: This was the only projection that still thinks C-USA will have seven teams go bowling as they see North Texas winning their final two games to make it. The best matchup would be Louisiana Tech taking on Sun Belt champ Troy. Unfortunately if this projection holds true no C-USA team would play a P5 opponent.
Campus Insiders: 6 Teams
New Orleans: Louisiana Tech
New Mexico: Western Kentucky
Boca Raton: Old Dominion
Hawaii: Middle Tennessee
Independence: UTSA
Heart of Dallas: Southern Miss
Analysis: As I said last week, a C-USA East team is not going to the New Mexico Bowl if a Texas school is bowl eligible. The most enticing matchup would be Louisiana Tech against Louisiana Lafayette. UTSA would be the only team to play a P5 opponent as they are predicted to play Wake Forest.
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The matchups in these bowl projections left me wanting more. Consistently the New Orleans Bowl appeared to have the best bowl game matchups.
What did you think about the projections?