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Conference USA Bowl Projections Roundup: C-USA Can Fill All Bowl Slots This Week

As many as seven teams can qualify for a bowl game at the end of the week.

Heart of Dallas Bowl - UNLV v North Texas Photo by Sarah Glenn/Getty Images

Conference USA could have seven bowl teams by the end of this week. Or a paltry four. Seven is a long shot being that it would require a massive upset by Southern Miss over La Tech but six is reasonable as UTSA hosts Charlotte and North Texas goes on the road to play UTEP.

Here are the tie-ins for C-USA.

  1. Boca Raton Bowl vs MAC Tuesday, December 20. (Boca Raton, FL)
  2. Hawai’i Bowl vs MWC Saturday, December 24. (Honolulu, Hawaii)
  3. New Mexico Bowl vs MWC Saturday, December 17. (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
  4. Bahamas Bowl vs AAC or MAC Friday, December 23. (Nasau, Bahamas)
  5. New Orleans Bowl vs Sun Belt Saturday, December 17. (New Orleans, Louisiana)
  6. Heart of Dallas Bowl vs Big Ten Tuesday, December 27. (Dallas, Texas)
  7. 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 chooses whichever bowl game they want. 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

St. Petersburg: Middle Tennessee

Heart of Dallas: Western Kentucky

Analysis: Nearly identical to last week’s projections except they have MTSU in St. Petersburg now against Temple. WKU against Northwestern would be the only matchup against a P5 team.


College Football News: 6 Teams

New Orleans: La Tech

New Mexico: Western Kentucky

Boca Raton: Middle Tennessee

Bahamas Bowl: UTSA

Hawaii: Old Dominion

Heart of Dallas: North Texas

Analysis: You should know how I feel about seeing a projection of a C-USA East team in New Mexico. Seeing the Heart of Dallas choosing UNT over UTSA would be gut wrenching for UTSA fans wanting to see the Roadrunners first ever bowl game in person as this scenario isn’t too far fetched. UNT travelled extremely well to this bowl game in 2014.


CBS Sports: 6 Teams

New Orleans: Middle Tennessee

New Mexico: North Texas

Bahamas Bowl: Louisiana Tech

Hawaii: Old Dominion

Arizona: UTSA

Heart of Dallas: Western Kentucky

Analysis: This paring has zero matchups against a P5 team which would be extremely disappointing. On the other hand C-USA would have a great chance at going undefeated in bowl season and improving their reputation.


NBC Sports: 6 Teams

New Orleans: Louisiana Tech

New Mexico: UTSA

Boca Raton: Western Kentucky

Bahamas Bowl: Old Dominion

Hawaii: Middle Tennessee

Heart of Dallas: North Texas

Analysis: This features a scenario in which Vanderbilt would be in the Heart of Dallas of bowl. Being that WKU already played them this year they see the Tops instead going to Boca to avoid a rematch and play Memphis. While that’s certainly feasible, I don’t see it happening.

Should the Heart of Dallas come down to UTSA and North Texas I think it’ll go to UTSA as I think the C-USA might nudge the Dallas bowl reps in that direction since UTSA did beat UNT.