So where is TCU headed bowling? Wish I could tell you. Too much is
still riding on the outcome of the final week of games, especially the Horned Frogs’
regular-season finale against No. 11 Oklahoma at 11 a.m. Saturday at Amon G.
Carter Stadium.
The outcome could affect where the Horned Frogs (7-4, 4-4 in
the Big 12) are headed in the postseason. If TCU upsets the Sooners, and
incidentally, wins its first Big 12 game at home, Oklahoma's hopes of earning
a BCS bowl berth would be dashed. The Sooners (9-2, 7-1) could still win the Big 12 title and earn a Fiesta Bowl appearance with a win and a No. 6 Kansas State
loss to No. 18 Texas.
If Oklahoma
loses, then they’ll likely play in the Cotton Bowl.
If the Frogs lose to Oklahoma,
they appear headed to the Holiday Bowl in San
Diego. That's if San Diego isn't sick of TCU. The Frogs have played in three Poinsettia Bowls, also in San Diego, since 2006, including last year. The Meineke Car Care Bowl in Houston would likely be attracted to TCU, expecting more Frogs fans to travel to Reliant Stadium for the Dec. 28 game against a Big 10 team. The Frogs have played three bowls in Houston since 2001, the last coming in 2007.
Of course, more than conference
finish comes into play when bowl representatives are looking to fill the
matchups. If TCU wins Saturday, then the Frogs would finish ahead of Texas Tech
(7-5, 4-5) and would seem to be in line for the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl in Tempe, Arizona.
And if Baylor wins its third consecutive game by beating Oklahoma State
Saturday then the Bears would potentially finish in a four-way tie with TCU,
Tech, and West Virginia at 4-5. If that happens, then all bets are off on bowl
positioning, at least for the middle-tier bowls.
The bowl matchups will be announced Dec. 2.
Here’s how I project the Big 12 standings finishing, with the favored team (Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and West Virginia) winning Saturday, with bowl destinations and bowl payout (per team) for each bowl:
|
|
Projected standings |
Projected bowl |
Payout per team (in millions) |
|
Kansas State |
11-1, 8-1 |
BCS Fiesta (Glendale, Ariz.) |
$17 |
|
Oklahoma |
10-2, 8-1 |
BCS Sugar (New Orleans) |
$17 |
|
Oklahoma St. |
8-4, 6-3 |
Cotton (Arlington, Tex.) |
$3.625 |
|
Texas |
8-4, 5-4 |
Alamo (San Antonio, Tex.) |
$3.175 |
|
Texas Tech |
7-5, 4-5 |
Buffalo Wild Wings (Tempe, Ariz.) |
$3.350 |
|
TCU |
7-5, 4-5 |
Holiday (San Diego, Calif.) |
$2.075 |
|
West Virginia |
7-5, 4-5 |
Pinstripe (New York City) |
$1.8 |
|
Iowa State |
6-6, 3-6 |
Heart of Dallas (Cotton Bowl) |
$1.1 |
|
Baylor |
6-6, 3-6 |
Meineke Car Care (Houston) |
$1.7 |
|
Kansas |
1-11, 0-9 |
|
-- Stefan Stevenson
@FollowtheFrogs
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