WVU bashes BYU, becomes bowl eligible – The Gold and Blue Nation Podcast
West Virginia is bowl-eligible for the third time under head coach Neal Brown.
The Mountaineers earned their sixth win of the season in dominant fashion on Saturday, drubbing visiting BYU 37-7 in the most-lopsided victory against an FBS or Big 12 opponent in Brown’s tenure.
Now that the Mountaineers are officially going bowling, here is a look at the latest projections for who and where they could be playing this postseason.
Action Network – Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: Brett McMurphy has the Mountaineers heading to Fort Worth, Texas, to play in the Armed Forces Bowl. In his latest projections, he has WVU squaring off against Illinois on Dec. 23. West Virginia has never played in that bowl game, and has only played the Illini twice — and not since 1973.
Athlon Sports – Liberty Bowl: In its latest projections, Athlon Sports has West Virginia facing Mississippi State in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. The Mountaineers faced the Bulldogs twice in 2006-07 as part of a home-and-home series. WVU won both meetings.
CBS Sports – Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Maryland and West Virginia have squared off 53 times on the gridiron, and CBS Sports is projecting the 54th meeting will come this December. The outlet predicts WVU and the Terps will meet at Chase Field for the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. The Mountaineers played Maryland once before in the postseason, though the 2004 Gator Bowl did not go WVU’s way.
College Football Network – Pop-Tarts Bowl: In a rematch of the 1988 Fiesta Bowl and national title game, West Virginia is slated to face Notre Dame in Orlando, Florida, in this site’s projection. If these two programs were to meet in the postseason, it would be just the fifth meeting all-time, and the first since 2001.
ESPN – Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Both staff writers giving bowl projections have West Virginia heading to Phoenix, but they have the Mountaineers playing different opponents. One writer projects a rematch of the 2021 Guaranteed Rate Bowl between WVU and Minnesota. The other currently has Neal Brown’s crew facing Matt Rhule’s Nebraska Cornhuskers in what would be only the second-ever meeting between the two programs.
The Sporting News – Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: This outlet projects WVU to face the UTSA Roadrunners out of the American Athletic Conference (AAC). The two programs have not met on the gridiron before. UTSA also has a 6-3 overall record this year.
