BYU is One of Four Schools in Consideration for the Alamo Bowl

Casey Lundquist | Dec 5, 2024

BYU wide receiver Darius Lassiter against Arizona State / BYU Photo

On Wednesday, the Alamo Bowl announced that four schools are in consideration for the 2024 Alamo Bowl and BYU is one of them. The Alamo Bowl will feature some combination of BYU, Iowa State, Colorado, and Arizona State.

Why are all four teams in consideration from the Big 12? The Alamo Bowl has historically been a matchup between the Big 12 runner-up and the Pac-12 runner-up. Due to recent conference realignment, former Pac-12 schools are still contracted to go to bowls from the old Pac-12 this year. Therefore it will be BYU/ISU vs Colorado/ASU.

The Alamo Bowl gets first choice of bowl eligible teams from the Big 12 and the former Pac-12. The Alamo Bowl will announced the matchup for the 2024 Alamo Bowl on Sunday, December 8th.

If Iowa State wins the Big 12 and earns a bid to the College Football Playoff, it appears BYU would get the invite to the Alamo Bowl. Since the Cougars already faced the Sun Devils in the regular season, BYU-Colorado would be the most logical matchup.

If Arizona State wins the Big 12, it's not a foregone conclusion, but that could open the door to BYU going to the Pop Tarts Bowl. In the Pop Tarts Bowl, BYU would likely face either Miami or Clemson. From a matchup perspective, that would probably be the best-case scenario for BYU. The Cougars will square off against Colorado in 2025. Clemson and Miami, on the other hand, are two teams that BYU might not face for the next 20 years.

At the end of the day, BYU will land in the best bowl game the program has played in since the Cotton Bowl. BYU's two losses against Kansas and Arizona State knocked the Cougars out of CFP contention, but the Cougars will still have the opportunity to play in a high-level bowl game.