Pac-12 Bowl Projections: Oregon State in Alamo Bowl -- Or Staying Home

Unanimity among experts about Oregon and UCLA, but disagreement about where to place the Beavers

Experts making bowl projections don't know what to do with Oregon State.

All of them agree Oregon is slotted for a spot in the College Football Playoff at the moment and UCLA is in line for a Rose Bowl berth. But the rest is a blur, with the Beavers being the most perplexing commodity after beating USC in Los Angeles for the first time in 61 years.

Two of our six experts who predicted all the bowls have Oregon State all the way up to the Alamo Bowl, which is third in the Pac-12's bowl pecking order behind only the College Football Playoff and the Rose Bowl. No one with any football sense would have predicted that before the season.

However, Jerry Palm, a respected college football analyst at CBS Sports, does not have the Beavers in a bowl game at all.

The other sites have the Beavers spread all over the place. Two have Oregon State in the Sun Bowl, another has the Beavers in the Las Vegas Bowl, a third puts the Beavers in the First Responder Bowl, and, as we mentioned, two have them in the Alamo Bowl.

None of the experts project Cal (1-3) to be in a bowl, and Colorado, Washington State and Arizona are the other three non-qualifiers, according to all the analysts.

Apart from the Pac-12 bowl teams, there are two new teams in the College Football Playoff, according to some experts, with Iowa being placed in the national semifinal by USA Today and one of the ESPN experts, and Penn State getting a CFP berth by the Action Network and the other ESPN expert.

Six of the experts we cited picked all the bowls, and we used only the College Football Playoff pairings from two additional experts, from ESPN:

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San Jose Mercury-News (Jon Wilner)

College Football Playoff – Oregon

Rose Bowl (vs. Big Ten) – UCLA

Alamo Bowl (vs. Big 12) – Arizona State

Las Vegas Bowl (vs. Big Ten) – Oregon State

Holiday Bowl (vs. ACC) -- Utah

Sun Bowl (vs. ACC) – Washington

LA Bowl (vs. Mountain West) – Stanford

ESPN bowl (Gasparilla, Armed Forces or First Responders) – USC

Non-qualifiers: Arizona, Cal, Colorado, Washington State

Wilner’s comment on Cal:

Team: Cal (1-3/0-1)

Home games (four)

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Washington State, Colorado, Oregon State, USC

Road games (four)

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Oregon, Arizona, Stanford, UCLA

Comment

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Combine the five-point home loss to Nevada with the two-point road loss to TCU and the overtime loss at Washington, and the Bears have missed more opportunities than any team in the conference. That triple-whammy of wasted chances couldn’t possibly come back to haunt them, could it?

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Action Network (Brett McMurphy)

National semifinals (Orange Bowl) – Oregon vs. Georgia

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Iowa

Alamo Bowl – Oregon State vs. Oklahoma State

Las Vegas Bowl – Arizona State vs. Wisconsin

Holiday Bowl – Washington vs. Wake Forest

Sun Bowl – USC vs. Boston College

LA Bowl – Stanford vs. Fresno State

First Responder Bowl – Utah vs. Kansas State

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CBS Sports (Jerry Palm)

National semifinals (Cotton Bowl) – Oregon vs. Alabama

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Ohio State

Alamo Bowl – Arizona State vs. West Virginia

Las Vegas Bowl – USC vs. Wisconsin

Holiday Bowl – Stanford vs. Miami (Fla.)

Sun Bowl – Utah vs. North Carolina State

LA Bowl – Fresno State vs. Minnesota

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College Football News

National semifinal (Cotton Bowl) – Oregon vs. Georgia

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Iowa

Alamo Bowl – Arizona State vs. Oklahoma

Las Vegas Bowl – Utah vs. Michigan State

Holiday Bowl – Washington vs. Virginia Tech

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. Virginia

LA Bowl – USC vs. San Diego State

Gasparilla Bowl – Stanford vs. Miami (Fla.)

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ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)

National semifinal (Cotton Bowl) – Oregon vs. Georgia

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ESPN (Mark Schlabach)

National semifinal (Orange Bowl) – Oregon vs. Alabama

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Athlon Sports (Steven Lassan)

National semifinal (Orange Bowl) – Oregon vs. Alabama

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Ohio State

Alamo Bowl – Arizona State vs. Oklahoma State. 

Las Vegas Bowl – USC vs. Wisconsin

Holiday Bowl – Washington vs. Virginia Tech

Sun Bowl – Oregon State vs. North Carolina

LA Bowl – Stanford vs. Fresno State

First Responder Bowl – Utah vs. San Jose State

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USA Today (Erick Smith)

National semifinal (Cotton Bowl) – Oregon vs. Georgia

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Ohio State

Alamo Bowl – Arizona State vs. Oklahoma State

Las Vegas Bowl – Stanford vs. Maryland

Holiday Bowl – Utah vs. Virginia Tech

Sun Bowl – Washington vs. North Carolina

LA Bowl – USC vs. Fresno State

First Responder Bowl – Oregon State vs. Baylor

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247 Sports (Brad Crawford)

National semifinal (Cotton Bowl) – Oregon vs. Georgia

Rose Bowl – UCLA vs. Penn State

Alamo Bowl – Oregon State vs. TCU

Las Vegas Bowl – Arizona State vs. Wisconsin

Holiday Bowl – Utah vs. Pittsburgh

Sun Bowl – USC vs. Boston College

LA Bowl – Washington vs. Boise State

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Here are the bowls with Pac-12 tie-ins, listed in their pecking order:

College Football Playoff semifinals (if a Pac-12 team finishes among the top four teams in the final College Football Playoff rankings): Cotton Bowl, Dec. 31, 12:30 p.m. Pacific time or 4:30 p.m. Pacific time, Arlington, Texas (AT&T Stadium), ESPN, and Orange Bowl, Dec. 31, 12:30 p.m. Pacific time or 4:30 p.m. Pacific time, Miami Gardens, Fla. (Hard Rock Stadium), ESPN.

1. Rose Bowl: Jan. 1, 2 p.m. Pacific time, Pasadena, Calif. (Rose Bowl Stadium), ESPN – Pac-12 vs. Big Ten.

2. Alamo Bowl: Dec. 29, 6:15 p.m. Pacific time, San Antonio (Alamodome), ESPN – Pac-12 vs. Big 12.

3. Las Vegas Bowl: Dec. 30, 7:30 p.m. Pacific time, Las Vegas (Allegiant Stadium), ESPN – Pac-12 s. Big Ten

4. Holiday Bowl: Dec. 28, 5:30 p.m. Pacific time, San Diego (Petco Park), FOX/FS1 – Pac-12 vs. ACC

5. Sun Bowl: Dec. 31, 9:30 a.m. Pacific time, El Paso, Texas (Sun Bowl Stadium), CBS – Pac-12 vs. ACC

6. LA Bowl: Dec. 18, 4:30 p.m. Pacific time, Inglewood, Calif. (SoFi Stadium), ABC – Pac-12 vs. Mountain West.

First Responder Bowl -- The Pac-12 might occupy a spot in this bowl against a team from the ACC, American Athletic or Big 12.

Gasparilla Bowl -- The Pac-12 might fill an opening in this bowl against a team from the Big 12, ACC or SEC.

Armed Forces Bowl -- The Pac-12 could get a berth in this bowl

The Redbox Bowl (also known as the San Francisco Bowl) would have been No. 7 in the pecking order of Pac-12 bowls and was to match a Pac-12 team against a Big Ten team, but it has been canceled for the second straight year.

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Cover photo of Oregon State and USC is by Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA TODAY Sports

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