6 Postseason Possibilities for Bowl-Eligible Huskies

The Huskies could use a California game after going without one during the regular season.

UW coach Jedd Fisch does an NBC TV interview after beating Michigan. / Skylar Lin Visuals

When you win all of your games, the college football postseason rewards are so simple and easy, as the University of Washington football team discovered a year ago.

After finishing 12-0 and then claiming the Pac-12 championship game in Las Vegas, the Huskies earned their first ever trip to the Sugar Bowl, where yet another victory sent them to the CFP national title game in Houston.

So what do five losses get you?

A whole lot of possibilities yet great uncertainty for the moment, it appears -- with the UW capable of ending up in any one of six different bowl games in California, Nevada, Texas or Louisiana.

"I've certainly looked at the way the bowls could fall," UW coach Jedd Fisch. "I think we're in the legacy pool, is what they call it."

What he means is the Huskies and the other teams who exited the Pac-12 for realignment purposes, and have become bowl eligible such as Fisch's six-win crew, will have their postseason plans dictated by bowl agreements still in place for their former conference through 2025.

The 10 teams who left the Pac-12 have all agreed to honor the previous bowl criteria for getting chosen as long as someone, take the Huskies and the Big Ten for instance, doesn't get paired off against a new fellow conference member in the postseason.

What that leaves the UW with is a chance to play in the Alamo Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Independence Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl, LA Bowl or Sun Bowl, having appeared in each of them previously with the exception of the LA Bowl, which is held at SoFi Stadium, just a short cab or Uber ride away from LAX airport.

Looking for the cheapest flight to Shreveport, note that it will take you from Seattle to Los Angeles to Houston to that Louisiana enclave.

The Huskies, of course, need to deal with a final regular-season Big Ten game at Oregon two days after Thanksgiving, but if they were to choose a bowl outing right now they would probably opt for the LA Bowl or Holiday Bowl, for recruiting purposes and easy access. They didn't play a game in California this season for one of the few times in the last century, with the COVID-interrupted campaign of 2020 the last time that happened.

"Our focus is all Oregon right now," Fisch said. "When they tell us where we'll be playing, we'll then start our 15 days of practices to see how good we can become."

The UW postseason choices are as follows:

ALAMO BOWL

Big 12 opponent, San Antonio, Texas, Saturday, Dec. 28, 4:30 p.m. PT, ABC

The Huskies beat Texas 27-20 in this game two years ago, while Fisch's Arizona team manhandled Oklahoma 38-24 in the Alamodome a year ago, so this bowl has been very good to those now coaching and playing for the UW. In all, the Huskies have been to this Texas game twice, counting a 2011 visit to face Baylor and lose by a basketball score, 67-56.

The Sporting News predicts the Huskies will end up here and face UCF (4-6), which has a lot of work to do to become bowl eligible.

INDEPENDENCE BOWL

AAC opponent, Shreveport, Louisiana, Saturday, Dec. 28, 6:15 PT, ESPN

Been there, done that.

Thirty-seven years ago, the UW was sent to the Independence Bowl for quarterback Chris Chandler's final college game and beat a Mack Brown-coached Tulane team 24-12 in the pouring rain. The late UW linebacker Jay Roberts, a No. 1 baseball draft pick and always the outspoken one, emerged from practice at a Shreveport high school one night and memorably declared well before kickoff that "We're in a s**** bowl." Yet the hospitality was unforgettable -- who from that trip remembers eating fried alligator? -- and it was the postseason nonetheless.

No one is predicting the Huskies will return to Louisiana for the second time in 12 months. Yet if they did, Fisch's guys would face someone along the lines of Memphis (9-2), East Carolina (6-4) or Navy (7-3).

HOLIDAY BOWL

ACC opponent, San Diego, Friday, Dec. 27, 5 p.m. PT, X

The Holiday Bowl would be No. 1 on a lot of Seattle people's lists because it will be played in the moderate temperatures of Southern California and at San Diego State's brand-new Snapdragon Stadium, as well as offer an assist in recruiting efforts. The UW has appeared in this game four times previous, against Colorado in 1996, Kansas State in 1999, Texas in 2001 and Nebraska in 2010, losing the first three before beating the Cornhuskers 19-7.

CBS Sports and Athlon Sports each predict the Huskies will end up in this bowl, facing the ACC's Pittsburgh (7-3).

LAS VEGAS BOWL

SEC opponent, Las Vegas, Friday, Dec. 27, 7:30 p.m. PT, ESPN

Twelve months ago, the Huskies played at Allegiant Stadium just off the Strip and won the final Pac-12 championship game as people once knew it with a 34-31 victory over Oregon. They've twice appeared in the Vegas Bowl, splitting games with Boise State in 2012 and 2019.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal likes a match-up of Washington and Missouri (7-3), who have never met on the football field, while the Action Network and 247Sports both are predicting the Huskies will get reacquainted with Texas A&M (8-2), which they haven't played since 1989.

LA BOWL

Mountain West opponent, Inglewood, California, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 6 p.m. PT, ESPN

Early on, a lot of college football analysts were predicting the UW would end up in this game, which the Huskies have not participated in before, has been around only since 2021 and is held in spiffy SoFi Stadium, which is home to the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers.

This bowl would give Fisch's staff that elusive California game for recruiting exposure and have everyone home before Christmas.

College Football News is predicting the Huskies and UNLV (8-2) will meet in this game.

SUN BOWL

ACC opponent, El Paso, Texas, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 11 a.m PT., CBS

This game involves spending New Year's Eve playing in an early afternoon game in this sprawling Mexico border city against any one of the ACC's third through seventh teams, who currently are Syracuse (7-3), Louisville (6-4), Georgia Tech (6-4) and Duke (7-3).

The Huskies have played in this game four times over the past 44 years, facing Texas, Alabama, Iowa and Purdue, and losing every time except to the Longhorns in 1979.

USA Today currently is predicting the UW will face Louisville, a team it has never dealt with before, and bring in the new year in Texas.

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