Bowl Projections: Four Most Likely Destinations for West Virginia

The latest bowl projections have the Mountaineers in some interesting matchups.

Ben Queen-Imagn Images

For just a half second, things were starting to look a little hairy for the West Virginia Mountaineers and their chances of reaching a bowl game. Over the weekend, they took care of the visiting UCF Knights to collect that key sixth win of the season, punching their ticket to a bowl game.

Now the question is, where will the Mountaineers land?

With just one game remaining in the regular season, WVU can't really increase its bowl stock all that much. Right now, it's more about not falling further down the totem pole.

While it is extremely unlikely, there is still a "path" for the Mountaineers to the College Football Playoff, believe it or not. And no, it doesn't have anything to do with having five quality losses. That's sarcasm, by the way. WVU can still make the Big 12 title game but needs several unlikely upsets to happen in the final week of the regular season. If the unthinkable happens and WVU gets to Arlington and wins the Big 12 title, boom. The Mountaineers are in the CFP at 8-5.

On the more realistic side of things, West Virginia will likely end up at either the Independence Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Armed Forces Bowl, or First Responder Bowl. For a team that had legit aspirations of making the College Football Playoff at the start of the year, landing at one of the aforementioned destinations is quite the disappointment, with all due respect to those bowls.

Nonetheless, the Mountaineers still have an opportunity to finish the year with a 6-3 mark in Big 12 play for the second straight year with a win over Texas Tech on Saturday.

This week's bowl projections:

Action Network: Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl vs. Army

Athlon Sports: Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl vs. Tulane

CBS Sports: Gasparilla Bowl vs. Florida

College Football Network: SERVPRO First Responder Bowl vs. East Carolina

College Football News: AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs. Arkansas

ESPN (Kyle Bonagura): Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl vs. Navy

ESPN (Mark Schlabach): Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl vs. Oklahoma

Sporting News: Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl vs. Arkansas

USA Today: SERVPRO First Responder Bowl vs. Oklahoma

West Virginia On SI: AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs. Vanderbilt

Big 12 Conference Bowl Tie-Ins (by selection)

1. Valero Alamo Bowl vs Pac-12, Saturday, Dec. 28, 7:30 p.m. EST, ABC

2. Pop-Tarts Bowl vs ACC/ND, Saturday, Dec. 28, 3:30 p.m. EST, ABC

3. TaxAct Texas Bowl vs SEC, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 3:30 p.m. EST, ESPN

4. AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs SEC, Friday, Dec. 27, 7:00 p.m. EST, ESPN

5. Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs Big Ten, Thursday, Dec. 26, 5:30 p.m. EST, ESPN

6. Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl vs. Pac 12, Saturday, Dec. 28, 9:15 p.m. EST, ESPN

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