Pac-12 Bowl Projections: Oregon State in Alamo Bowl -- Or Staying Home
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): Washington State, Colorado, Oregon State, USC
Road games (four): Oregon, Arizona, Stanford, UCLA
Comment: 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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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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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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National semifinal (Cotton Bowl) – Oregon vs. Georgia
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National semifinal (Orange Bowl) – Oregon vs. Alabama
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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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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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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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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
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