Early UW Bowl Projections: Alamo, Las Vegas or Independence

Bowl games are iffy at this stage because of the pandemic, but college football analysts continue to push forward with postseason pairings.

While it's unclear how many if any bowl games will be held in the coming months, college football analysts nonetheless continue to offer postseason pairings that involve the Washington Huskies. 

Is anyone up for returning to the Las Vegas Bowl, where the Chris Petersen era ended last December?

How about the Alamo Bowl, which hosted a UW-Baylor game nine years ago where the 67-56 score resembled a basketball outcome?

Or the Independence Bowl, which the Huskies unceremoniously visited 33 years ago?

These are the most current options as college football struggles to play games in the face of COVID-10.

The Huskies' opportunities narrowed when the Holiday and Redbox bowls, with Pac-12 tie-ins, cancelled their upcoming games, while the Rose Bowl is a designated site for the College Football Playoffs.

CBSSports.com projects a Alamo Bowl berth in San Antonio, Texas, for Washington, matching the Huskies against the Iowa State Cyclones on December 29th. These schools have played once, with the Huskies winning 31-28 in Seattle in 1974.

ESPN, with two analysts choosing postseason destinations, puts Washington in either the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana, to face Army or making a return trip to Nevada to play in the Las Vegas Bowl against Missouri.  

Washington and Army have played twice in Seattle, with the Huskies winning both in 1988 and 1995.

The Huskies beat Tulane 24-12 in the Independence Bowl in 1987 in a driving rain storm. 

The UW has never played Missouri, which employed former Huskies assistant coach Gary Pinkel as its head coach from 2001 to 2015, with Pinkel helping the Tigers transition from the the Big-12 to the SEC.