C-USA Bowl Projections: Nine bowl-eligible teams seem likely
With so many teams in postseason contention, it seems more than likely that at least one bowl-eligible Conference USA team will miss out on a bowl bid.
There are nine C-USA teams that can be projected as reaching bowl eligibility at the moment – FAU, FIU, Marshall, WKU, MTSU, North Texas, UAB, Southern Miss and UTSA.
Louisiana Tech has a chance at 4-5, but the Bulldogs may only be favored in one of their remaining games – UTEP on Nov. 18.
Here are this week's projections for bowl games featuring C-USA tie-ins:
▪ Gildan New Mexico Bowl (Dec. 16) — Marshall (6-3) vs. Colorado State (6-4) — Marshall has lost two straight and could potentially stumble out of the bowl picture with three difficult games remaining – WKU, UTSA and Southern Miss.
▪ R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (Dec. 16) — UAB (6-3) vs. Arkansas State (5-2) — The Blazers could really make some noise when they go to Florida on Nov. 18.
▪ Boca Raton Bowl (Dec. 19) — FIU (6-2) vs. Temple (4-5) — The Panthers seem headed for at least eight wins with Old Dominion and UMass coming to Miami.
▪ Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (Dec. 21) — FAU (6-3) vs. South Florida (8-1) — The only team that seems to be standing between FAU and an East Division title is FIU.
▪ Bahamas Bowl (Dec. 22) — Southern Miss (5-4) vs. Northern Illinois (6-3) — Southern Miss can improve its postseason prospects if it closes out strong against Rice, Charlotte and Marshall.
▪ Armed Forces Bowl (Dec. 23) — UTSA (5-3) vs. Army (7-2) — The Roadrunners have three difficult games to close out, but the first two are in San Antonio – UAB and Marshall. UTSA travels to La. Tech to close out the regular season on Nov. 25.
▪ Independence Bowl (Dec. 27) — North Texas (6-3) vs. Wake Forest (5-4) — North Texas can sleep walk to the C-USA West title with UTEP and Rice serving as two remaining conference games.
C-USA Bowl Projections
1. FAU (6-3, 5-0)
2. North Texas (6-3, 5-1)
3. UAB (6-3, 4-2)
4. FIU (6-2, 4-1)
5. Marshall (6-3, 3-2)
6. Southern Miss (5-4, 3-2)
7. UTSA (5-3, 2-3)
8. WKU (5-4, 3-2)
9. La. Tech (4-5, 2-3)
10. MTSU (4-5, 2-3)
11. Old Dominion (3-6, 1-4)
12. Charlotte (1-8, 1-4)
13. Rice (1-8, 1-4)
14. UTEP (0-9, 0-5)
This story was originally published November 9, 2017 at 4:19 PM with the headline "C-USA Bowl Projections: Nine bowl-eligible teams seem likely."