With the Big 12 Conference expanding to 16 teams in 2024, there is a greater opportunity for more representation in college football’s bowl season.
In a recent list predicting each bowl game for the 2024 season, 247Sports’ Brad Crawford has 11 out of 16 teams in the league reaching bowl eligibility.
Crawford ordered the list of lowest-prestige games to highest-prestige games and started with the West Virginia Mountaineers taking on the Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl.
“The Big 12 is wide open this season and the Mountaineers are a team capable of causing havoc in the league standings with Garrett Greene at quarterback,” Crawford said. “And what happens if West Virginia opens the season with an upset win over Penn State? That would thrust this program into the top 25 and put the rest of the country on notice that Neal Brown’s veteran-laden squad is ready to compete with the best.”
UCF earned the next spot on the list, taking on the North Carolina Tar Heels in the First Responder Bowl.
“Chip Lindsey, who worked under Gus Malzahn at UCF in 2022, could match up with his former program during bowl season should this matchup come to fruition,” Crawford writes. “UCF has more firepower returning offensively in the Big 12, and this could be the final season at UNC for coach Mack Brown, who is nearing retirement. The Tar Heels have lost four consecutive bowl contests under Brown.”
BYU then earned bowl eligibility for the first time as a member of the Big 12 Conference and is projected to take on Appalachian State in the Boca Raton Bowl. The Cougars nearly missed out on post-season play in 2023, finishing one game shy with an overall record of 5-7.
Brent Brennan and the Arizona Wildcats earned a spot on the list, taking on the Texas A&M Aggies in the Las Vegas Bowl.
“Ready for fireworks out West? This matchup between a couple of borderline top-25 teams will surely bring the goods if it happens,” Crawford wrote. “Quarterback Noah Fifita is back for the Wildcats as they enter the Big 12 under first-year coach Brent Brennan while another new era commences in College Station with Mike Elko taking over.”
Next up on the list of college football bowl predictions are the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who take on Rutgers in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl.
“Two teams with in-house expectations higher than the offseason love they’re receiving nationally, the Scarlet Knights and Red Raiders feel good about their dark-horse chances as upper-tier finishers in their respective conferences this fall,” Crawford mentioned. “Hovering around eight wins has been the norm for Joey McGuire at Texas Tech while Greg Schiano is coming off his first winning season at Rutgers since returning to the program in 2020.”
Perhaps one of the biggest surprises on Crawford’s list was the Houston Cougars, who, despite losing several key players to the transfer portal, earned bowl eligibility. The list placed the Cougars with a matchup against the Kentucky Wildcats in the 2024 Liberty Bowl.
Following Houston on the list were Sonny Dykes and the TCU Horned Frogs, who earned a spot in the Sun Bowl vs. Louisville. Dykes’ squad has been up-and-down over the past two seasons with a trip to the 2022 National Championship Game and followed it up by not making a bowl in 2023.
Kyle Whittingham and the Utah Utes earned the honor of the legendary Pop-Tarts Bowl against Dabo Sweeny and the Clemson Tigers.
“The Utes and Tigers have never met on the gridiron, so needless to say, this would be one of bowl season’s most-anticipated matchups outside of the College Football Playoff,” Crawford said. “It would also mean organizers in Orlando lobbied for both selections, high-end finishers in the Big 12 and ACC not quite good enough to be voted in the playoff. Utah is one of the trendy picks to win the Big 12, but few are taking Clemson to unseat Florida State at the top of the ACC.”
Another top selection to win the Big 12 Conference in 2024, the Oklahoma State Cowboys earned the nod to take on Lincoln Riley and the USC Trojans in the 2024 Alamo Bowl. The matchup would feature some interesting storylines, with the Cowboys having a chance to take down one of their former rivals.
Lance Leipold and the Kansas Jayhawks earned the final non-playoff bowl game in the 2024 season, taking on the Auburn Tigers in the Texas Bowl. The Jayhawks are coming off one of their best seasons to date and would have an opportunity to improve yet again and advance to the Texas Bowl.
The final team to make a bowl game on the list check in as the No. 4 seed in the 2024 College Football Playoff. Chris Klieman and the Kansas State Wildcats earned the honor of taking on the fifth-seed Oregon Ducks in the Fiesta Bowl.
