Discussed almost exclusively as abstractions by Pitt, Penn State and West Virginia during the past few weeks, bowl games will become events of substance Sunday. The NCAA will announce the College Football Playoff participants at noon, and pairings for the 38 non-playoff bowls will follow later in the day.
Pitt (8-4), Penn State (7-5) and West Virginia (7-5) aren't bound for bowls generally reserved for conference champions, so they've been left to guess where they're headed.
Pitt, projected earlier this week by CBS Sports, ESPN and USA Today as a strong candidate for the Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 26 in New York, longs for a bowl that will require a relatively short drive or flight for fans. The Panthers played in bowls in Texas or Alabama four of the past five years. “We have an actual plan that we submitted (to bowl organizers) — they weren't asking for one — to mobilize Panther Nation to those bowls that are drivable,” said Pitt athletic director Scott Barnes, who added he did the same while at Utah State. “We certainly haven't done that in the past (here). That helped open some eyes.”
From CBS Sports to Sports Illustrated to ESPN to USA Today, there's a strong sense West Virginia will rack up mileage. The Cactus Bowl on Jan. 2 in Phoenix pops up as the most common prediction for the Mountaineers' destination. “The way things are now, you get anywhere you want to pretty quick,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. “One of the awesome things about getting to a bowl game and being in the Big 12 is that you have a lot of good bowl games to choose from, unlike in the previous conference (Big East).”
Little agreement exists among projections about where Penn State will play. Big Ten rules stipulate the Nittany Lions cannot play in the Pinstripe Bowl for a second straight year, but that only slightly narrows the possibilities. TaxSlayer Bowl president/CEO Rick Catlett on Wednesday in a video released on the bowl's website indicated Penn State will get to play in the game Jan. 2 in Jacksonville, Fla., if Florida State goes elsewhere. What appealed more to the Nittany Lions than bowl speculation after last weekend's lopsided loss to Michigan State was having a month to savor the postseason. The NCAA last fall eliminated a bowl ban it had planned to impose on Penn State until 2016. “We're very fortunate that we have another month together as a family and have one more bowl game and have an opportunity to be a bowl champion,” fifth-year senior center Angelo Mangiro said. “For any team in the country now, it's good to step away, reflect on yourself, watch film, re-evaluate yourself and go back at it next week.”
Bill West is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at wwest@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BWest_Trib.
