College Bowl Overview: Pac-12

College Bowl Overview: Pac-12

Submitted by Spectator on 12/09/12 11:18am
Cardinals get Roses; Ducks settle for Fiesta

Pac-12 Bowl Tie-ins
 

  1. Rose Bowl
  2. Alamo Bowl
  3. Holiday Bowl
  4. Sun Bowl
  5. Las Vegas Bowl
  6. Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl
  7. New Mexico Bowl


Stanford lost to Washington and to national title contender Notre Dame in overtime, but the Cardinal knocked off then-No. 2 USC and then-No. 2 Oregon on its way to an 11-2 mark.  They still had to defeat UCLA twice in six days to make the Rose Bowl, but the Bruins fell both times.

Oregon (11-1) only lost once, but it was at the worst possible time.  Falling to the Cardinal kept them out of the Pac-12 title game, and never really gave the Ducks a chance to overcome Alabama in the Bowl Championship Series rankings.  As a result, Oregon heads to the consolation bowl (actually, the Fiesta Bowl) for a meeting with fellow near-miss upset victim Kansas State.

Oregon State was red hot before dropping three of its last six to finish 9-3.  The Beavers earned the Alamo Bowl slot, where they will take on home-state favorite Texas.  The different shade of orange involved might make for an interesting stadium mix, but the Longhorn shade figures to predominate.

UCLA (9-4) was much stronger than expected, and had a better year than their much-touted cross-town rivals at Southern Cal.  But the back-to-back losses to Stanford cost them a shot at the Rose Bowl.  They’ll settle for a trip to San Diego to face Big XII upset specialist Baylor in the Holiday Bowl.

Speaking of Southern Cal, the NFL-talent-laden Trojans certainly didn’t expect to be wrapping up their season with a game against 6-7 Georgia Tech (the Yellow Jackets sneaked into a bowl under an obscure rule related to teams that are 6-6 before losing conference title games).  But USC (7-5) stumbled home, losing four of its last five, and fell far enough down the pecking order that a losing ACC team ended up on the other side of the field.

Unlike USC, Washington considered its 7-5 record to be a positive development.  The Huskies end up in Las Vegas to face Mountain West champion Boise State.

Arizona State is another squad that’s pretty much OK with a 7-5 slate.  San Francisco will host the Sun Devils and their Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl match with the Naval Academy.

Finally, Arizona (7-5) will have the honor of kicking off bowl season on Dec. 15 in the New Mexico Bowl against Nevada.

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