College football: Boise State receives No. 3 seed; first-round bye; WSU to play Syracuse in Holiday Bowl
From wire and news services
The new, 12-team College Football Playoff brings with it a promise to be bigger, more exciting, more lucrative.
Perfect or 100% fair? Well, nobody ever believed that.
The first expanded playoff bracket unveiled Sunday left a presumably deserving Alabama team on the sideline in favor of an SMU squad that finished with a better record after playing a schedule that was not as difficult.
It ranked undefeated Oregon first but set up a possible rematch against Ohio State, the team that came closest to beating the Ducks this year.
It treated underdog Boise State like a favorite and banged-up Georgia like a world-beater at No. 2.
Boise State will play in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31 in Glendale, Ariz., against the winner of No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 6 SMU, who play Dec. 21 in State College, Pa.
It gave Ohio State home-field advantage against Tennessee for reasons it would take a supercomputer to figure out.
It gave the sport the multiweek tournament it has longed for, but also ensured there will be plenty to grouse about between now and when the trophy is handed out on Jan. 20 after what will easily be the longest college football season in history.
All of it, thankfully, will be sorted out on the field starting with first-round games on campuses Dec. 20 and 21, then over three succeeding rounds that will wind their way through traditional bowl sites.
WASHINGTON STATE
The Cougars (8-4) accepted an invitation to play in the Holiday Bowl vs. Syracuse (9-3), scheduled for Friday, Dec. 27, at 5 p.m. PST at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego.
This will mark the second meeting between the two teams, the first being a 52-25 Syracuse win in Buffalo, N.Y., in 1979.
The bowl selection marks the eighth bowl game in the last nine years for WSU and 11th in 13 seasons.
This year marks WSU’s fifth appearance in the Holiday Bowl dating back to 1981. In that first meeting, the Cougars fell to BYU in WSU’s first bowl game in 50 years. The next appearance came in 2003 when WSU capped its third-straight, 10-win season with a 28-20 victory over No. 5 Texas. Back-to-back appearances in 2016 and 2017, against Big Ten foes Minnesota and Michigan State, respectively, represent the last two trips to the Holiday Bowl.
The bowl marks the 19th overall bowl game for the Cougar football program.
Previously WSU has played in the Rose Bowl (1916, 1931, 1998, 2003), the Holiday Bowl (1981, 2003, 2016, 2017), the Aloha Bowl (1988), the Copper Bowl (1992), the Alamo Bowl (1994, 2018), the Sun Bowl (2001, 2015), the New Mexico Bowl (2013), the LA Bowl (2022), Sun Bowl (2021), the Cheez-it Bowl (2019) and the AlamaBowl (2018). The Cougars are 8-10 in bowl games all time.
Tickets for the 2024 DirecTV Holiday Bowl may be ordered through wsucougars.com. Fans may also call the Cougar Ticket Office at 1-800-GO-COUGS starting at 9 a.m., this morning.
Information: www.holidaybowl.com
FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL
The 28th Famous Idaho Potato Bowl will feature Fresno State (6-6) from the Mountain West and Northern Illinois (7-5) from the Mid-American Conference (MAC).
The game will be played Monday, Dec. 23 at Albertsons Stadium in Boise. Kickoff is set for 11:30 a.m. PST on ESPN.
Tickets are on sale now through famousidahopotatobowl.com or the Boise State Athletics Ticket Office.
WHAT THE PLAYOFF MATCHES LOOK LIKE
No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas, Dec. 21. Clemson is riding high after the SMU upset, while Texas is 0-2 against Georgia and 11-0 vs. everyone else this season. The winner faces ... Arizona State in the Peach Bowl. Huh?
No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State, Dec. 21. The biggest knock against the Mustangs was that they didn't play any big boys with that 60th-ranked strength of schedule. Well, now they get to. The winner faces ... Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Yes, SMU vs. Boise was the quarterfinal we all expected.
No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame, Dec. 20. Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti thought his team deserved a home game. Well, not quite but close. The winner faces ... Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. The Bulldogs got the No. 2 seed despite a throwing-arm injury to QB Carson Beck. But what else was the committee supposed to do?
No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State, Dec. 21. The Buckeyes (losses to Oregon, Michigan) got home field over the Volunteers (losses to Arkansas, Georgia) in a matchup of programs with two of the biggest stadiums in football. The winner faces ... Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Feels like that matchup should come in the semifinals or later.