Oklahoma State Week Six Bowl Projections: Return to the Alamo?

As we head into Week 6 of the season, Oklahoma State is projected by most outlets to play in the Alamo Bowl against either Washington State or USC.

Here’s a look at the projections.

Outlet	Bowl	Team
USA Today	Alamo Bowl	Washington State
CBS Sports	Alamo Bowl	Washington State
ESPN (Kyle Bonagura)	Alamo Bowl	Washington State
ESPN (David Hale)	Alamo Bowl	USC
SB Nation	Alamo Bowl	USC
College Football News	Alamo Bowl	USC
Sports Illustrated	AutoZone Liberty Bowl	Texas A&M
Sporting News	Camping World Bowl	Florida State

All of the projections that had OSU in the Alamo Bowl had the Cowboys finishing third in the conference with Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff  and TCU in the Cotton Bowl. Both Sports Illustrated and Sporting News had West Virginia in the Alamo Bowl and OSU outside of the top three.

The Alamo Bowl traditionally takes the second place team in the Big 12 (like OSU last year) with the Big 12 winner going to a New Year’s Day 6 bowl. However, if a Big 12 team makes the CFP, its spot in a NYD6 game is automatically filled by another team. This actually happened to Oklahoma State in 2015 when OU played Clemson in the CFP. OSU was supposed to go to the Alamo Bowl that year, but it filled the slot in the Sugar Bowl that OU was supposed to take when it played Clemson.

The Alamo takes the second best Pac-12 team as well (unless one of its teams makes the CFP, of course).

All that to say, the Alamo Bowl for a second straight year would be a disappointment for this squad. There’s a long way to go, though. TCU has a lot of great teams left on its schedule, and Oklahoma State still controls its own destiny.