Week 9 Bowl Projections: Golden Domers vs. Mullets in the Cotton Bowl?

Oklahoma State escaped Texas last weekend and is now one of just 18 teams left alive for the College Football Playoff — 112 have been eliminated. Still, there aren’t a lot of outlets bullish on those chances, or even the chances that Oklahoma State will make a New Year’s 6 bowl (i.e. Cotton, Fiesta etc.) There are certainly scenarios where that can happen, of course, which is what Oklahoma State fans should be rooting for (at the very least).

Here is how the bowl projections look this week for the Pokes.

When I see Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl.

When I remember that could mean a Mike Gundy-Mike Leach joint presser.

Jerry Palm of CBS is still riding hard for Oklahoma State to get into a New Year’s 6 bowl. He has three Big 12 teams in NY6 games (this is tough to imagine with none of them in the CFP), and posited here about how each conference could get two teams into the CFP (it’s almost impossible for the Big 12).

Speaking of the CFP, Eric Single wonders, “What if everybody just goes undefeated the rest of the way?” and Brett McMurphy pencils in Oklahoma State-Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl this week. That would be a hell of a matchup. The Domers vs. the Mullets!

Notre Dame throttled USC in a historic beatdown and is very much in contention for a playoff berth. The problem is the Irish must run the table to get to 11-1, and with games still remaining versus NC State Saturday and next month at Miami and Stanford, I see at least one loss. That still will be enough for Notre Dame to earn its second New Year’s Six bowl appearance. Oklahoma State can earn a New Year’s Six bid after losing in the Big 12 title game and finishing 11-2. [The Score]

What’s going to be interesting for Oklahoma State is what I think is also the most likely statistical scenario for Oklahoma State — finishing 10-2 in the regular season, not making the Big 12 title game and seeing if that’s good enough for a NY6 game. As McMurphy pointed out, it’s hard to see a 11-2 OSU team left out of the NY6, but at 10-2 — depending on what happens elsewhere across the country, that’s a team that could absolutely be headed back to San Antonio.