Bowl Scenarios

There are 2 possible scenarios for the Red Raiders this bowl season; the Gator Bowl or the Alamo Bowl. I guess there is always the off chance that the Cotton or Holiday could break tradition and chose Tech…but it won’t happen so we won’t consider it as an option. Here is breakdown of what has to take place in the next 2 weeks and where that will land Tech.

Gator Bowl

First and foremost, if the Big 12 lands 2 teams in the BCS then Tech will end up in the Gator Bowl as the #5 team in the conference (a spot that they have locked up). They end up here because 2 teams go to the Fiesta (Big 12 champ) and another BCS bowl (at-large spot…must be Top 14 in Final BCS Rankings). Then the #3 team goes to the Cotton, #4 to the Holiday…and Tech makes a New Years Day bowl in Jacksonville. The most likely scenario is this:

- Kansas/Mizzou winner beats Oklahoma for the Big 12 Championship and earns automatic bid to the Fiesta Bowl.
- Texas (who doesn’t make the championship game and lost to BlowU earlier this year) will be chosen as an at-large team because (coming off a victory over A&M) they’ll be 10-2, on a 6-game winning streak, and likely ranked in the Top 10 in the BCS standings. This makes them the most likely choice as the BCS bowls typically shy away from taking at-large teams that lost their last game.

As a side note, the first ride of the Masked Rider was at the 1954 Gator Bowl. You can watch a Youtube video HERE of that famous ride!

Alamo Bowl

This one gets a bit trickier and isn’t as likely to happen…though Tech’s win on Saturday could actually “improve” their chances of falling to the Alamo Bowl instead. However, I would prefer (for selfish reasons) that Tech go here so I can go to this game in person instead of watching on TV. Plus the possibility of playing Michigan, Penn State, or Wisconsin looks a lot better to me than Clemson/Virginia in the Gator. I wish that Wake Forest could somehow be in the Gator but it won’t happen. The most likely scenario is this:

- Oklahoma/Texas wins the Big 12 Championship and earns the automatic bid to the Fiesta Bowl.
- BOTH Kansas and Mizzou are passed over as at-large teams. If Kansas gets to the Big 12 Championship, I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody still takes them as an at-large as long as they don’t get blown out by OU/Texas. While they have no football tradition, they have a great basketball tradition and typically travel very well.
- This puts the Big 12 Champ in the Fiesta, #2 in the Cotton, #3 in the Holiday, #4 in the Gator, and #5 in the Alamo.

There is another scenario that puts TT in the Alamo Bowl. If the Gator decides not to take a Big 12 team and instead chooses to take a Big East school (likely UConn)…then Tech would end up in the Alamo Bowl as the #5 pick (assuming 2 go to the BCS) or the Insight Bowl is only 1 team makes the BCS.