Two teams in the Beehive State have chances to go bowling in a few weeks when Bowl Selection Sunday rolls around. While nobody in the Beehive State will get a Sugar Bowl or Orange Bowl in their stockings, there will be plenty of opportunities for an attractive bowl location with a modest payout to their program and respective conferences. It’s time to break down the best, worst and most probable scenarios.
Utah State Aggies (6-5): With one game to go against underperforming Air Force, the Aggies have a chance to not only avenge last season’s Homecoming loss but to change the odds from bowl eligibility to bowl certainty.
Air Force is no longer playing for a bowl as they sit 4-7 in the season. Their last win was a surprising 45-28 one against Colorado State nearly a month ago. They got blanked by military rival Army 21-0 about three weeks ago and haven’t recovered since. If the Aggies keep playing like the better team they are then they will build on the momentum they attained from blanking Hawaii last week. If they get complacent then they could be crossing their fingers that they will get a bowl bid and have a chance instead of guarantee at a winning season.
Best Case: The Aggies blank Air Force to record two straight shutouts to surprise fans who haven’t seen the Aggie do that before this season since they shut out Colorado State in 2013. Selection Sunday comes around and the Aggies find themselves playing in Hawaii on Christmas Eve against Navy. They defeat their second military school of the season.
Worst Case: The Aggies lose to Air Force in embarrassing fashion and are one of the few six win teams on Selection Sunday to not get a bowl bid.
Most Probable: You guessed it! The Aggies will go to their fourth Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. The extra carbs from the baked potatoes will fuel them to beat a mid tier MAC school and have an overall record of 2-2 at the Greatest Bowl on Smurf Turf.
Utah Utes (5-6): The Utes were a dumb timeout away from stunning ranked Washington last week and now need to beat the Colorado Buffaloes this weekend to attain bowl eligibility. There is still no smelling the roses in the Pac-12 but the Utes hope to at least get one more win and get into any bowl.
Best Case Scenario: The Utes may not play in the Rose Bowl this year but they can still have fun in California at the Foster Farms Bowl. They could get some momentum if they dominate Colorado and Tyler Huntley plays the way he is capable of. Beating a solid Big 10 team would give them some momentum heading into a season next year where they can build on the experience they have attained this season.
Worst Case Scenario: The Utes lose to Colorado and don’t get into a bowl. That would be sad for Ute fans as they would have to look up to their little brother Utah State Aggies as the only bowl eligible team in the state.
Most Probable Scenario: The Utes won’t get any big or even medium sized bowls. They will play in the small Frisco bowl in it’s inaugural game in Frisco Texas. They will play a group of five school like USF or Houston. They will again eek out a narrow bowl win.
Cheerios belong in a bowl, the Aggie belong in a bowl and perhaps the Utes will belong in a bowl after this Saturday. Either way it will be nice to watch an exciting end to a crazy season of college football and transition into basketball season.
The Hive Sports 