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While fans of Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Ohio State will be eagerly awaiting — or dreading — tonight’s final College Football Playoff rankings before the semi-finals, everyone else will be waiting to learn where their bowl eligible team will be spending the holiday break.
If projections are correct, it’s looking more and more like Oklahoma State fans will be spending New Year’s Eve on Beale Street in Memphis.
ESPN
Liberty vs. Vanderbilt
Liberty vs. Texas A&M
CBS
Cheez-It vs. California
SBNation
Liberty vs. Vanderbilt
Sports Illustrated
Liberty vs. Missouri
Yahoo
Liberty vs. Missouri
Bleacher Report
Liberty vs. Missouri
NCAA
Liberty vs. Vanderbilt
At this point, Oklahoma State is in play for three bowls; Texas, Liberty, and Cheez-It. Oklahoma is expected to get the 4-seed in the play-off which means Texas will head to the Sugar Bowl, as the Big 12 has to have a representative in that game.
West Virginia is expected to get an invite to the Alamo Bowl for a must-watch match-up with Washington State (giggidy!). That means it’s Iowa State to Orlando.
The belief is that the Texas Bowl would like a Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State match-up, but it now seems unlikely they’ll get the Aggies. Since the bowl will want a Texas representative, the belief is they’ll choose Baylor or TCU and probably lean Horned Frogs since they beat the Bears.
As Stewart Mandel of the Athletic explained in his final projection, when it comes to the last three spots, it’s kind of a crap shoot at this point.
“it’s a bit of a guess which of TCU, Oklahoma State and Baylor land in the Texas, Liberty and Cactus bowls.”
Oklahoma State and Missouri in the Liberty bowl makes a lot of sense. From a proximity standpoint, from a fanbase standpoint, and from the fact they are former conference foes. They two last met in the 2013 Cotton Bowl, a game the Tigers won 41-31.
The question is would the Music City Bowl rather have Vanderbilt or Missouri as they get the pick ahead of the Liberty Bowl. If they want Vanderbilt, then Mizzou is the likely opponent. If they want the Tigers, then the Commodores are likely headed to Memphis.
While I certainly wouldn’t book my hotel room until we know for sure, I would suggest keeping an eye on plane ticket prices to Memphis on New Years Eve, just to be safe.