Kansas State inches closer to Sugar Bowl while many postseason options remain for KU
Kansas State football fans will be rooting for both Baylor and TCU before the Wildcats take on Kansas in their final game of the regular season on Saturday night.
Why?
The answer is self explanatory with Baylor. K-State will clinch a berth in the Big 12 championship game with a win over KU or a Bears victory over the Texas Longhorns. But the Horned Frogs can also help the Wildcats by defeating Iowa State. If TCU wins that game, the odds of K-State playing in the Sugar Bowl next month will be extremely high.
K-State hasn’t played in one of the so-called New Year’s Six Bowls (Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose, Sugar) since it won 11 games during the 2012 season. But that decade-long drought could end if the Wildcats finish strong ... or get some help from Baylor and TCU this weekend.
Meanwhile, the Jayhawks can try and play the role of spoiler and improve their bowl destination on Saturday.
There are many new bowl possibilities for both the Wildcats (8-3, 5-3 Big 12) and the Kansas Jayhawks (6-5, 3-5) this week. Here is a look at the latest projections:
K-State Wildcats bowl outlook
Remaining schedule: Kansas.
Current Big 12 rank: 2
Bowl possibilities: Sugar Bowl vs. LSU via The Action Network and Sporting News and CBS Sports and ESPN, Sugar Bowl vs. Alabama via College Football News, Sugar Bowl vs. Tennessee via The Athletic.
Analysis: It’s too early for K-State fans to start booking flights to New Orleans, but no one can blame them for mapping out what a potential vacation in Louisiana might look like next month.
The Wildcats are currently on track to play in the Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31. They can get there in a variety of ways.
If TCU remains undefeated and K-State reaches Arlington, Texas, for the conference title game, the Sugar Bowl might as well offer the Wildcats an invitation in advance. In that scenario, they would end up in the Sugar Bowl no matter what happens at AT&T Stadium.
The Sugar Bowl will match the top Big 12 team that doesn’t reach the playoff against the top SEC team that doesn’t reach the playoff. Either way, the Big 12 representative would figure to be K-State.
TCU will remain on track for a playoff berth if it wins the Big 12, which would send K-State to the Sugar Bowl. Or K-State can win its way into the Sugar Bowl as Big 12 champion by beating TCU. The Horned Frogs would likely end up in one of the other major bowls if that happens.
Potential opponents in the Sugar Bowl would be Alabama, LSU and Tennessee. The most likely opponent at the moment feels like LSU, which would create a rematch of last season’s Texas Bowl. K-State won that game in blowout fashion, but LSU sent its JV roster to Houston for the game. A rematch in New Orleans would feel very different.
Of course, K-State needs to reach the Big 12 championship game to end up in the Sugar Bowl. If Texas wins on Friday and Kansas pulls off an upset in the Sunflower Showdown then the Wildcats will suddenly be looking at the Alamo Bowl and the Cheez-It Bowl as consolation prizes.
Kansas Jayhawks bowl outlook
Remaining schedule: at K-State.
Current Big 12 rank: T7
Bowl possibilities: Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs. Wisconsin via The Action Network, Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs. Maryland via Sporting News, First Responder Bowl vs. Michigan State via CBS Sports, Armed Forces Bowl vs. BYU via College Football News, Liberty Bowl vs. Cincinnati via The Athletic.
Analysis: The Big 12 will send eight football teams to bowl games this season, and Kansas is one of them.
That is good news for KU fans, because the Jayhawks are now locked in to one of the conference’s primary bowl tie-ins. They have no fear of getting passed over and shipped far away to a random bowl that doesn’t usually pick Big 12 teams.
The most likely destinations at the moment are the Guaranteed Rate Bowl on Dec. 27 in Phoenix, the First Responder Bowl on Dec. 27 in Dallas or the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 22 in Fort Worth.
The Guaranteed Rate Bowl is the most prestigious of those options and picks sixth in the Big 12 bowl order after playoff teams are selected.
Kansas could strengthen its case for a trip to Phoenix, or maybe even the Liberty Bowl, with a win over K-State. A loss against the Wildcats would make it difficult for the Jayhawks to end anywhere other than the three destinations mentioned above.
Potential opponents at the Guaranteed Rate Bowl could include Maryland, Michigan State or Wisconsin from the Big Ten.
The Armed Forces Bowl and the First Responder Bowl pick last in the Big 12 order. KU could end up playing teams such as BYU or one of the service academies in those games.