Bowl Projections: Texas returning to the NY6 against an unfamiliar foe

Sporting News came out with their summer bowl projections with the Longhorns staying in Texas to play in the Cotton Bowl Classic.

Yes, college football is 90 days away from returning but that doesn’t stop the bowl projections from being announced. In recent weeks the Sporting News came out with their summer projections.

Big 12 Bowls:

  • Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl: Baylor vs Mississippi State
  • Cheez It Bowl: TCU vs Florida State
  • Valero Alamo Bowl: Oklahoma State vs USC

Then there were the New Year Six (NY6) Bowl games. The Longhorns played in the Valero Alamo Bowl a season ago but this time around they are projected to play in one of the six premier bowl games to take place as part of the NY6 even though their game would be played on December 30th.

According to Bill Bender, the Longhorns would stay home in Texas and participate in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium. Their opponent would be one that they have never played.

The Longhorns would play the Boise State Broncos based on the latest projections. The Longhorns have never played the Broncos. For Texas this would mark the first time playing in the Cotton Bowl Classic since 2003. That year the Longhorns defeated the LSU Tigers 35-20 in the Cotton Bowl Stadium on the Texas Fairgrounds.

The Longhorns very first Cotton Bowl came in 1943, it was also their first ever bowl game. They defeated the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets 14-7. A return to the Cotton Bowl Classic should give you a relatively good idea of how the expectation level are for Texas. Likely would need to be the runner up in the conference to receive that bowl bid.

The remaining bowl projection has the Oklahoma Sooners making the College Football Playoffs once again only to get bounced in round one by the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl.