Big 12 Week 14 Recap and Final Bowl Projections

Alright folks, we've hit the end of the road.  Tonight we will know where all nine Big 12 bowl-eligible teams will be heading this bowl season.

The spreadsheet finished the year strong with a 3-1 record, giving it an overall record of 20-6 and a winning percentage of 0.769.  Not too shabby...but I'm thinking there has to be a better way to predict the games than this Rube Goldberg-esque method of basically averaging out final scores.  I'll play around with it over the off-season and see what I end up with.

Not a whole lot of analysis this week: we'll just lay out the predictions and actual scores and get to what I know everyone is waiting for - bowl games.

Prediction: Oklahoma State 42, Baylor 33
Reality: Baylor 41, Oklahoma State 34

Prediction: West Virginia 38, Kansas 30
Reality: West Virginia 59, Kansas 10

Prediction: Kansas State 38, Texas 28
Reality: Kansas State 42, Texas 24

Prediction: Oklahoma 38, Texas Christian 28
Reality: Oklahoma 24, Texas Christian 17

So where does all this leave the Big 12 in bowl projections?  Here are the standings; no BCS rankings are out yet.

1. Kansas State (11-1, 8-1) = Fiesta, conference champions
2. Oklahoma (10-2, 8-1) = Sugar/Orange, at-large BCS bid
3. Texas (8-4, 5-4) = Cotton
4. Oklahoma State (7-5, 5-4) = Alamo
T5. Baylor (7-5, 4-5) = Texas
T5. Texas Christian (7-5, 4-5) = Pinstripe
T5. Texas Tech (7-5, 4-5) = Copper
T5. West Virginia (7-5, 4-5) = Holiday
9. Iowa State (6-6, 3-6) = Heart of Dallas
10. Kansas (1-11, 0-9)

Quite a logjam going on in the middle of the Big 12.  Such a mismash, in fact, that I'll come straight out and admit it: I really have no idea what is going to happen with the bowl projections from the Alamo on down to the Pinstripe.

Of those teams tied for 5th, Baylor is clearly the hottest right now.  Will that be enough to cause the Alamo Bowl to slap OSU in the face and pick up Baylor?  Who knows?

Tech has a decently large fanbase and is relatively close in proximity to the old Copper Bowl.  Will they get picked up there?  Well...not if Oklahoma State is still available, I suspect.  Who knows?

I'm still thinking the Holiday Bowl may have an eye on WVU, but if Baylor is still up for grabs, they might swipe the Bears for reasons similar to those I've already mentioned for WVU.  Who knows?

One of these teams is going to the Pinstripe Bowl, and I doubt that team will be very happy about it.  I'm sure the Pinstripe would love for WVU to still be available when their selection time comes.  Will they?  Who knows?

And again, all of this is predicated on the Big 12 getting that second BCS berth.  NIU is sitting at #16 in the AP and Coaches Polls; Boise State is #15 in the Coaches and #20 in the AP Poll.   Will that be enough for either to slip into the top 16 of the BCS?  Hopefully not, but who knows?

Stay tuned.