Which two Top 25 teams will take the field at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 31 in San Antonio?
The Media Projections after results in Week 14 competition have remained consistent with some new teams in the mix.
#22 USC (8-4), currently finished in second place in the Pac-12 South standings, and #7 Baylor (11-1) are this week’s most popular media picks to play in the 2019 Valero Alamo Bowl.
#5 Utah (11-1), #13 Oregon (10-2), Washington (7-5) and Cal (7-5) all received votes as some of the media’s other picks for the Pac-12 team coming to the Bowl.
In the Big 12, the media’s favorites after Baylor are Kansas State (8-4), Texas (7-5) and Oklahoma State (8-4).
Media Projections after Week 14:
ESPN: (Kyle Bonagura) USC vs. Baylor
ESPN: (Mark Schlabach) Oregon vs. Texas
CBS Sports (Jerry Palm): USC vs. Kansas State
Sporting News (Bill Bender): Cal vs. Texas
College Football News: Washington vs. Baylor
Bleacher Report: USC vs. Baylor
Stadium (Brett McMurphy): USC vs. Baylor
The Athletic (Stewart Mandel): USC vs. Baylor
USA Today: Utah vs. Oklahoma State
Sports Illustrated (Michael Shapiro): USC vs. Oklahoma State
Did any media member get it right?
In the annual Whataburger Pick the Teams Contest you voted for who you believe will be spending New Year’s Eve in San Antonio.
Check out the two most popular match ups:
Utah vs. Texas
Oregon vs. Baylor.
To help you guess this year’s match-up, consider these numbers:
14: The average school ranking for a Valero Alamo Bowl participant the last 5 years.
11: The average number of wins for the Valero Alamo Bowl Champion the last five years.
Remember this is the sixth straight year Valero Alamo Bowl will feature the #1 selections from the Pac-12 and Big 12 conferences after the College Football Playoff selections.
For 2019, the winners of the Pac-12 and Big 12 Championship games will head to the Rose and Sugar bowls, respectively, unless they finish ranked in the Top 4 of the final CFP Poll. Then they will move to a semifinal game and the second-place team will move into their normal Rose or Sugar bowl slot.
The Cotton Bowl could also host a Pac-12 or Big 12 team as an at-large selection by the CFP this year to play the highest ranked Group of 5 teams. This is a possibility especially if a highly ranked Big 12 or Pac-12 loses its Championship game and stays in the Top 10 in the final CFP rankings.
The previous five Valero Alamo Bowl match-ups were:
- 2014: #14 UCLA 40 vs. #11 Kansas State 35
- 2015: #11 TCU 47 vs. #15 Oregon 31 (3OT)
- 2016: #12 Oklahoma State 38 vs. #10 Colorado 8
- 2017: #15 TCU 39 vs. #13 Stanford 37
- 2018: #14 Washington State 28 vs. #24 Iowa State 26