National Writer Adjusts Bowl Projection for Mountaineers

No bowl projection is in stone and the latest one by a major national writer shows a slight adjustment to his prediction for WVU.

The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy released a new slate of his projected bowl matchups on Tuesday after the updated College Football Playoff rankings were unveiled on Monday night. McMurphy is calling these his “very, very latest” bowl projections.

Most of this looks similar to his previously most recent predictions, but the Mountaineers do have a new opponent. Instead of get back together with Syracuse, a familiar foe from the program’s old Big East days, West Virginia would face Air Force.

Still in the Armed Forces Bowl, WVU would play on Dec. 23 in Fort Worth, Texas. Like West Virginia, Air Force finished the 2023 season at 8-4 (5-3). The Mountaineers are set as a 6.5-point favorite, likely because Air Force is out of the Mountain West and does not play in a major conference.

Regardless if it’s against Syracuse, Air Force or another team, McMurphy continues to place West Virginia back at the scene of one of their biggest victories of the season – a prime-time win over TCU despite losing several players due to injury throughout the night.

McMurphy told WVSN that West Virginia would finish 6-6 before the season started.

Other Big 12 bowl projections: Texas (Cotton Bowl), Iowa State (Liberty Bowl), Oklahoma(Alamo Bowl), Kansas State (Pop-Tarts Bowl), Oklahoma State (Texas Bowl), Kansas(Guaranteed Rate Bowl), UCF (Gasparilla Bowl), Texas Tech (Independence Bowl).

McMurphy moved WVU into bowl contention after beating Pitt at home in the Backyard Brawl. West Virginia won four consecutive games after the Penn State loss, which is the first time since 2018 that the program has done so. It’s also the first time since 2018 that HC Neal Brown has won four in a row, back when he was at Troy. West Virginia then suffered a heartbreaking loss to Houston after a Hail Mary throw and then allowed 28 points in the fourth quarter to Oklahoma State at home. The Mountaineers got back on track with back-to-back wins over UCF and BYU to become bowl-eligible and then finished the season 8-4.