West Virginia Projected to Play Pac-12 Team in Independence Bowl

West Virginia football is projected to play Washington State in the Independence Bowl on Dec. 16 in Shreveport, La., per Action’s Brett McMurphy. WVU has dropped amongst the bowl projections over the past two weeks during the losing streak.

This matchup would be interesting after former WVU kicker Pat McAfee started a feud with the Washington State fans. This caused WVU and WSU fans to go back and forth with each other on the internet.

Earlier this week, Wazzu head coach Jake Dickert and former QB Ryan Leaf criticized College GameDay for turning Oregon State-Washington State into a joke.

Pat McAfee appeared to respond this morning. And then some. pic.twitter.com/3ia6Ze7gko

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 30, 2023

Other Big 12 bowl projections: Texas (Sugar Bowl), Oklahoma (Peach Bowl), Iowa State (Liberty Bowl), Oklahoma State (Alamo Bowl), Kansas State (Pop-Tarts Bowl), Kansas (Texas Bowl), BYU (Guaranteed Rate Bowl), TCU (Armed Forces Bowl), Baylor (Birmingham Bowl), UCF (Gasparilla Bowl)

West Virginia currently sits at 4-3, needing two more wins out of the five remaining games to be bowl-eligible. McMurphy told WVSN that West Virginia would finish 6-6 before the season started.

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.