Who’s buying and who’s selling WSU’s Alamo Bowl chances?

Good morning Coug fans. We’re less than two weeks away from the Alamo Bowl, where your Washington State Cougars will entertain the Iowa State Cyclones. It’s a solid matchup, even if we would have preferred the Rose Bowl or a New Year’s Six bowl.

With the game approaching, that means national media outlets (and some local ones) are trying to predict the outcome. It’s a fool’s game, of course, but it’s fun to digest nonetheless.

By my quick surf around the interwebs, here’s who’s in and who’s out on our Cougs:

Who’s In

• Sam Chase of Sports Illustrated
• Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com
• Shawn Windsor of The Detroit Free Press
• Pat Forde of Yahoo! Sports
• Six of the eight other Sports Illustrated writers

Who’s Out

• Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal Constitution
• Stewart Mandel of The Athletic
• Bruce Feldman of The Athletic
• David Kenyon of Bleacher Report
• Two of the eight other Sports Illustrated writers

Those are the ones I could find. Feel free to add any you come across in the comments.

So, why the split? WSU, after all, had a great case to be in a New Year’s Six bowl game and is 10-2 with one of the nation’s best offenses. Iowa State is 8-4 and ranked no. 24. Furthermore, the Cyclones rank no. 62* in the nation in pass defense (USC is no. 60, for comparison’s sake). They also rank no. 34 in total defense. WSU is no. 30.

BUT!

The Cyclones do rank no. 9 in red zone defense. So there’s that.

Of course, these predictions are nothing but ways to keep fans engaged. I would know: My prediction of Notre Dame beating WSU in the NCAA Tournament in 2008 was on the front page of The Daily Evergreen. Oops!

I’m feeling good about the Alamo Bowl, but I’m an optimist. We’ll find out in 13 days.

*All stats are from cfbstats.com.

What is this?

Links

CF.C’s 2018 Cougar Football Awards - CougFan.com
There is one more game to play but I guess that doesn’t stop some from handing out awards.

Five to watch: Keep an eye on these Washington State football commits as NCAA’s early signing period approaches - The Spokesman-Review
National Signing Day is Dec. 19.

2018 College Football Conference Power Rankings: SEC back on top, but where does the Big Ten land? - CBS.com
The Pac-12 wasn’t the last P5 conference!