New Motivation for BYU and Utah

The winner could get Notre Dame in the Las Vegas Bowl.  The loser could get Boise State in the New Mexico Bowl.  Things changed that quickly overnight.  Here is how the WAC bowls will likely work out now that Nevada beat Boise State

1. Kraft Fight Hunger--Nevada
2. Hawaii--Hawaii if eligible (Hawaii has already accepted the bid.)
3. New Mexico (Boise State)
4. Humanitarian (Fresno State)

It is possible that the WAC will work out a deal to let Boise State play at home in the Humanitarian Bowl and talk the New Mexico Bowl into taking Fresno State instead.

Assuming TCU beats New Mexico, (I know this is a big stretch) here is how the MWC bowls will work out.

1. Rose (TCU will sub for Oregon in the Rose Bowl if Oregon wins out, otherwise they play for the NC).
2. Las Vegas (BYU/Utah winner)
3. Poinsettia (San Diego State)
4. Independence (Air Force)
5. Armed Forces (SMU or Louisiana Tech)
6. New Mexico (BYU/Utah loser)

Now if BYU wins, they will have the tie-breaker over the Utes for second place, so today's game is for second place in the MWC and the Las Vegas Bowl.  The Poinsettia Bowl and so forth do not have to pick the next team.  Therefore, it is believed that the Poinsettia Bowl will pick San Diego State and the Independence bowl will pick Air Force.  The Armed Forces bowl will take SMU from C-USA as that conference should have more bowl eligible teams that it has bowls for and the game is being played at SMU's stadium this year because of the renovations at Amon G. Carter Stadium.  The MWC will not have enough teams to fill this commitment, so the Armed Forces bowl will bow out.  However, if Houston loses and Louisiana Tech wins...  That will leave the BYU/Utah loser to the New Mexico Bowl.

The new motivation for BYU and Utah is to avoid playing Boise State in a bowl game.