The West Virginia Mountaineers came oh so close to becoming bowl-eligible this past weekend in what would have been a statement way to do so against a top-15 team on the road. Unfortunately for Rich Rod's squad, they remain at five wins and will hope to get No. 6 this weekend when they return home for a game with the sliding Kansas Jayhawks.

Despite the loss to Texas Tech, virtually every reputable media outlet still has West Virginia going bowling. Let's take a look at the new batch of projections.

This week's bowl projections

Athlon Sports: Liberty Bowl vs. Auburn
CBS Sports: Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl vs. Army
College Football News: Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl vs. Arizona State
ESPN (Kyle Bonagura): Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl vs. Washington
ESPN (Mark Schlabach): Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl vs. Nebraska
Sports Illustrated: Cactus Bowl vs. Penn State
The Athletic: Liberty Bowl vs. Missouri
West Virginia On SI: Cactus Bowl vs. Illinois

All of these games would be interesting, but ARIZONA STATE?!? A bowl matchup with a fellow member of the Big 12??? Well, that would be something, to say the least. The bowls try to prevent that from happening, but because the Independence Bowl has PAC-12 legacy teams as part of its tie-ins, that's how something like this could easily happen.

To be honest, I was going to project the Mountaineers to play Penn State in the Cactus Bowl, but since the mothership went with that, I switched the opponent to Illinois to add a different flavor.

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Remaining schedule

vs. Kansas (3-6)
vs. No. 14 Houston (7-2)
at No. 2 Utah (9-0)

This weekend is the one West Virginia needs to get. Not only because you don't want to have to become bowl-eligble against a ranked team, but because it's a game you should win, first and foremost. The Jayhawks have lost four of their last five and are 0-3 in true road games this season.

Big 12 Bowl ties for 2026-27 season

Valero Alamo Bowl — Tuesday, December 29, 2026
Pop-Tarts Bowl — Tuesday, December 29, 2026
Kinder’s Texas Bowl — Thursday, December 31, 2026
AutoZone Liberty Bowl — Saturday, January 2, 2027
Cactus Bowl — Saturday, December 26, 2026
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl — Tuesday, December 22, 2026
ESPN Events Pool of Games (several bowls with indirect ties)