Let's go bowling

For the 10th time in 11 seasons, the Frogs will be playing in a bowl game this year. That much we know. What we don't know is...when, where or against whom?

With many of the supposed "power" conferences unable to fill all of their bowl slots this year, it was looking like the Frogs may be able to slide into the Texas Bowl (as they did in '05 and '08), the Independence Bowl, or some other game within reasonable travelling distance against a BCS-conference team. That scenario, though, went out the window due to Utah's win over BYU and San Diego State's win over UNLV this past weekend. Why? Because Utah is now headed for a BCS bowl and UNLV's loss leaves the MWC with just 5 bowl-eligible teams. With Utah going BCS, the remaining four (the Frogs, BYU, Air Force and Colorado State) must fill the MWC-affiliated bowl games.

So that leaves you with just four possible destinations: Las Vegas, San Diego, Fort Worth or Albuquerque. But really, I only see two of those having much of a chance of being our game.

The Las Vegas Bowl is the designated bowl for the Mountain West Champions, and matches them up against a team from the Pac 10. But because they won't get Utah, they are allowed to choose whoever they want. Word out of Vegas is that, even though BYU has played there the last 3 years and TCU kicked the ever-living shit out of them this year, they want to take the Cougars again (BYU sells A LOT of tickets). Yes, it's total BS- but they are running a business and it's pretty obvious that BYU would put thousands more fans in the stadium than TCU would.

So then the Frogs would slide down to the Poinsettia Bowl, which was a DISASTER last time. A 10-2 TCU team playing Northern Illinois was a complete slap in the face. It was funny to see the ESPN announcers have to back-track on their absolute love-fest on NIU's Garrett Wolfe, but that was not worth seeing Jeff Ballard, Herb Taylor and that fantastic senior class be rewarded with a trip to a nearly-empty Jack Murphy Stadium (or whatever they call it now) to play a team that had no business being on the same field with them.

However, the WAC has contracted with the Poinsettia Bowl to send a team if the Pac 10 can't fill that slot (and they will not be able to). So there is some buzz that WAC Champion Boise State could be sent to San Diego to take on a MWC team. If that is the case, another TCU vs. Boise State bowl would actually be pretty attractive- ESPN would be all over it, giving it some of the "Best Non-BCS Bowl" love. Plus, as much hate as we've spewed toward Boise this year, wouldn't it be great to see the Frogs take them down? The down side is, what if Boise miraculously makes a BCS game or decides they want to play an ACC team in their hometown Humanitarian Bowl? Then the WAC would be sending Fresno State or another very un-sexy team to San Diego. I don't think we want any part of that.

Wherever the Frogs end up, it would be nice to know sometime soon, while flights are still somewhat reasonably priced. It's entirely possible that none of the MWC bowls invite anyone until the BCS officially invites Utah on December 8, which would leave just 12 days before the Vegas Bowl and 15 before the Poinsettia. That would not be beneficial to TCU's travel numbers.

So where do you guys want to see the Frogs? Las Vegas on the 2oth against a mid-level Pac 10 team or San Diego on the 23rd against an undefeated and Top 10 Boise State? Obviously, if we can't get Boise then there is no reason to go to San Diego.

...and before anyone laments about how much the MWC bowl set-up sucks, trust me- another post is coming about that at a future date.