Cougs settle for Alamo Bowl

Remember the Alamo Bowl? Washington State fans no doubt will, as soon as they forget the College Football Playoff rankings.

The Cougars failed to climb a spot in the final CFP tally Sunday, meaning they're headed for the Alamo Bowl at San Antonio instead of one of the coveted New Year's Six bowls.

Iowa State will be WSU's opponent at the Alamodome at 6 p.m. PST on Dec. 28.

School athletic director Pat Chun said Wazzu was "ecstatic" to be selected for the Alamo, which gets the No. 2 choice among bowl games affiliated with the Pac-12. It will be the second appearance at that bowl for the Cougars, who beat Baylor 10-3 in the 1994 edition.

But Chun also insisted the Cougs had deserved a spot in the top 12 of the CFP rankings, which is what a Power Five school needs in order to land an invitation from a New Year's Day game.

Instead, the Cougars remained No. 13 despite a 10-2 record, trailing three teams with 9-3 marks: No. 10 Florida, No. 11 Louisiana State and No. 12 Penn State. The Associated Press poll Sunday placed the Cougs No. 12, though the coaches' rankings had them 13th.

"I'll be clear," Chun said. "We were very disappointed with where we ended up being ranked, as a 10-win team, in a Power Five league, (with) the manner in which our two losses came (and) statistically how we match up against the teams in the same cluster as us."

Chun played down the relative weakness of the Cougars' nonconference schedule, implying it should have been offset in the CFP metrics by the team's consistency throughout the season. Their only losses were by three points at USC and by 13 to Washington in a Pullman snowstorm.

But he acknowledged that the CFP snub may be related to the declining national profile of the Pac-12, which suffered seven losses in eight bowls last season, the most lopsised of which was Washington State's 42-17 belly-flop against Michigan State in the Holiday Bowl.

"This is an important bowl season for all of us," Chun said of Pac-12 schools. "We can easily infer that where we're ranked is maybe a perception of the league. The good thing for us is that we've got an opportunity as a conference to make a national statement."

Part of what impresses Chun about the Cougars this season is how they've responded to the death of quarterback Tyler Hilinski, who committed suicide in January, shortly before the AD was hired.

"I just look at this football team and I know what's in that locker room," Chun said. "I know what they've gone through from the start of the year, having to go through a tragedy that really no team should ever have to go through, to how that team came together and what they did and how they performed on the field. From where I sat, definitely they deserved to be ranked higher. But, like I said, we accept it and our focus shifts now. We've got a chance to prove everyone wrong and get to Win 11 against a great opponent. Let's see where we end up."

An 11th win would be a school record for the Cougars, who will make their fourth straight bowl appearance and their fifth in the seven-year Mike Leach coaching tenure.

"We are excited to be a part of the Alamo Bowl against a great opponent in Iowa State," Leach said in a WSU news release. "The Alamo Bowl does a fantastic job with tremendous people hosting and running the events. We look forward to a great week."

For one thing, the Alamo's indoor venue won't pose the same obstacles that thwarted the Cougars and their pass-first offense in the snowy Apple Cup.

"Obviously, being in a temperature-controlled environment is very good for the Air Raid offense," Chun said.

Even after that 28-15 loss to Washington had dashed the Cougars' hopes for a league championship, they seemingly stood a good chance of a berth in one of the New Year's Six games, the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona. But they unexpectedly plummeted five spots to No. 13 in the CFP.

At that point, most handicappers correctly shunted the Cougars to the Alamo Bowl while getting their opponent wrong, saying it would be West Virginia. The Alamo, which gets the No. 1 choice among available Big 12 Conference teams, instead chose Iowa State (8-4).

The Cyclones of Ames, Iowa, led by third-year coach Matt Campbell, lost three of their first four games this season but wound up matching West Virginia's 6-3 conference mark and landing their second straight bowl bid. Their selling points include a defense allowing just 22 points a game and a running back, David Montgomery, with 1,092 rushing yards.

This will be the first game ever between Washington State and Iowa State.

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Dale Grummert may be contacted at daleg@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2290.