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Red Raider Gridiron | Texas Tech Holiday Bowl Bound if 2 Big 12 Teams in BCS

If the BCS bowls take two Big 12 teams then all signs point to Texas Tech returning to the Holiday Bowl to take on Arizona St.

Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Holiday Bowl Bound, Part II? All signs seem to point to Texas Tech being Holiday Bowl bound against Arizona St. as the bowl situation almost completely shook out yesterday.

BCS Bowl Projections. Well, with Michigan St. beating Ohio St. last night, it appears that the BCS bowls are projected as follows:

Rose Bowl: Michigan St. vs. Stanford
Sugar Bowl: Alabama vs. Oklahoma
Orange Bowl: Clemson vs. Ohio St.
BCS Championship: Florida St. vs. Auburn
Fiesta Bowl: Baylor vs. UCF

With this scenario, two Big 12 teams playing BCS bowl games, I think this makes it pretty certain that Texas Tech plays in the Holiday Bowl rather than the Texas Bowl.

The Experts: Both CBS Sports' Jerry Palm and SI's Stewart Mandel are both projecting Texas Tech and Arizona St. in the Holiday Bowl and just in looking at the match-ups, who has the tougher match-up, Baylor or Texas Tech?  It's sometimes ridiculous how this BCS stuff works.

The Local Scene: LAJ's Don Williams spoke with a representative from the Holiday Bowl and affirms that if the Big 12 gets two teams in the BCS bowls, then Texas Tech is Holiday Bowl bound:

"I’d be surprised if we didn’t get Texas Tech in that situation," Holiday Bowl associate executive director Mark Neville said Saturday. "We like offense, so we’d be very happy with the Red Raiders."

The only bit of uncertainty is if the Sugar Bowl decides to take Oregon rather than Oklahoma.  The BCS bowl projections are the same by Palm and Mandel, but anything can happen.

"Right now, we have it narrowed down to Kansas State or Texas Tech," Neville said, "and it really depends on who is taken before us. With Northern Illinois losing (Friday) night, which conference is going to get two teams up? Is it going to be the Big 12? Is it going to be the Pac-12? So we kind of have to wait on that. I agree that Texas Tech would likely be the team (for the Holiday Bowl) if two teams from the Big 12 go up."