Complete 2015 Pac-12 Bowl Schedule and Overview

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

The Pac-12 did something pretty close to amazing in 2015 getting 10 of 12 teams bowl eligible with only Oregon State (2-10) and Colorado (4-9) missing out on the postseason festivities. Two Pac-12 teams have already played setting the conference on the right path towards claiming a winning bowl game season. Arizona bested New Mexico 45-37 in the New Mexico Bowl and Utah upended in-state rival BYU 35-28 in the Las Vegas Bowl with both games played on Dec. 19.

Of the eight remaining games featuring Pac-12 teams, five of the games would be marquee wins should Washington State take down Miami, UCLA beats Nebraska, USC wins against Wisconsin, Oregon over TCU, and if Stanford can shoot down Iowa.

Saturday, Dec. 26

Sun Bowl – 2:00 p.m. on CBS

Miami vs. Washington State

Miami may not be the juggernaut football program they were throughout the 1980’s, parts of the 1990’s, and early 2000’s, but all of that is about to change with the hire of Mark Richt as head coach, former head coach at Georgia. Miami should start nudging back up into regular contention with ACC heavyweights Clemson and Florida State. The Canes played tough early in the season getting a 36-33 win over Nebraska and but then went on a 1-3 streak losing to Cincinnati (34-23), Florida State (29-24), and Clemson (58-0) with a win over Virginia Tech (30-20). The win over Duke, which was a fluke on a bad call by the refs, is the only win over a ranked team the Canes have notched this season.

The Cougars had a really bad Week 1 loss to Portland State (24-17) but quickly started ramping up the execution of Mike Leach’s offense getting wins over Rutgers (37-34), Oregon (45-38), Arizona 45-42), Arizona State (38-24), and UCLA (31-27). WSU’s season might have been a little bit different if not for the bad Portland State loss and a 34-28 loss to Cal and a 30-28 defeat to Stanford.

Heart of Dallas Bowl – 2:20 p.m. on ESPN

Washington vs. Southern Miss

Southern Miss won the Conference USA West Division posting a 9-4 record losing to a dynamic Western Kentucky team in the Conference Championship Game (45-28). The Golden Eagles have not fared well against Power Five teams in 2015 dropping games to Mississippi State (34-16) and Nebraska (36-28).

Washington is built on a stingy defense and a run-first offense with 1,100-yard rusher Myles Gaskin in the backfield. If Southern Miss can shut down the run, Jake Browning has been slightly above average throwing for 2,671 yards with 16 touchdowns against 10 picks with 29 sacks taken.

The Dallas Bowl is a long trip for the Huskies but defense always travels well. Playing in Texas is a good opportunity to open recruiting doors for the Seattle squad.

Foster Farms Bowl – 9:15 p.m. on ESPN

UCLA vs. Nebraska

The Cornhuskers (5-7, 3-5) are getting the benefit of the doubt in a season where there are too many bowl games and not enough bowl eligible teams. If there was a team deserving of such a pass, it would be Nebraska. The Cornhuskers lost on last second or last minute plays to BYU (33-28), Miami (36-33), Illinois (14-13), Wisconsin (23-21), and Northwestern (30-28). Their other two losses were still close games losing by 10 to Purdue (55-45) and eight to then- No. 4 Iowa (28-20).

UCLA was in contention for the South Division title but lost the tie-breaker game to USC (40-21). The Bruins started off the season hot winning their first four but then started to struggle after the injury bug hit. The Bruins were inconsistent down the backstretch beating Cal (40-24) and Utah (17-9) but losing to Washington State and USC.

If fans are not familiar with UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen yet, this is a perfect time to get acquainted. The “Chosen Rosen” threw for 3,349 yards with 20 touchdowns against nine interceptions. He had as good of a true freshman season as anyone could ever want and will only get better.

Tuesday, Dec. 29

Armed Forces Bowl – 2:00 p.m. on ESPN

California vs. Air Force

Air Force is the No. 2 seed out of the Mountain West Conference after an 8-5, 6-2, season. Air Force had a nice in-conference win over Boise State (37-30) but faltered against bigger competition like Michigan State (35-21) and Navy (33-11). The Falcons lost their last two games to New Mexico (47-35) and San Diego State (27-24) after posting a five-game winning streak from late October into late November.

Cal is another team that jumped out of the gate after a promising 2014 season only to struggle mightily during the heart of their 2015 schedule losing four straight. Cal was in games against Utah (30-24) and USC (27-21) but did not show up as well against UCLA (40-24) and Oregon (44-28).

The two different style of offenses on display, a run-option attack verses a quick up-tempo spread attack, should be fun for college football fans to watch.

Rose Bowl – 5:00 p.m. on ESPN

No. 5 Iowa vs. No. 6 Stanford

The Hawkeyes pulled off an undefeated regular season with the nation still questioning just how good Iowa really was all season long. Iowa may have misplayed the final minutes of the Big Ten Championship Game trying to make a goal line stand against Michigan State instead of opting to put the ball back in the offenses hands. The Spartans got a last minute touchdown winning 16-13 and are in the College Football Playoffs.

Stanford was seemingly everyone’s pick to win the Pac-12, which they did, but struggled more than most thought they would. The Cardinal lost their opening game to Northwestern (16-6) and on Nov. 14 lost at home to an up-and-down Oregon team (38-36).

Stanford and Iowa are built from the same cloth wanting to play smash mouth defense and grind it out on offense. This matchup is one of the bigger games outside of the playoffs and will serve as bragging rights for either team and conference for the victor.

Wednesday, Dec. 30

Holiday Bowl – 10:30 p.m. on ESPN

No. 25 USC vs. Wisconsin

Wisconsin is another team hard to gauge in 2015. The Badgers do not have any marquee wins and have losses to Alabama (35-17), Iowa (10-6), and Northwestern (13-7).

The Trojans won the Pac-12 South but are a team influx with head coach Steve Sarkisian fired in mid-season and interim head coach turned new head coach Clay Helton letting go most of his defensive staff ahead of the Holiday Bowl. The offense should remain intact but will the defense be able to stop the Badgers running game?

Saturday, Jan. 2

Alamo Bowl – 6:45 p.m. on ESPN

No. 15 Oregon vs. No. 11 TCU

The Horned Frogs won 10 games again but who did they beat? Their lone big win was against a depleted Baylor team (28-21). TCU was hit hard by injuries all year but as long as quarterback Trevone Boykin is healthy, the Horned Frogs will have a chance against pretty much any college football team in the nation. Boykin was banged up in November contributing to a 49-29 loss to Oklahoma State. The senior still threw for 445 yards but only had one touchdown against four interceptions.

Oregon was once again one of the more dynamic offenses in the nation able to fill up the stat sheet with the pass and the run. Over the last six games of the season, the Ducks, per the eyeball test, were playing as well as any team in the nation with wins over Stanford (38-36) and USC (48-28).

Gary Patterson is known for being a great defensive minded coach. How he prepares TCU for Oregon will be fun to watch. The Ducks have a solid one-two punch with quarterback Vernon Adams and a prolific Royce Freeman (1,706 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns).

Cactus Bowl – 10:15 p.m. on ESPN

West Virginia vs. Arizona State

West Virginia’s offense, as always, was fun to watch this season. The Mountaineers can put up the points but had troubles stopping the opposition, especially against top talent. WVU went on a four-game losing streak in October losing to Oklahoma (44-24), Oklahoma State (33-26), Baylor (62-38), and TCU (40-10). WVU reeled off four consecutive wins but then hit a determined Kansas State team on the road falling 24-23.

Arizona State was a tough team to figure out in 2015 underperforming per preseason expectations. The Sun Devils lost to Texas A&M (38-17) in the opener but got what would be a nice win over New Mexico before falling to USC (42-14) at home. ASU rebounded to beat then- No. 7 UCLA (38-23) then beat Colorado before going on a three-game skid against Utah, Oregon, and Washington State. They added wins against Washington and Arizona at home but lost a tough one to Cal (48-46) to end the season.

The Cactus Bowl should be filled with a lot of offense. Last team with the ball wins.

Photo credit: espn.com; Christian McCaffrey scores a touchdown for Stanford vs. UCLA.