Oregon State Football: Top 5 Potential Bowl Game Opponents

Fresh after a beatdown over Cal, Oregon State holds an impressive 7-3 record with two games to go (ASU & Oregon). The three Pac-12 losses means the Beavers are eliminated from Championship game contention. Most are projecting Oregon State to end up in the Sun Bowl. With UCLA and Oregon losing this past weekend I don’t think a Pac-12 school will end up in the College Football Playoffs. One loss USC has the best chance, but they would need to win out and they have not looked unbeatable lately.

Anyways if the Pac-12 Champion doesn’t make the playoffs they would play in the Rose Bowl. After that there’s some flexibility between the bowl games and which Pac-12 school goes where. Bowls will try their best to avoid repeat teams, which means Oregon State is probably not playing in the LA Bowl again (same with WSU and the Sun Bowl).

The Pac-12′s bowl games are: Rose, Alamo, Holiday, Vegas, Sun, LA and then one of the ESPN-created bowls (Armed Forces, First Responder & Gasparilla). Here at BTD we ranked the top realistic opponents Oregon State could face in December.

1) Miami (5-5)

First things first, Miami will need to get a 6th win and that is no guarantee. They’ve got Clemson this weekend and then finish the regular season against a solid Pitt team. So why is an extremely average Miami team #1 on our list then? Well mostly it would be awesome for the Beavers to face Mario Cristobal again and absolutely embarrass his team on a national stage. Despite the down year, Miami will attract a lot of eyeballs. Tyler Van Dyke has battled injuries this season but he’s still a major NFL prospect. Watching him go up against Oregon State’s secondary would be intriguing.

2) Florida State (7-3)

Florida State has some big wins (LSU & Miami) and they’ve looked great as of late. Jordan Travis is a tremendous quarterback who’s having a breakout junior season. The Seminoles face the Florida Gators to end their regular season. It’s likely that an 8 or 9 win FSU team will play a Big Ten team in a different bowl game than the Sun Bowl though.

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3) Mississippi State (6-4)

If the Las Vegas bowl selects Oregon State (a big ‘if’) it sure would be fun to face an SEC team. I’ve slotted Mike Leach’s squad in here at #3, but Kentucky or Arkansas would also be exciting. Will Rogers is another excellent quarterback for the Bulldogs and everyone knows how much Mike Leach likes to air it out. Sign me up for this matchup.

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4) NC State (7-3)

NC State is currently ranked 16th in the CFP poll, but they will drop following their disappointing loss to Boston College. Regardless NC State is a really good football team. They have wins over Wake Forest & Florida State and they played Clemson in a tight one. To make things a bit more interesting Oregon State and NC State have never played before.

5) Wake Forest (6-4)

Another ACC school with a highly-touted quarterback rounds out our list. Sam Hartman was a dark-horse Heisman contender after Wake Forest’s 6-1 start to the season. The Demon Deacons have lost three straight though and Hartman has thrown 8 interceptions over their last four games. Wake Forest still has a high-powered offense (36.6 PPG) good for 2nd best in the ACC. I’m hoping Oregon State gets to face a team with an explosive offense and great quarterback. Sign me up for any one of these Bowl game matchups. Is it the postseason yet?

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