Bowl projections all agree on where Buffs will play in postseason

The Colorado Buffaloes are almost definitely headed to Texas this bowl season where in a strange quirk they will face a fellow Big 12 school in a postseason game.

All five experts who we’ve been watching all season are currently projecting the Buffs to meet BYU in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28. After CU’s loss to Kansas cost them a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game and a chance at the College Football Playoff, CU’s 9-3 (7-2) record was good enough to finish fourth in the conference.

In the Alamo Bowl, one of the best Big 12 teams meets one of the elites from the Pac-12. With CU’s old conference all but gone, bowl committees announced earlier this year that prior tie-ins would remain active for now. With that and according to all the projections, the Buffs will actually be representing the Pac-12 by proxy in San Antonio for the third time in nine years. While BYU will get the nod from the Big 12.

BYU started the season with nine straight wins, climbing as high as No. 7 in the AP Poll, but lost two of their final three games to fall out of the Big-12 and CFP pictures. The Cougars and Buffaloes, for a time, looked destined to meet in Dallas for the conference championship but now they’ll likely meet in San Antonio for a de facto third-place game. Funny enough, CU has not played BYU this season, so it’ll be a fresh game despite the two’s fight for the Big 12.

Deion Sanders shared that he expects outgoing seniors like his son, star quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and projected NFL Draft picks like Travis Hunter, to play in the game. This has not been the norm for most teams in recent years.

Buffs bowl projections

24/7 Sports: Alamo Bowl (San Antonio) against BYU
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura: Alamo Bowl (San Antonio) against BYU
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach: Alamo Bowl (San Antonio) against BYU
KSL Sports: Alamo Bowl (San Antonio) against BYU
Action Network: Alamo Bowl (San Antonio) against BYU

The last two times Colorado has made a bowl game they’ve traveled to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl, and neither was a good result. The Buffaloes last played in the Holiday Bowl way back in 1996, a 33-21 win over Washington—Colorado’s lone trip to San Diego for the postseason. There’s still a slight chance CU ends up in SoCal. At any rate, Buffaloes fans will be happy about bowling just maybe not so much if it’s the Alamo Bowl compared to the high hopes of the CFP just a few weeks ago.