Air Force has been penciled in for an appearance in the Dec. 31 Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth for the second year in a row.
“We would love to have Air Force back again this year and chances are very good that will happen,” said Tom Starr, executive director of the Fort Worth based bowl, on Monday. “Although we can’t make it official, I don’t see anything changing it.”
Should Air Force (8-4) get the Armed Forces bowl bid, it appears Colorado State (6-6) would then be chosen for the New Mexico Bowl as the fifth bowl eligible Mountain West Conference team.
MWC commissioner Craig Thompson acknowledged that the holdup in making bowl assignments concerns conference champion Utah gaining an expected spot in the Bowl Championship Series alignment. The Utes finished 12-0 with a 48-24 victory Saturday over BYU in Salt Lake City, all but guaranteeing a spot in the BCS.
“Utah would have to drop 10 places in the polls in the next two weeks to drop off the BCS list and I don’t see that happening,” Thompson said. “But I can’t release any of our teams for the other bowls until Utah’s place is official, or I have a contract in hand for a fifth bowl site.”
The BCS is scheduled to announce its final list Dec. 7.
The MWC has bowl contracts with the Las Vegas Bowl, the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, the Armed Forces Bowl and the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque.
Talking about a scenario that has Utah in the BCS, Tina Kunzer-Murphy of the Las Vegas Bowl said her committee would take either BYU or TCU, who tied for second in league play at 6-2. Poinsettia Bowl officials said they would take the second place team not selected by Las Vegas, leaving Air Force for the Armed Forces Bowl and CSU for the New Mexico bowl.
Irv Moss: 303 954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com
