LAS VEGAS — The recent fade by the Utah Utes and the question of how many Pac-10 teams will be bowl-eligible has put Air Force’s postseason destination up in the air.
Add the role of TCU’s place in the BCS picture and Tina Kunzer-Murphy, chairperson of the Las Vegas Bowl, is practically at square one in determining which Mountain West Conference team will play in the Dec. 22 game at Sam Boyd Stadium. The bowl has first choice of the MWC’s bowl-eligible teams.
“We have a serious interest in Air Force,” she said before the Falcons’ game Thursday at UNLV. “We’re looking at a number of options.”
If TCU falters and doesn’t get into a BCS bowl, the Las Vegas Bowl likely would take the Horned Frogs. But if TCU goes to a BCS bowl, the Las Vegas Bowl has some problem-solving to do.
“Right now, we have to be watching Air Force, Utah and BYU,” Kunzer-Murphy said. San Diego State is bowl-eligible, but the Aztecs seem bound for the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego to play Navy.
Surging BYU (5-5) plays struggling Utah (8-2) Nov. 27. Before Utah’s collapse, Air Force had been penciled in for the Dec. 27 Independence Bowl.
The Las Vegas Bowl also gets the Pac-10 No. 5 team. There are four Pac-10 teams that are bowl-eligible, with Cal at 5-5 and two teams at 4-6.
