What’s the Kansas football bowl outlook? This year, it’s especially complicated
What once seemed impossible is now within reach for the Kansas football team.
With the Jayhawks’ win over Colorado on Saturday, Kansas became the first team with a losing record to beat three straight ranked opponents. In doing so, the Jayhawks, who began the year 2-6, kept their bowl hopes alive.
Now, KU (5-6, 4-4 Big 12) needs to defeat Baylor to clinch bowl eligibility.
Nine Big 12 teams are bowl-eligible, with two teams (Kansas and Cincinnati) just a win away. Here’s what to know about the Big 12’s bowl situation, including with Kansas...
Bowl picks start with the College Football Playoff
At the end of the season, the CFP Selection Committee will rank its top 25. From there, 12 playoff participants will be selected — the five highest-ranked conference champions, followed by the next seven highest-ranked teams.
The best-case scenario for Kansas is at least one Big 12 team makes the playoff, preferably outside of Arizona State and Colorado. We’ll explain why below.
The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded one through four and receive a first-round bye. The schools seeded five through eight will host a first-round playoff game.
Heading into the regular-season finale, nine teams are still in contention for the Big 12 championship game.
There’s no guarantee that a Big 12 team will make the CFB Playoff, but the four teams with the best shot are BYU (No. 14), Colorado (No. 17), Arizona State (No. 21) and Iowa State (No. 22) — who all were ranked in the top 25 entering Tuesday.
After the CFP fills its bowl slots, Big 12 bowl partners will make selections from the remaining conference teams.
It gets a little complicated.
Pecking order of Big 12 bowl games
There are seven Big 12-affiliated bowl games for conference teams that were not part of the Pac-12 last season. If KU and Cincinnati win on Saturday, the number of bowl-eligible teams — for those seven games — would rise to nine.
Although Colorado and Arizona State are bowl-eligible, they are former Pac-12 teams, so they will participate in one of the six bowl games tied to Pac-12 legacy teams (assuming neither makes the CFP).
The Big 12 Conference confirmed the following pecking order to The Star:
College Football Playoff
Alamo Bowl
Pop-Tarts Bowl
Tax ACT Texas Bowl
Liberty Bowl
Rate Bowl
SERVPRO First Responder/ESPN Events
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces
If a Big 12 team (outside of Colorado and Arizona State) makes the College Football Playoff, Kansas — with a win — will be one of seven or eight teams vying for a spot in those seven games. Cincinnati, with a win, would be the potential eighth.
If Colorado or Arizona State (or both) are the Big 12’s representative in the College Football Playoff, Kansas could be one of (up to) nine teams seeking a spot in seven Big 12 bowl games.
The Jayhawks, in either scenario, could be pushed to a different bowl game entirely, as you’ll see in the projections below.
Another factor to consider: Kansas has played in the Liberty Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl the last two seasons. That could push the Jayhawks to another game, should they become bowl eligible.
Kansas Jayhawks bowl projections
Entering the last week of the regular season, a handful of bowl projections have the Jayhawks reuniting with a former Big 12 foe in Oklahoma.
Here’s a look at where several national media outlets have the Jayhawks playing, assuming they defeat the Bears on Saturday...
Current Big 12 rank: 10th
Bowl Projections:
- Birmingham Bowl vs. Oklahoma via The Action Network
- Frisco Bowl vs. Oklahoma via CBS Sports
- Independence Bowl vs. Army via The Athletic
- Independence Bowl vs. Louisiana via ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura
- First Responder Bowl vs. Memphis via ESPN’s Mark Schlabach
This story was originally published November 26, 2024 at 3:06 PM.
