Ten Big 12 Schools Make Action Sports’ 2023 Bowl Projections
If you’ve followed college football for any amount of time, you know that spring and summer are chock-full of way-too-early lists of all sorts.
Way-too-early Top 25 lists. Way-too-early NFL Mock Drafts. Way-too-early win projections. It’s all part of the college football year-round schedule. One of those lists caught my eye this week, and it was a bowl projections list for 2023.
Action Sports’ Brett McMurphy released it on Monday and called it his never-too-early Bowl Projections.
In these projections, he has 10 teams from the 14-team Big 12 making bowl games, and just one making a New Year’s Six Bowl.
In McMurphy’s projections, Texas Tech is the presumed winner of the Big 12 and lands in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl where it will face Alabama. The Crimson Tide, who miss out on the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row, are favored by four points in the hypothetical matchup.
The Big 12 runner-up, Texas, lands in the Alamo Bowl where it would face the USC Trojans. Sarkisian is favored by 6.5 points over his former squad in that one.
Kansas State is next on the list, making the Cheez-It Bowl against North Carolina, who would be favored by 7.5 points in McMurphy’s projections.
Next up is Oklahoma, who makes the TaxAct Texas Bowl against Mississippi State. The Sooners are a six-point favorite in that one.
TCU misses out on the College Football Playoff in 2023, but lands in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, where it will face Kentucky, with the Wildcats a seven-point favorite.
In the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, Baylor matches up with Maryland and finds itself a two-point underdog to the Terrapins.
UCF makes a bowl in its first year in the Big 12, facing Missouri in the Birmingham Bowl. The Tigers are favored by 8.5 points in that one.
Oklahoma State lands in the First Responder Bowl against Michigan State, with the Spartans being favored by just under a field goal at 2.5 points.
Kansas projects to face South Carolina in the Gasparilla Bowl, where the game is a virtual pick ’em with the Gamecocks getting one point.
Finally, BYU makes the cut in its first year in the Big 12, drawing Washington State in the Independence Bowl as a 4.5-point favorite.
Here’s a quick rundown of the projected Big 12 bowls in 2023, according to Action Sports.
- Goodyear Cotton Bowl – Texas Tech vs. Alabama (-4)
- Valero Alamo Bowl – Texas (-6.5) vs. USC
- Cheez-It Bowl – Kansas State vs. North Carolina (-7.5)
- TaxAct Texas Bowl – Oklahoma (-6) vs. Mississippi State
- AutoZone Liberty Bowl – TCU vs. Kentucky (-7)
- Guaranteed Rate Bowl – Baylor vs. Maryland (-2)
- Birmingham Bowl – UCF vs. Missouri (-8.5)
- First Responder Bowl – Oklahoma State vs. Michigan State (-2.5)
- Gasparilla Bowl – Kansas vs. South Carolina (-1)
- Independence Bowl – BYU vs. Washington State
