Latest West Virginia bowl projections following regular-season finale

Wild finish in Waco: West Virginia ends its regular season with a

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The Gold and Blue Nation Podcast A tale of two halves if there ever was one, but West Virginia got it done. WVU (8-4) ends the regular season with a 34-31 win over Baylor, and is heading into the postseason with back-to-back wins under its belt. Ryan Decker and Kevin Redfern react to West Virginia's comeback road win that started with a dominant offensive showing. They also have post-game comments from head coach Neal Brown.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Mountaineers are 8-4, and are going bowling.

West Virginia capped the regular season with a two-game win streak, and by winning four of its last five.

The Mountaineers are still one week away from officially learning their postseason destination and opponent. Until then, here are the latest bowl game projections for the Mountaineers.

Action Network — Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl vs. Syracuse (Dec. 23)

This projection has not changed in a few weeks, despite Syracuse firing its head coach and ending the season with just a 6-6 record. The Orange won just two of their last eight games.

Athlon Sports — AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs. Memphis (Dec. 29)

Memphis finished its regular season on Black Friday with a 24-point victory over Temple. The Tigers are 9-3 this year. WVU has never faced Memphis, though a matchup between the two teams in the Liberty Bowl would be a virtual home game for the Tigers.

CBS Sports — AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs. SMU (Dec. 29)

October 4, 1975. That’s the only previous meeting between the Mountaineers and Mustangs. No. 11 West Virginia won the game at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. This year’s SMU (10-2) team will face Tulane on Saturday, Dec. 2 in the AAC title game.

College Football Network — AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs. Virginia Tech (Dec. 29)

Virginia Tech came on strong at the end of the year, winning four of its final six games to secure bowl eligibility. West Virginia and VT played one another back-to-back years in 2021 and 2022, with WVU winning both games. The Mountaineers and Hokies have squared off on the gridiron 54 times, but never in the postseason.

ESPN — Guaranteed Rate Bowl vs. Northwestern (Dec. 26) , OR AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs. Appalachian State (Dec. 29)

Two intriguing matchups are presented by ESPN’s bowl prognosticators. A battle against Northwestern would be the first of its kind between the two programs. It would also pit two teams against one another that greatly defied preseason expectations. However, an all-Mountaineer matchup between WVU and App State would also be fun. Appalachian State will battle Troy on Dec. 2 in the Sun Belt title game.

Fox Sports — Texas Bowl vs. Texas A&M (Dec. 27)

This potential matchup would have been more interesting before the firing of Clarksburg, West Virginia native Jimbo Fisher. However, the WVU football program would probably still like some vengeance for its loss to the Aggies in the 2014 Liberty Bowl. Texas A&M went 1-1 after the school fired Fisher, defeating Abilene Christian by 28 points and then losing to nationally-ranked LSU by 12 in the regular-season finale.

Sporting News — Servpro First Responder Bowl vs. Wyoming (Dec. 26)

The Cowboys defeated a Big 12 team to start the year, and this projection pits them against a Big 12 team to end the season. West Virginia and Wyoming both ended the regular season with 8-4 records. Wyoming scored 42 points in each of its last two games, and scored at least 30 points five times.