Las Vegas Bowl executive director John Saccenti said today on ESPN Radio in Las Vegas that Arizona will play in his game if Washington does not get placed in a New Year’s Six bowl.
Washington (9-2) is No. 13 in the College Football Playoff rankings and still a possibility to go to a New Year’s Six bowl along with the Pac-12 champion — either USC or Stanford.
“Everybody thinks if (the Huskies) get to (No.) 11, they have the opportunity to get one of the at-large New Year’s Six games,” Saccenti said. “If that happens, it slides us down a spot. We would have a selection. We would choose between Oregon and UCLA.
“Our group has talked. We’ve looked at both teams. Everybody right now is leaning Oregon. Oregon is 7-5. They’re hot. They score a ton of points. UCLA is 6-6 and no coach, technically for the game. In that position, we’d be looking at Oregon.”
Arizona comes into the Las Vegas Bowl picture if Washington does not elevate to a New Year’s Six bowl, which includes the Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. The Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl are semifinal spots for the College Football Playoffs.
“If (the Huskies) hold true, and get left out, they probably go to the Alamo Bowl and everybody else falls in line and we would have to take Arizona in that position because we’re slotted as far as their conference record,” Saccenti said. “So as of today, we’re looking at Arizona or Oregon, which is a home run either way for us.”
If Washington is in a New Year’s Six bowl, that means Arizona would likely play in the Sun Bowl based on the conference records.
Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com has Arizona in the Las Vegas Bowl against Boise State. The bowl takes the Mountain West champion. Boise State hosts Fresno State in the conference title game Saturday.
The Pac-12 bowl projections based on the pecking order:
Fiesta Bowl: USC (8-1 conference record) vs. TCU
Alamo Bowl: Washington (7-2) vs. Oklahoma State
Holiday Bowl: Stanford (7-2) vs. Northwestern
Foster Farms Bowl: Washington State (6-3) vs. Fresno State
Sun Bowl: Arizona State (6-3) vs. N.C. State
Las Vegas Bowl: Arizona (5-4) vs. Boise State
Cactus Bowl: Oregon (4-5) vs. Texas Tech
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.
