:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70227903/1236545469.0.jpg)
Hopefully y’all have had more than a few days to lick your wounds and recover from the nightmare that was the Bourbon Bowl last week. Luckily, well hopefully, that won’t be the taste left in our mouths all offseason as we still have another game to be played!
Normally this is where I’d plug in win probability and win total analytics, but that’s all over now. All we have left to do is study our final opponent and make travel plans.
So where are we going?
No one knows!
Seriously, though. No one has a clue.
With a little less than 48 hours until bowl invitations begin to be sent out and accepted, the projections are still rolling in and updated as you read this. There’s still a lot left to figure out before we can say with certainty where the Cards will be spending their holiday season and who will be joining them.
All of this depends on how the conference championship games go. It’s tough to say what to root for since there’s absolutely no telling where Louisville ends up, but generally you should be rooting for higher ranked teams to win their champ game. If everything goes chalk, then higher ranked teams play in the higher stakes games. Makes sense. But if there are upsets, and there will be, then everything gets upended and you see highly ranked teams playing in lower-tier bowl games which sends ripples down the pecking order.
Louisville isn’t exactly waiting on pins and needles for a NY6 invitation, so a few upsets here and there won’t really change the level of game they’re playing. But! It could certainly be the difference between playing a bowl game in The Bronx or Phoenix. Who knows!
Let’s take a look at the variety of wild guesses we have before the championship games kickoff tonight:
ESPN:
Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl (Bonagura) – Louisville vs. Washington State
Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas
Dec. 31, 12:30PM, CBS
TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl (Schlabach) – Louisville vs. Missouri
Protective Life Stadium, Birmingham, Alabama
Dec. 28, Noon, ESPN
Action Network (Brett McMurphy):
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl – Louisville vs. Army
Amon G. Carter Stadium, Ft. Worth, Texas
Dec. 22, 8PM, ESPN
CBS (Jerry Palm):
New Era Pinstripe Bowl – Louisville vs. Maryland
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Dec. 29, 2:15PM. ESPN
The Athletic (Stewart Mandel):
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl – Louisville vs. Air Force
Gerald J. Ford Stadium, Dallas, Texas
Dec. 28, 3PM, ESPN
Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl – Louisville vs. Florida
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida
Dec. 23, 7PM, ESPN
Guaranteed Rate Bowl – Louisville vs. Nevada
Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona
Dec. 28, 10:15PM, ESPN
TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl – Louisville vs. Auburn
Protective Life Stadium, Birmingham, Alabama
Dec. 28, Noon, ESPN
New Era Pinstripe Bowl – Louisville vs. Maryland
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Dec. 29, 2:15PM. ESPN
AD
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl – Louisville vs. Army
Amon G. Carter Stadium, Ft. Worth, Texas
Dec. 22, 8PM, ESPN
New Era Pinstripe Bowl – Louisville vs. Penn State
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
Dec. 29, 2:15PM. ESPN
Guaranteed Rate Bowl – Louisville vs. LSU
Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona
Dec. 28, 10:15PM, ESPN
So there you have it! No one knows!
Should be a fun weekend.