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For the past couple of weeks, forecasts have had the Ohio State Buckeyes in the mix for the Rose Bowl. Going into Week 12 of the season, the forecasts calling for a New Year’s Day trip to Pasadena, Calif. have become stronger.
Utah was seen as a potential opponent for the Bucks, but as they picked up a loss to Arizona State on Nov. 3, and Washington State continues to win, it appears that the Mike Leach-coached Cougars are now in the driver’s seat for the bid to the “Granddaddy of Them All.”
There’s a consensus amongst SB Nation, ESPN, CBS Sports and Sporting News on where OSU and Wazzu are headed with just a couple weeks left in the regular season.
Ohio State Bowl Forecasts
| Writer | Bowl vs. Oppoenent |
|---|---|
| Writer | Bowl vs. Oppoenent |
| Jason Kirk (SB Nation) | Rose Bowl vs. Washington State |
| Jerry Palm (CBS Sports) | Rose Bowl vs. Washington State |
| Bill Bender (Sporting News) | Rose Bowl vs. Washington State |
| Kyle Bonagura | Rose Bowl vs. Washington State |
| Mitch Sherman | Rose Bowl vs. Washington State |
In everyone’s top-four are Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Michigan. And the final is once again predicted to go way of Alabama-Clemson.
While Ohio State and Michigan seems to have a consensus on their postseason destinies (at least until they square off on Nov. 24), other Big Ten programs are receiving foggy forecasts.
For example, ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura and Mitch Sherman have Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl, while CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm has them in the Citrus Bowl. Big Ten West winner Northwestern is pulling a Holiday Bowl prediction from Palm, a Gator Bowl prediction from SB Nation’s Jason Kirk, and Citrus Bowl beliefs from the ESPN duo.
Of course, we could simply ignore the random predictions and just wait until the season ends — creating near-zero anxiety over the bowl season, but, then again, where’s the fun in that?!