Barring a loss by the Houston Cougars losing the Conference USA Championship Game and seeing a few other dominoes fall, the Boise St. Broncos will need to settle for a pre-New Year's Day bowl game. The Broncos could go to the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl or the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia. The Las Vegas Bowl gets the first pick of teams from the Mountain West and could take the TCU Horned Frogs over Boise State, unless TCU gets a BCS bowl bid.
But working under the assumption that TCU does not, Scout.com projects Boise State to go to the Poinsettia Bowl and TCU to head to Las Vegas. The Poinsettia Bowl takes place on Dec. 21 and, while Scout projects Nevada to the game, the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs received and accepted the bowl bid on Saturday night. Boise State moved to the Mountain West from the WAC this season.
TCU goes up against the Utah Utes in the Las Vegas Bowl. The Utes had been Mountain West members until this summer when the team moved to the Pac-12.
For more as this story develops, stay tuned to Once Bronco Nation Under God. For more news on the Falcons and the rest of the MWC, visit Mountain West Connection. For news and notes from around college football, head over to SB Nation's college football hub.