Report: Washington To Play Baylor In Alamo Bowl
With the speculation starting after their 38-21 win over Washington State in the Apple Cup Washington now knows their bowl. The Alamo Bowl, December 29th in San Antonio, Texas. The possibility of Washington playing in the Alamo Bowl has been high having beaten both Utah and Cal, the other two possibles.
The Alamo Bowl gets second choice from the Pac-12 and the third choice from the Big 12. With Stanford finishing in the top five in the BCS standings and Oregon winning the Pac-12 title both teams were unable to be picked. USC is still under a bowl ban which took them out of the running. That gave Washington, Utah and Cal all at 7-5 a shot at the Alamo Bowl.
With Washington sweeping the head-to-head against Cal and Utah they made the most sense to be selected. The only question remained their opponent. According to the San Antonio Express-News Baylor has been selected from the Big 12 as Washington’s opponent.
Baylor (9-3, 6-3) will definitely pose as a threat to Washington (7-5, 5-4) who will be playing in their second consecutive bowl game under Steve Sarkisian. Last year Washington upset Nebraska 19-7 in the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl. Baylor will also be appearing in their second straight bowl game after losing to Illinois 38-13 in the Texas Bowl last season.
With Baylor and Washington one thing is for sure there will be enough offense to light up San Antonio. The Bears are led by junior duel threat quarterback Robert Griffin III while Washington is led by a balance of Keith Price at quarterback and Chris Polk at runningback.
Against a strong Nebraska run defense Polk burned the Cornhuskers for 177 yards on 34 carries and one touchdown. This year Polk has a stronger passing quarterback in Keith Price who set the single season record for passing touchdowns with 29.
Accurate, poised and durable Price is the teams leader on offense and when he’s not playing the difference is night and day. Surrounded by young talented play-makers in Kasen Williams–Austin Seferian-Jenkins (freshman) and Devin Agular (senior) Washington has the ability to score 40 plus on anyone.
Washington has never played in the Alamo Bowl, which joined the Pac-12′s bowl lineup before the 2010 season and now has the first choice of conference teams after the BCS. Washington hasn’t played Baylor since 1965 and is 1-3 all-time against the Bears.
Steve Sarkisian said Washington will be ready to play Baylor come December 29th in San Antonio. ” I don’t think it’s just utter jubilation for the fact that we get to go to a bowl game. We’re going to go there to win. We’re going to prepare to win.”
–Quotes via Bob Condotta (Seattle Times).
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