Las Vegas Bowl update: Utah returning to Allegiant Stadium?

Another chaotic week of college football is complete and all of a sudden, it feels like bowl season is right around the corner. Eight weeks into the season, it’s starting to become clear who will be bowl eligible and who will not.

Projection: No. 13 Utah vs. Iowa

The Utes are no strangers to Las Vegas, having won the Pac-12 championship game at Allegiant Stadium in each of the past two seasons, and Utah is coming off a huge 34-32 win on the road against No. 24 USC.

However, it still has to face No. 8 Oregon and No. 5 Washington, along with a resurgent Arizona, so it’s still in the Las Vegas Bowl window.

Iowa is coming off a disastrous 12-10 loss against Minnesota, officially ending college football’s dream of an 11-1 Hawkeyes team making the College Football Playoff. However, they remain in this projection because the Big Ten is very top heavy right now and Iowa avoids No. 2 Michigan and No. 3 Ohio State this season outside the Big Ten championship game.

For the first time in almost a month, however, Iowa’s place in the Las Vegas Bowl doesn’t feel like a guarantee. Nebraska, which hasn’t been bowling since 2016, is 4-3 and can pick up a fifth win this week when it hosts Purdue. If the Cornhuskers can get bowl eligible, their final game of the season is hosting Iowa, and they could usurp the Hawkeyes for a Las Vegas Bowl bid.

Utah’s game against Oregon this week will likely have similar Las Vegas Bowl implications, but another game to watch will be Arizona hosting No. 11 Oregon State. The Wildcats haven’t been bowling since 2017. No. 23 UCLA hosting Colorado and USC needing a bounce-back win against California also includes some Las Vegas Bowl ramifications.

Contact reporter Andy Yamashita at ayamashita@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ANYamashita on X.