CBS Sports makes early bowl predictions. Boise State might want to look away
With spring practices wrapped up, college football fans are already turning their heads toward the start of the season, even though it’s nearly four months away.
For Boise State fans, that means a trip to Eugene to face the Oregon Ducks on Sept. 5.
But the fact that the season is still a long way off has not stopped analysts from looking all the way past the season opener to bowl season.
CBS Sports has made the bold leap of making 2026 bowl game predictions, and the outlet certainly doesn’t have the highest hopes for Boise State.
The Broncos were predicted by CBS Sports to feature in the (drum roll, please) ... New Mexico Bowl against Florida International. (OK, stop drumming.) The 2026 New Mexico Bowl does not have a date set, but it was played in the days right after Christmas the past two seasons.
The Panthers finished 7-5 last season, and 5-3 in Conference USA, before losing in the First Responder Bowl.
The Broncos, of course, won their third straight Mountain West title on the way out the door to the Pac-12, and then lost in the LA Bowl, finishing the season 9-5 overall.
Meanwhile, CBS Sports predicts that UNLV will be the sole Group of Six representative in the College Football Playoff. The Rebels, who remain in the Mountain West, finished as runner-up to Boise State each of the past three years.
Why the New Mexico Bowl?
The New Mexico Bowl’s primary conference tie-ins are the Mountain West and Conference USA. So with Boise State moving to the revived Pac-12, why would the Broncos be considered a possibility for the Albuquerque game?
With so much uncertainty around the future of bowl season and the CFP, ranging from the number of teams to how the seeding even works, bowl organizers and conference leaders agreed to extend non-CFP bowl agreements for another year.
Therefore, a former Mountain West team still could go to a bowl affiliated with the conference. That’s the same reason why Washington — now in the Big Ten but formerly of the Pac-12 — played Boise State in last year’s LA Bowl.
There is still some uncertainty about whether the six teams joining the Pac-12 — five of them former MW programs — would be eligible for more prestigious bowl games with Pac-12 tie-ins against Power Four programs.
Theoretically, Boise State could be in the running for some Pac-12 bowl games, including the Alamo Bowl (Pac-12 vs. Big 12), Sun Bowl (Pac-12 vs. ACC) or Las Vegas Bowl (Pac-12 vs. Big Ten).
How that all shakes out is anyone’s best guess, but it’s a safe bet that the Broncos don’t have their sights set on the New Mexico Bowl.
