It's pretty much been set in stone since last week that the Cougs were headed to the Alamo Bowl but it was made official Sunday.
Number 13 Washington State is headed to the Alamo to take on the number 24 ranked Iowa State Cyclones, per the bowl game's Twitter account. Because WSU didn't get ranked inside the top 12 of the College Football Playoff rankings last, they weren't eligible to make the Fiesta Bowl, so the Pac-12's number two bowl was the obvious next destination.
The Alamo Bowl will take place on December 28th at 6 PM PT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
This is the fourth straight bowl the Cougs have gone to, a first in program history. Athletic Director Pat Chun did not mince words today on his conference call of what he thought of Wazzu's bowl game placement.
"I'll be clear, we're very disappointed with where we ended up being placed," Chun said. "We believe that as a ten-win team in a power five league, the manner in which our two losses came, statistically how we match up against other teams - kind of in the same culture as us - we believed our resume ranked, perhaps higher than the committee thought it was. They are empowered to make those decisions, we will respect those decisions. We are not happy with where we are ranked, but we are ecstatic to be in the Alamo Bowl."
Some facts about this game for the Cougs:
This is the second time WSU has headed to the Alamo Bowl. Their last visit was in 1994 when WSU beat Baylor 10-3, led by the Palouse Posse defense.
This is WSU's fourth straight bowl, which is a program record, and their 15th Bowl in program history. This is Mike Leach's fifth bowl in six years.
If the Cougs can get a win, they will set a program record with 11 wins in the season. And finally, when Wazzu faces off against Iowa State, it will be the two teams' first ever match up.
Even though this is obviously not the game Washington State wanted to be headed to, Pat Chun was enthusiastic about it.
"First and foremost, we're honored to represent the PAC-12 at the Alamo Bowl," Chun said. "The bowl has a great reputation in itself and I think the biggest thing for Washington State football is we have an opportunity to get our eleventh win - I know our team is real focused on that."