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Washington State finishes No. 13 in final College Football Playoff rankings, misses out on NY6 bowl

Washington State Cougars quarterback Gardner Minshew (16) reacts between downs during the second half of a college football game on Friday, November 23, 2018, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash. Washington won the game 28-15. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

PULLMAN – There will be no New Year’s Six bowl game for the Washington State football team despite the program’s first 10-win season in 15 years.

The Cougars finished No. 13 in the final edition of the College Football Playoff rankings, eliminating the possibility of an appearance in one of the prestigious New Year’s Six bowl games. The NY6 games – the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Peach Bowl, Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl – take the top 12 teams in the country.

WSU (10-2, 7-2) dropped five places from No. 8 to No. 13 last week following a loss to Washington in the Apple Cup and stayed stagnant when the final rankings were unveiled Sunday morning on the College Football Playoff show.

Florida (9-3), LSU (9-3) and Penn State (9-3) all ended the year with one more loss and one fewer win than WSU, but finished ahead of the Cougars in the final CFP rankings – at No. 10, No. 11 and No. 12 respectively.

It’s presumed the Cougars will still be invited to an attractive non-NY6 bowl, most likely the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. The Alamo Bowl pits the Pac-12 Conference against the Big 12 Conference. Before the weekend, most media outlets projected that the Cougars would play West Virginia in the Dec. 28 game, held at the historic Alamodome. The Alamo Bowl will kick off at 6 p.m. PT and air on ESPN.

No. 9 Washington (10-3) and No. 17 Utah (9-4) were the only other Pac-12 teams to wind up in the final CFP rankings. The Huskies will play in the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl by virtue of beating the Utes 10-3 in Friday’s Pac-12 championship game.

The Cougars stayed in front of Penn State and kept their place at No. 12 in Sunday’s Associated Press Top 25 rankings. UW moved up one spot to No. 9 and Utah fell three spots to No. 20 after the Pac-12 championship game.