(U-WIRE) PULLMAN, Wash. — The faint hopes for a Fiesta Bowl berth disappeared for Washington State on Tuesday.
The Cougars (9-2, 6-2 Pac-10) — No. 13 in the latest Bowl Championship Series standings — were released from consideration for a BCS bowl Tuesday, freeing WSU to officially accept a bid to attend the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 31.
“We’re very excited,” WSU Athletics Director Jim Sterk said. “In each of our programs we want to compete on a national level year-in, year-out.”
WSU was offered an invitation to the Sun Bowl on Nov. 20, but could not officially accept the bid until it was released from BCS consideration.
The Sun Bowl will be the eighth bowl appearance in WSU’s history. The Cougars’ last appearance in a bowl was the 1998 Rose Bowl.
On Tuesday, WSU coach Mike Price was in San Diego on a recruiting visit and was unavailable for comment.
Who WSU will face has yet to be determined.
The fifth-place team in the Big Ten will fill the other slot. The most likely candidates are Purdue, Iowa, Michigan State and Penn State.
“Purdue is kind of the leader today,” Sterk said. “The opponent hasn’t been nailed down yet, but we’re ready to roll and start making preparations.
“It’s good for our institution — we’ll have national exposure on CBS and with a Big Ten opponent, we should have a great game.”
A match-up with Purdue would reunite Price with Boilermaker coach Joe Tiller.
Tiller was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach in Price’s first two years at WSU, and the two teams run similar one-back, spread offenses.
WSU’s payout from the bowl will be $1 million.
That money, along with all the money from the bowl payouts from the other Pac-10 bowl teams will go into a pool and then split among all member schools.