Huskies links: Per ESPN, ‘no one knows’ how bowls would fill spots without enough 6-6 teams

A few links for your Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, depending upon how late you stay up and whether you spend these late hours frequenting this here blog.

--- Washington must win its final two games to become bowl eligible. Right? Well, almost certainly yes, but also, maybe not. With 80 available bowl spots and only 62 teams currently bowl eligible, it’s becoming increasingly likely that some bowls will have to turn to teams with 5-7 records.

And according to this ESPN report, nobody seems to really know what the selection process would be if that occurs. An excerpt:

The most frustrating aspect, sources said, are all the unknowns concerning how the 5-7 teams are selected.

If two bowls need 5-7 teams, do the No. 1 and No. 2 best APR teams automatically get the bids or does the bowl have the option of selecting any team among the top five APR teams?

If more than one bowl needs a 5-7 team, how do you decide which bowl picks first? The Big Ten, Big 12 and American are among the conferences that may not have enough six win teams to fill their bowl commitments, so does a 5-7 team from their league with the best APR automatically fill one of their slots -- even if they’re not among the top five available APR teams?

“You tell me,” a source said when asked how the teams would be selected. “No one knows.”

That’s obviously something to keep in mind as the Huskies, at 4-6 overall, play their final two games (at Oregon State on Saturday, and vs. Washington State at home next Friday).

--- Speaking of bowl games, I wrote today about how badly the Huskies would like to play in one this season -- particularly senior linebacker Travis Feeney, who said a bowl appearance to end his career would “mean everything.” The Huskies are trying to run their streak of consecutive seasons with a bowl appearance to six.

--- Here are some highlights from Oregon State coach Gary Andersen’s Monday press conference.

--- And some notes from OSU’s Tuesday practice: QB Nick Mitchell, who is listed as probable on OSU’s injury report, wore a red, no-contact jersey.

--- The Seahawks signed UW receiver Kevin Smith off their practice squad on Tuesday after waiving receiver Chris Matthews.

--- The Huskies are trying to get off the mat, just like Ronda Rousey.

--- Larry Stone examines Washington State quarterback Luke Falk’s potential Heisman Trophy candidacy?

--- WSU is in line to play in one of the better Pac-12-affiliated bowl games.

--- Arizona State safety Jordan Simone, who injured his knee in Saturday’s game against the Huskies, will miss the rest of the season. Simone is a Sammamish native and a graduate of Skyline High School.

--- Bill Plaschke wonders if USC might already have its next head coach in interim coach Clay Helton.

--- Four Pac-12 teams appear in the latest College Football Playoff rankings -- No. 11 Stanford, No. 13 Utah, No. 23 Oregon and No. 24 USC.

This story was originally published November 17, 2015 at 11:34 PM with the headline "Huskies links: Per ESPN, ‘no one knows’ how bowls would fill spots without enough 6-6 teams."