UCLA Football: Are The Bruins Heading To The Sun Bowl?

Nov 30, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins quarterback Brett Hundley (17) eludes Southern California Trojans defensive end Leonard Williams (94) to score on a 4-yard touchdown run in the third quarter at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

UCLA will play in a bowl, there is no doubt about that. In the hierarchy of Bowl games that the Pac-12 is linked to, it may be pretty cut and dry as to which teams go where. The BCS is yet to pick their representatives for each bowl, which will line-up all bowls after that. In the Conference, 9 of the 12 teams are bowl eligible. So where are the Bruins going?

Here are the list of bowls the Pac-12 has a contract with from most prominent to least-most prominent (trying to be nice here):

Rose, Alamo, Holiday, Sun, Las Vegas, Fight Hunger, New Mexico

Here are the final standings of the Pac-12’s top seven teams:

Stanford, Arizona State, Oregon, UCLA, USC, Washington, Washington State

Simple match-up shows that with Stanford winning the Pac-12 Championship, they go to the Rose Bowl and with all other teams falling in-line, UCLA will play in the Sun Bowl on December 31. Not really concerned with who is second amongst ASU and Oregon, this is a piece on the Bruins.

Now I know what you are all saying, “The Sun Bowl, isn’t that where USC got whooped last year and a fight broke out in the locker room?” Well, yes, but this is not last year and this 2013 UCLA Football team is way better than those Trojans of last year. Heck, they are better than the Trojans of this year. Remember, 35-14.

Still, this is not a bad bowl to go to, especially when you see who the potential matchup is. Here is a projected run down of the bowl match ups the Pac-12 will face.

Rose Bowl: Stanford vs. Michigan State

Alamo Bowl: Arizona State vs. Texas (8-4)

Holiday Bowl: Oregon vs. Kansas State (7-5)

Sun Bowl: UCLA vs. Miami (FL) (9-3)

Las Vegas Bowl: USC vs. Fresno State (11-1)

Fight Hunger Bowl: Washington vs. BYU (8-4)

New Mexico Bowl: Washington State vs. San Diego State (7-5)

Despite what some say about these bowl games, if you look at these match ups (which are not set, just projections), they will not just produce great football games but the Pac-12 has a great chances to win every one of them.

As for UCLA, not only will they have a really good chance to beat Miami (FL), but the implications for Bruin fans mean one thing: revenge. Remember December 5, 1998? The day the Miami Hurricanes ended UCLA’s national title hopes with a 49-45 upset. Now you remember.

I will not go much into this potential match up, as the schedule can change, but imagine, “what if”?

Stay tuned, Bruin fans, bowl season is just getting started!

Mike W.R.

Twitter: @TheBigDisco