​LOS ANGELES, CA – AUGUST 29: Luke Weaver #3 of the San Jose State Spartans celebrates a touchdown during a football game between the USC Trojans and the San Jose State Spartans on August 29, 2026, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Greg Fiore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The time has come. The 2026 season is upon us. We are past the time of watch lists and preseason awards and have entered the time of bowl projections. Our team at Mountain West Connection will be releasing our bowl projections each week. This season, both Mountain West and Pac-12 projections will be included in the same post. Our first round of projections are below and will likely change as the season progresses. Leave your own thoughts in the comments.Note that bowl tie-ins are extremely messy this year, more than usual. Due to that, it’s difficult to even have consistency with the ranking order of bowl games. For Mountain West Bowls, we will designate the Potato Bowl as the MW Champion, although the champ could go to one of six different bowl games. But for simplicity’s sake, whoever you see in the Potato Bowl is who a writer thinks will be the Mountain West Champ, although we recognize that may not necessarily be the case when the time comes.For Pac-12 teams, the legacy teams are still locked into the Pac-12 bowl tie-ins. The current champion will be in the Poinsettia Bowl, but after that, it’s a lot of unknown. We will also list the Sun Bowl, as that has traditionally be the last Pac-12 bowl to select and therefore most likely to have a new Pac team. Otherwise, back-up bowls will likely host many of the current Pac-12 teams. And if that wasn’t confusing enough, it’s possible that ESPN could put current Pac-12/old Mountain West teams in MW-affiliated bowls that ESPN owns. However, we won’t entertain that possibility, at least not to start.Clear as mud? Good. For what it’s worth, we are providing a bowl tie-in key in this post. While it may not be completely accurate, it at least provides a picture of how we are arriving at some of our bowl projections. And as the picture becomes clearer, we will update our explanation key. If you find any info, feel free to let us know in the comments.Bowl Affiliation KeyPotato Bowl: (Potential) Designated MW ChampHawaii Bowl: MW #2Arizona Bowl: MW #3New Mexico Bowl: MW #4Guaranteed Rate Bowl: #1 MW backupCactus Bowl: Backup bowlPoinsettia Bowl: Pac-12 champHawaii Bowl: Pac-12 #2ESPN Bowl: Pac-12 #3ESPN Bowl: Pac-12 #4Sun Bowl: Last option for legacy Pac-12 teamsESPN Bowl: Backup bowlCollege Football Playoff: Highest-ranked G6 teamMikePotato Bowl: New MexicoHawaii Bowl: North Dakota StateArizona Bowl: Air ForceNew Mexico Bowl: UNLVGuaranteed Rate Bowl: San Jose StateCactus Bowl: N/APoinsettia Bowl: Boise StateHawaii Bowl: Washington StateESPN Bowl: San Diego StateESPN Bowl: Texas StateSun Bowl: Fresno StateESPN Bowl: N/ACollege Football Playoff: N/AS