Air Force going to the Independence Bowl

<p>The Mountain West has its bowl lineup nearly set.</p>

<p>Utah is headed to the Las Vegas Bowl, while Air Force is going to the Independence Bowl, BYU will play in the New Mexico Bowl and San Diego State will stay at home and play Navy in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.</p>

<p>The schools and bowls made the announcements Wednesday night.</p>

<p>No. 3 TCU is the only team awaiting its bowl destination. If Oregon and Auburn win this weekend, the Horned Frogs will play in the Rose Bowl as the top automatic qualifier from the non-AQ teams. If one of those teams lose, it is possible the Horned Frogs would play for the BCS national championship.</p>

<p>No. 20 Utah (10-2) will play in Las Vegas on Dec. 22 against a team that will be announced this weekend. This is the Utes’ first appearance in the game since 2001. Utah has won nine straight bowl games.</p>

<p>Air Force (8-4) will play an ACC team in Shreveport, La., on Dec. 27. Its opponent will be announced on Sunday. The Falcons become the first service academy team to play in the Independence Bowl since Army in 1996.</p>

<p>BYU (6-6) rallied from a 1-4 start to make another bowl game. The Cougars will play in the game Dec. 18 against a yet to be determined opponent. The Pac-10 is unlikely to fill its slot for this game, so the MAC could have a representative here. The Cougars had made five straight appearances in Las Vegas.</p>

<p>San Diego State (8-4) is making its first bowl appearance since 1998. The game is set for Dec. 23 at Qualcomm Stadium, where the Aztecs play their home games. Navy (8-3) has a tie-in to this game.</p>