Later this month, Bryan Harsin will board a plane bound for Tucson.
If not him, then it'll be Brent Brennan.
For the Arizona Bowl.
Tucson's bowl game will invite the winner of Saturday afternoon's Mountain West Conference championship game between San Jose State and Boise State to the Dec. 31 game, which kicks off at noon and will be broadcast on Ch. 13. That the will feature one of the favorites to land the vacant Arizona coaching job is purely a coincidence.
It’s official! The @MountainWest Champion will be playing for a title in Tucson at the 2020 Arizona Bowl. @BroncoSportsFB and @SanJoseStateFB will battle for the bowl on Saturday in Vegas. We will see you on @CBSSports on NYE. pic.twitter.com/v5FJW1lpo7
— Arizona Bowl (@theARIZONABOWL) December 14, 2020
Brennan's SJSU team is 6-0 heading into its first-ever Mountain West title game. Harsin's Broncos are 5-1 and are early eight-point favorites, according to Las Vegas oddsmakers.
The success of both coaches has garnered attention throughout the West, which is why both Brennan and Harsin — along with Navy's Ken Niumatalolo and Oregon assistant Joe Salave'a, a former UA player and coach — have been mentioned as possible replacements for the fired Kevin Sumlin.
The MWC representative will face a team from the Mid-American Conference, likely either Buffalo or Western Michigan.
Regardless of who plays, this year's Arizona Bowl figures to be the best, on paper, of any in the game's history.
The Arizona Bowl has promised "upper echelon" teams from each conference in the first year of a six-year deal signed with the MWC and MAC.
Last week's cancellation of the LA Bowl, which was supposed to feature this year's MWC champion, moved Tucson into an even better spot.
The Arizona Bowl will be played in an empty Arizona Stadium because of the pandemic.
