The latest round of bowl projections has a landing spot for the USF Bulls

After its blowout win last Saturday at Charlotte, USF’s post-season outlook brightened considerably. That improved the Bulls’ record to 5-5, meaning they can secure a bowl invitation by beating a mediocre Tulsa team on Saturday to close out the home portion of their schedule.

Tulsa is 3-7 and has lost five of its last six, with rumors swirling that Kevin Wilson could become the fifth American Athletic Conference football coach this season to clean out his office after being fired.

AAC athletic directors have shown a willingness this season to chunk struggling coaches overboard. East Carolina and Rice already made changes, and on Sunday, Temple dispatched head coach Stan Drayton even though his team defeated Florida Atlantic the day before.

FAU followed by firing Tom Herman on Monday because, well, why not? He became the fourth coach in the conference to be thanked for his service this season, and the numbers explain why. The Owls are 6-16 under Herman, who didn't make it through two full seasons. Not to be outdone, Charlotte gave second-year coach Biff Poggi a copy of the home game on Tuesday.

The timing of Temple's move seemed odd, but then again, it was only Drayton’s ninth win in his three seasons on the job.

That prompted Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes to opine that Temple should take advantage of this situation and drop its football program.

“Why does it even exist,” he wrote.  “Should it continue to exist? The failure of this latest attempt at the program's salvation should provide the obvious answer: No.”

OK, then.

We’ll let Temple bosses work that out while we dive into bowl projections courtesy of CBS Sports analyst Jerry Palm.

DEC. 20, CURE BOWL: ORLANDO.

The projection is for USF to face Boston College at noon in Camping World Stadium.

Like USF, Boston College has some work to do to make this matchup possible. The Eagles are 5-5 with home games left against North Carolina and Pitt.

After starting the season 4-1, BC has lost four of its last five – including a 38-28 setback at SMU in its most recent game.

North Carolina is 6-4 with three straight wins, while Pitt is a deceiving 7-3. Just three games ago, Pitt was 7-0.

Still, the path to two wins for BC is not an easy one. While USF heading to Orlando makes sense, we’ll hold off on naming the opponent just yet.

Addendum: Two USF players made the weekly AAC football honors list. Running back Kelley Joiner and linebacker Mac Harris received honorable mention for their performances at Charlotte. Joiner gained a career-high 142 yards with two touchdowns, while Harris had five tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, and a 25-yard fumble return for a touchdown in USF's 59-24 win.

Other AAC bowl projections:

Dec. 27 --  Armed Forces Bowl, Fort Worth: Baylor vs. Navy.       

Dec. 28 – Fenway Bowl, Boston: Syracuse vs. East Carolina.

Dec. 28 -- New Mexico Bowl, Albuquerque: Texas State vs. North Texas *

Dec. 28 – Military Bowl, Annapolis: Georgia Tech vs. Memphis.

Dec. 28 – Independence Bowl, Shreveport: Army vs. West Virginia

Jan. 3 -- First Responder Bowl, Dallas: Georgia Southern vs. UTSA *

* not yet bowl eligible