Will it be the Alamo or Holiday for Beavs?

SELECTION SUNDAY IS upon us but as far as clarity goes, that will have to wait a few more hours. It could be San Antonio and the Alamo Bowl for Oregon State. Or it could be San Diego and the Holiday Bowl. Just as unclear, who the Beavers might square off against in either bowl.

Most of the gurus out there are predicting UCLA will get the nod from the Alamo Bowl as the Pac-12 representative. Both teams have identical conference records and the No. 15 Beavers beat the No. 16 Bruins earlier in the year.

But Pac-12 bowls (and most bowls in the FBS) are not obligated to pick according to conference standings -- they don't care much that OSU won the head to head matchup with UCLA. In the Alamo Bowl's case, they have the first pick after the BCS bowls -- they can take who they want, as long as that team isn't two games worse in the conference standings. And most seem to think they want UCLA.

Most agree the Big 12 opponent is down to a choice of TCU, Baylor, West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. But Texas Tech, Okie State and Baylor have been in the Alamo Bowl the last three seasons.

Still, the odds-on favorite for the Alamo Big 12 entry would appear to be Oklahoma State because the Alamo likes the regional tie-in and travel strength possibilities.

Texas is the wild card. Most think they'll still get to the Cotton Bowl despite getting blasted in the second half and losing 42-24 to K-State.

But the other scenario is for Northern Illinois to climb high enough in the BCS standings. That would knock Oklahoma out of a BCS bowl, likely ensuring they go to the Cotton Bowl, Texas goes to the Alamo, and then the Alamo Bowl picks UCLA-Texas rather than OSU-Texas.

THE HOLIDAY BOWL wants Oregon State badly. Representatives of the bowl have publicly stated their desire to bring Oregon State to San Diego and that they will take OSU in a heartbeat if the Alamo Bowl passes.

If the Beavs' head to the Holiday Bowl, the consensus is that they will face off against West Virginia or Texas Tech.

West Virginia features senior quarterback Geno Smith, who has passed for 4,004 yards and 40 touchdowns this season.