Bowl game projections 2012: Pitt three wins from eligibility, Mountaineers could head to Alamo Bowl

Each passing week of the college football season brings us closer to the postseason and weeks of bowl game matchups. Despite their second consecutive loss, the West Virginia Mountaineers are just one game from a bowl berth thanks to their hot start to the season. The Pitt Panthers are under .500 on the season, but still have a shot at reaching the postseason with a strong finish.

West Virginia was trounced, 55-14, by the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday, but are still just one win from becoming bowl eligible. The 5-2 Mountaineers, with a 2-2 conference record, currently sit at seventh in the Big 12 standings.

SB Nation's bowl predictions have West Virginia facing off against the Oregon State Beavers in the Alamo Bowl, while CBS' projections has them traveling to Arizona for the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl against the Northwestern Wildcats.

Pitt improved to 3-4 on the year with a 20-6 win over Buffalo on Saturday. The Panthers, currently sixth in the Big East, will need three more wins in their final five games to become eligible for a bowl appearance. It will be a tough road for Pitt, who still has games against the No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and No. 15 Rutgers Scarlet Knights on its schedule. Neither SB Nation or CBS currently predicts the Panthers to end up in a postseason game in their bowl projections.

While the Penn State Nittany Lions are currently 5-2 and second in the Big Ten Leaders division, they are not eligible for postseason play in 2012 because of their recent sanctions.

Click here to check out all of SB Nation's most recent bowl game projections.