Washington State to take on Miami in Sun Bowl on Dec. 26

Luke Falk will lead Washington State into the Sun Bowl, the 12th bowl game in program history. (AP)

The Cougars are heading to Texas.

Washington State will close out its football season in the Sun Bowl against the Miami Hurricanes on Dec. 26. The game has an 11 a.m. Pacific start time from Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas.

Led by quarterback Luke Falk, the Cougars finished the regular season with an 8-4 record and the nation’s most prolific passing attack at 397 yards per game through the air.

The Sun Bowl will be the second postseason appearance for Wazzu under head coach Mike Leach, who took the Cougs to the New Mexico Bowl in 2013, which was their first bowl game since 2003. The Sun Bowl will be the 12th bowl in program history.

Miami, also 8-4, enters the contest on a two-game winning streak. The Hurricanes are a team in flux – head coach Al Golden was fired in October a day after a 58-0 loss to Clemson, and Mark Richt jumped from Georgia to take his place earlier this week. Interim coach Larry Scott has led Miami to a 4-1 record since taking over for Golden.

The Cougars won’t be the only team from the state playing in Texas the day after Christmas. The UW Huskies will be in the Heart of Dallas Bowl vs. Southern Miss that same morning.