Central Michigan University's football team is changing their bowl destination on very short notice.

Boise State's football team announced on Monday that they would be unable to play in the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl due to COVID-19 issues on their team.  That left Central Michigan, Boise State's scheduled opponent in the Arizona Bowl, without a game to play this postseason.

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However, with Miami (Fla.) opting out of the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas due to COVID-19 issues, that left an opening there.  And so, with no opponent to play in Tucson, Arizona, CMU opted out of the Arizona Bowl and will head to El Paso to play Washington State in the Sun Bowl on Friday (12:00pm eastern on CBS).

Central Michigan is 8-4 (head coach Jim McElwain pictured above) and finished second behind Northern Illinois in the Mid-American Conference's Western Division.  They feature the nation's leading rusher in Lew Nichols, III (1,710 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns) as well as having top wide receivers Kalil Pimpleton, Dallas Sixon, and JaCory Sullivan.

Washington State is 7-5 and had committed to playing in the Sun Bowl, as part of the Pac-12's bowl commitments.  They reportedly had no interest in going to Arizona and take the lesser bowl payout.  The Cougars finished second behind Oregon in the Pac-12 North Division.  Their QB, Jayden de Laura, threw for over 2,700 yards and 23 TD's.  His top targets are WR's Travell Harris and Calvin Jackson, Jr.  The Cougars biggest win a 40-13 thrashing of arch-rival Washington in the annual Apple Cup game back in November.

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