According to various press releases issued by their respective schools, here's a quick look at some initial bowl match-ups and accepted bids. And, for a complete and total wrap-up of all the bowl activity, visit our friends at NBC Sports.com right HERE:
[Updated 5:53 p.m. ET, with the new tidbits coming at the top of the list.]
- The Emerald Bowl in San Francisco will feature a Southern Cal-Boston College match-up on Dec. 26.
- Houston and Air Force will face each other in the Dec. 31 Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth for the second consecutive season.
- The Auburn football team has accepted an invitation to play in
the 24th annual Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla., and will face Northwestern
from the Big Ten Conference. The game will be played on January 1, 2010
at 11 a.m. ET at Raymond James Stadium.
- For the first time since 2005, Iowa State will go bowling as they have accepted a bid to the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., on Dec. 31. The Cyclones will face an unnamed Big Ten opponent.
- Stanford will face Oklahoma in the 76th Annual Brut Sun Bowl on December 31st in El Paso, Texas.
- The University of Pittsburgh today accepted an invitation to play in the 2009 Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, N.C., it was announced by the bowl's officials. Pitt will face a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference on Saturday, Dec. 26, at Bank of America Stadium.
- The University of Connecticut football team will play in the 2010 Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday, Jan 2, at Legion Field. The game will kickoff at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time (1:00 p.m. Central) and be nationally televised by ESPN. UConn's opponent in the game will be a Southeastern Conference team that will be announced later Sunday night.
- The University of South Florida accepted an invitation to the International Bowl in Toronto where the Bulls will face a Mid-American Conference opponent at Noon on Jan. 2, 2010.
- Penn State will likely play in the Capital One Bowl, and will likely face LSU in the New Year's Day game in Orlando.
- Texas Tech has accepted a bid to play Alamo Bowl Jan. 2 against an undetermined Big Ten foe.
- Georgia and Texas A&M will square off in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., on Dec. 28.
- The University of Arkansas football team has accepted an invitation to play Conference USA Champion East Carolina in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 2, 2010, in Memphis.
Some pretty good games thus far. Should be an entertaining season.
UGA-TAMU, Arkansas-ECU and UConn-SEC should all be great games.
How ironic that Virginia Tech is ending the season where it began: at the Georgia Dome against an SEC opponent (Tennessee). It's also their third trip to Atlanta this year, where they are 0-2.
Can we just put USC and Oklahoma in a "Biggest Disappointment of the Year Bowl?" We were supposed to see them in the BCS Championship Game according to the pundits earlier in the season, and it would be a more interesting matchup than the mid-tier bowls they wound up in.
Which is the bigger surprise: an Auburn team led by last year's Iowa State head coach to a New Year's Day bowl, or an Iowa State team making a bowl led by a last-year's Auburn assistant coach?
In the poetic justice category, Bobby Bowden gets to not only play his final game in the State of Florida, he gets to do it against the team he left to take over the reins in Tallahassee.
BCS-bashers wet dream: Boise State versus TCU in the Fiesta Bowl, ensuring there will be at least two undefeated teams after the bowls, one of them a non-AQ. An offseason full of "what-if-we-had-a-playoff" talk guaranteed to ensue.
Talk about consequences for losing: Clemson was just a couple minutes away from an Orange Bowl bid in last night's ACC Championship Game. Instead, they get the Music City Bowl against a 7-5 Kentucky team. Quite a drop in prestige there.
Could the Sugar Bowl be a repeat of last year with a sorely-disappointed Florida team against a Cincinnati team that was ONE SECOND away from the BCS Championship Game and is highly motivated to prove it should be in Pasedena? Tebow gets one last chance to prove his legendary leadership status is deserved.
The Rose Bowl: Who cares?
The Rose Bowl Part II (aka the BCS National Championship Game): Alabama. Texas. 'Nuff said. Let the hype begin.
A few more thoughts:
I said earlier that USC and Oklahoma should meet in a "Biggest Disappointment" bowl. Actually, we already have that: the Cotton Bowl. Oklahoma State--who was the lesser of several evils--versus Ole Miss--who was supposed to be the one playing Florida last night according to more than a few pundits, led by a QB who was supposed to be in New York next weekend.
With all due respect to East Carolina, one of the more exciting bowl games got ruined when the Pirates beat Houston for the C-USA title. Nevermind that the Cougars and Arkansas are rivals from the old Southwestern Conference days; would the scoreboard have exploded with those two lots-of-offense-not-a-lot-of defense teams facing off for 60 minutes--or more?
Best bowl game no one will watch: the GMAC Bowl on January 6, Central Michigan versus Troy.
A few more thoughts:
I said earlier that USC and Oklahoma should meet in a "Biggest Disappointment" bowl. Actually, we already have that: the Cotton Bowl. Oklahoma State--who was the lesser of several evils--versus Ole Miss--who was supposed to be the one playing Florida last night according to more than a few pundits, led by a QB who was supposed to be in New York next weekend.
With all due respect to East Carolina, one of the more exciting bowl games got ruined when the Pirates beat Houston for the C-USA title. Nevermind that the Cougars and Arkansas are rivals from the old Southwestern Conference days; would the scoreboard have exploded with those two lots-of-offense-not-a-lot-of defense teams facing off for 60 minutes--or more?
Best bowl game no one will watch: the GMAC Bowl on January 6, Central Michigan versus Troy.