25.   Music City Bowl (Dec. 31)
Boston College (9-4) vs. Vanderbilt (6-6), Nashville
The Commodores play in front of a home-town crowd for their first bowl game in 26 years. The Eagles boast an 8-game bowl win streak, the nation’s longest. Neither offense is in the top half nationally in scoring.
*Eagles lead the nation in pass interceptions with 26.

24.   Champs Sports Bowl (Dec. 27)
Wisconsin (7-5) vs. Florida State (8-4), Orlando
The uniforms command more respect than the teams themselves this season, although this may be a bowl record for age discrepancy among head coaches. Bret Bielema is 38, while Bobby Bowden is 79.
*Badgers have nation’s worst kickoff return yardage (17.26 per) unit.

23.   Gator Bowl (Jan. 1)
Clemson (7-5) vs. Nebraska (8-4), Jacksonville
Can we take a moment here to note that recently, on the same weekend, the last two teams coached by Bill Callahan, the Huskers and the Oakland Raiders, attempted nearly identical fake field goal plays? And in both instances, the defense intercepted the flip and returned it for a score.
*Huskers’ aptly named Nate Swift is 8^th in the nation in punt return yardage.

22.   Emerald Bowl (Dec. 27)
California (8-4) vs. Miami (7-5), San Francisco
The Golden Bears are a 20-minute bus ride from AT&T Park, while the Hurricanes will journey more than 3,000 miles. Both teams share the same sideline in this game for sight-line purposes at this baseball venue.
*Cal sophomore Jahvid Best is 2^nd-best nationally in all-purpose running.

21.   Meineke Car Care Bowl (Dec. 27)
North Carolina (8-4) vs. West Virginia (8-4), Charlotte
I miss Pat White. I know he’s still a Mountaineer, but one of the most dazzling talents in college football the past four seasons had the lowest rushing output of his four years this autumn (behind a line that returned five starters). He just wasn’t the same player this season, and it wasn’t his fault.
*Tar Heel LB Quan Sturdivant leads the nation in solo tackles with 81.

Walters blog: From pop culture to sports insight, go inside the mind of JDub

20.   Texas Bowl (Dec. 30)
Rice (9-3) vs. Western Michigan (9-3), Houston
Enjoy the final game for Rice of quarterback Chase Clement and wideout Jarett Dillard, who hooked up for more TD passes than any FBS tandem in history.   
*Owl TE James Casey is second in the nation in catches (104) and, because bowl stats count, needs 10 catches to pass North Texas’ Casey Fitzgerald, whose team will be idle.

19.   Humanitarian Bowl (Dec. 30)
Maryland (7-5) vs. Nevada (7-5), Boise, Id.
The bowl most likely to cause frostbite, this Boise-based brrr!-fest features the Wolfpack for the second time in three years. The Terrapins' only other trip west of the Mississippi this decade was last year’s Emerald Bowl loss to Oregon State.
*Wolfpack are 2^nd nationally in rushing offense.         

18.   Insight Bowl (Dec. 31)
Minnesota (7-5) vs. Kansas (7-5), Tempe, Ariz.
Call it the Flashback Bowl. Two years ago, the Golden Gophers blew a 38-7 second-half lead in this bowl game, costing Glen Mason (no relation to Legg Mason, or W.B. Mason) his gig. Where can I buy one of those “Our Coach Can Eat Your Coach” T-shirts?
*Jayhawk passer Todd Reesing is 8^th nationally in total offense, but 5^th in the Big 12.

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