At Look at the 2005/06 College Football Bowl Season

The difference between Tuesday's two bowls games were literally like day-and-night! Clemson beat Colorado 19-10 in the Champs Sports Bowl, as Colorado was held to 17 yards rushing (29 attempts) and didn't crack the 100-yard mark in total offense until the game's final minutes (finished with just 124 yards). In the nightcap, a rematch of the 1978 Garden State Bowl between Arizona State and Rutgers, the Sun Devils and Scarlet Knights combined for 1,211 total yards in a 45-40 ASU win. The Sun Devils set an Insight Bowl record with 679 yards and the 1,211 combined yards was the most yards-ever in any bowl game in CFB history. Rutgers jumped out to a 17-7 lead but trailed 45-33 late in the game, before 'covering' with a 29-yard TD pass with two minutes to go. The 45-40 final made it 2-0 for underdogs on the day, as 'dogs' have now covered five of the first nine bowl games. For 'over'/'under' bettors, the bowl season has been a windfall so far for the over players, as SEVEN of the nine games have gone over the total.

Two more bowl games are on tap for Wednesday. At 4:30 ET on ESPN, Boston College visits the famed blue carpet of Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho for the MPC Computers Bowl. Boise State is the host team and puts its nation-best 31-game home winning streak on the line. Speaking of 'lines', this game opened with Boise as a three-point favorite but as of this morning, BC is favored by two-points (and climbing?) with a total of 53 1/2. Boise State's head coach Dan Hawkins (54-10 at Boise), coaches his last game for the Broncos, as he has already accepted the Colorado job (hopefully he didn't watch them play yesterday!). As for BC head coach Tom O'Brien, he leads BC to a school-record SEVENTH consecutive bowl appearance. He lost his first bowl game back in 1999 to Colorado (there's that school again!) but has since won and covered his last five.

Tonight at 8:00 on ESPN, it's the Alamo Bowl with Nebraska taking on Michigan. Nebraska saw its streak of 35 consecutive bowl games end last year when it finished 5-6 in Callahan's first year at Lincoln (first non-winning season since 1961) but rebounded with a 7-4 year in 2005. Michigan (7-4) is appearing in its 31st straight bowl game (longest current streak) but its first non-January bowl game since Lloyd Carr's first year at Ann Arbor (1995). Michigan owns the most wins in CFB history and Nebraska ranks 4th all-time, giving this bowl a similar feel to the upcoming Orange Bowl where Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno will meet. Michigan is favored by 10 1/2 points and the total is 47.

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