U.S. flush with bowl games

Back in the days when there were only about eight postseason bowl games and they all had names you could recognize, it was a big honor for a football team to get selected to a bowl game. Only a handful of bowls had conference tie-ins, and the various bowls would compete to get the best teams.

Oh how the bowl system has evolved over the years.

These days, all you need is a winning record and you're bowl bound.

That is unless your team happens to get involved in a large brawl late in the season or owns the nickname of the Zips.

Of the 117 Division I-A football schools, 59 had winning records this year. And of those 59, 56 schools are playing in bowl games this year.

The only winning teams left out this year are Clemson and South Carolina, who opted out after their embarrassing brawl in the season finale, and the Akron Zips of the Mid-American Conference, which already picked up five bowl berths, about four more than it deserved. Even Troy, the second-place team from the Sun Belt, received a bowl bid.

The first bowl game, the Wyndham New Orleans Bowl between North Texas and Southern Miss, was played Tuesday night. Exactly three weeks later, the last bowl game, the FedEx Orange Bowl, will be played in Miami and determine the national football champion.

Here is a brief look at each bowl in their proper categories with bold predictions of the outcomes.

1-STAR BOWLS

CHAMP SPORTS BOWL, Orlando, Dec. 21

Syracuse (6-5) vs. Georgia Tech (6-5) — The Orangemen began the season with a 51-point loss to Purdue, while Tech lost four games by more than two touchdowns. I'd rather go to Disney World. Georgia Tech 21, Syracuse 17

PLAINS CAPITAL FORT WORTH BOWL, Fort Worth, Dec. 23

Cincinnati (6-5) vs. Marshall (6-5) — Yikes, how would you like to promote this game? You have the Bearcats, who gave up 70 points to Louisville in their last game, and the Thundering Herd, who gave up 56 to Bowling Green in their second-to-last game. Marshall 70, Cincinnati 56

MOTOR CITY BOWL, Detroit, Dec. 27

Toledo (9-3) vs. Connecticut (7-4) — UConn earned its first-ever bowl berth by beating Buffalo and Rutgers the last two weeks of the season. Toledo began the year by allowing 63 points in each of its first two games, before settling down to win eight of its last nine. Toledo 35, Connecticut 17