2008–09 NCAA football bowl games

The 2008–09 NCAA football bowl games, which concluded the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season, contained a record number of bowl games scheduled in college football history. A total of 37 bowl games, 34 team-competitive games and three all-star games, were played starting on December 20, 2008 with four contests and concludeing with the Texas vs. The Nation Game in El Paso, Texas, played on January 31, 2009 at Sun Bowl Stadium. For the first time in 62 years, however, the Hula Bowl was not a part of the post-season as it was cancelled indefinitely.

The NCAA divided Division I schools into two divisions starting in 1978: The Football Bowl Subdivision (known as Division I-A from 1978 through 2005) does not have a playoff system, and rewards schools which have football programs with outstanding records on the field during a season to play in bowl games as a reward. The Football Championship Subdivision (known through this same period as Division I-AA) plays in a sixteen-team, single elimination tournament for a recognized national championship, with the notable exceptions of the Ivy League, which abstains from football playoff participation, and the Southwestern Athletic Conference, who have their own playoff in this division.

Of the 34 team-competitive games scheduled, two were new for the 2008–09 season: The EagleBank Bowl, played in Washington, D.C. at RFK Stadium, which was the first Bowl Game to be played on December 20 with an 11 AM kickoff and The magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl, played in the Florida namesake city at Tropicana Field.[1] This meant that a total of 68 teams out of 119 in the FBS played in bowl games, provided they met certain criteria listed below.

Selection of the teams

NCAA bylaws say that a school with a record of 6–6 in regular season play and at least 5 wins over FBS teams are eligible only after conferences cannot fill out available positions for bowl games with teams having seven (or more) wins automatically eligible, excluding games played in Hawaii and conference championship games in the ACC, Big 12, Conference USA, MAC and the SEC.

Number of bowl teams per state.

After the final regular-season games on December 7, 2008, four conferences — the Pac-10, the SEC, the Big 12, and the Big Ten — did not have enough teams to fill their bowl game allotments. The Pac-10 had seven contracted bowl slots with only five teams eligible. The last two bowls in the Pac-10 pecking order—the Hawaiʻi Bowl (sixth) and Poinsettia Bowl (seventh)—had contingency contracts with other conferences, respectively Conference USA and the WAC, to select one of the secondary conference's teams should the Pac-10 fail to supply enough eligible teams to supply that bowl. However, because C-USA had only six bowl-eligible teams to fill its six primary bowl slots, the Pac-10/C-USA slot in the Hawaiʻi Bowl became an at-large spot, and was awarded to Notre Dame. The SEC and Big 12 failed to produce enough teams to fill their requirements even before both conferences had two teams selected to BCS games, while the Big Ten was unable to fill its requirements once a second team from that conference (Ohio State) was selected to a BCS game. The Atlantic Coast Conference sent an NCAA-record ten teams to bowl games this season.[2] Since 72 teams were bowl-eligible, but only 68 bowl slots were available, four teams were left out of bowl games. Unlike in 2007, when an eight-win Troy team was left home for the postseason, no team with seven or more wins went without a bowl bid this year. All four uninvited teams — Arkansas State, Bowling Green, Louisiana-Lafayette, and San José State — had six wins.

Results

NOTE: Rankings from final BCS Standings of December 7, 2008.

Non BCS Contests[3]
Date Game Site Score
December 20 EagleBank Bowl RFK Stadium
Washington, DC
Wake Forest 29 (8–5)
Navy 19 (8–5)
December 20 New Mexico Bowl University Stadium
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM
Colorado State 40 (7–6)
Fresno State 35[4] (7–6)
December 20 magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl Tropicana Field
St. Petersburg, FL
South Florida 41 (8–5)
Memphis 14[5] (6–7)
December 20 Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl Sam Boyd Stadium
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Whitney, NV
Arizona 31 (8–5)
(16) Brigham Young 21[6] (10–3)
December 21 R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Louisiana Superdome
New Orleans, LA
Southern Mississippi 30 (7–6)
Troy (Sun Belt Champion) 27[7](8–5) (OT)
December 23 SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl Qualcomm Stadium
San Diego, CA
(11) TCU 17 (11–2)
(9) Boise State (WAC Champion) 16 (12–1)
December 24 Sheraton Hawaiʻi Bowl Aloha Stadium
Honolulu, HI
Notre Dame 49 (7–6)
Hawaiʻi 21 (7–7)
December 26 Motor City Bowl Ford Field
Detroit, MI
Florida Atlantic 24 (7–6)
Central Michigan 21 (8-5)[8]
December 27 Meineke Car Care Bowl Bank of America Stadium
Charlotte, NC
West Virginia 31 (9–4)
North Carolina 30 (8–5)
December 27 Champs Sports Bowl Citrus Bowl
Orlando, FL
Florida State 42 (9–4)
Wisconsin 13 (7–6)
December 27 Emerald Bowl AT&T Park
San Francisco, CA
California 24 (9–4)
Miami (FL) 17 (7–6)
December 28 Independence Bowl Independence Stadium
Shreveport, LA
Louisiana Tech 17 (8–5)[9]
NIU 10 (6–7)
December 29 Papajohns.com Bowl Legion Field
Birmingham, AL
Rutgers 29 (8–5)
North Carolina State 23 (6–7)
December 29 Valero Energy Alamo Bowl Alamodome
San Antonio, TX
(21) Missouri 30 (10–4)
(23) Northwestern 23 (9–4) (OT)
December 30 Roady's Humanitarian Bowl Bronco Stadium
Boise State University
Boise, ID
Maryland 42 (8–5)
Nevada 35 (7–6)
December 30 Pacific Life Holiday Bowl Qualcomm Stadium
San Diego, CA
(17) Oregon 42 (10–3)
(13) Oklahoma State 31 (9–4)
December 30 Texas Bowl Reliant Stadium
Houston, TX
Rice 38 (10–3)
Western Michigan 14 (9–4)
December 31 Bell Helicopters Armed Forces Bowl Amon G. Carter Stadium
Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, TX
Houston 34 (8–5)
Air Force 28 (8–5)
December 31 Brut Sun Bowl Sun Bowl Stadium
University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, TX
Oregon State 3 (9–3)
(20) Pittsburgh 0 (9–4)
December 31 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl LP Field
Nashville, TN
Vanderbilt 16 (7–6)
(24) Boston College 14 (9–5)
December 31 Insight Bowl Sun Devil Stadium
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ
Kansas 42 (8–5)
Minnesota 21 (7–6)
December 31 Chick-fil-A Bowl Georgia Dome
Atlanta, GA
LSU 38 (8–5)
(14) Georgia Tech 3 (9–4)
January 1 Outback Bowl Raymond James Stadium
Tampa, FL
Iowa 31 (9–4)
South Carolina 10 (7–4)
January 1 Konica Minolta Gator Bowl Jacksonville Municipal Stadium
Jacksonville, FL
Nebraska 26 (8–4)[10]
Clemson 21 (7–5)
January 1 Capital One Bowl Citrus Bowl
Orlando FL
(15) Georgia 24 (10–3)
(18) Michigan State 12 (9–4)
January 2 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic Cotton Bowl, Fair Park
Dallas, TX
(25) Ole Miss 47 (9–4)
(7) Texas Tech 34 (11–2)
January 2 AutoZone Liberty Bowl Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
Memphis, TN
Kentucky 25 (7–6)
East Carolina (C-USA Champion) 19 (9–5)
January 3 International Bowl Rogers Centre
Toronto, ON
UConn 38 (8–5)
Buffalo (MAC Champion) 20 (8–6)
January 6 GMAC Bowl Ladd Peebles Stadium
Mobile, AL
Tulsa 45 (11–3)
(22) Ball State 13 (12–2)
Bowl Championship Series
Date Game Site Score
January 1 Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi Rose Bowl Stadium
Pasadena, CA
(5) USC (Pac-10 Champion) 38 (12–1)
(8) Penn State (Big Ten co-Champion) 24 (11–2)[11]
January 1 FedEx Orange Bowl Dolphin Stadium
Miami Gardens, FL
(19) Virginia Tech (ACC Champion)[11] 20 (10–4)
(12) Cincinnati (Big East Champion) 7 (11–3)
January 2 Allstate Sugar Bowl Louisiana Superdome
New Orleans, LA
(6) Utah (MWC Champion)[11] 31 (13-0)
(4) Alabama (SEC runner-up) 17 (12-2)[12]
January 5 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl University of Phoenix Stadium
Glendale, AZ
(3) Texas (Big 12) 24 (12-1)
(10) Ohio State (Big Ten co-champion) 21 (10-3)[11]
January 8 2009 FedEx BCS National Championship Dolphin Stadium
Miami Gardens, FL
(2) Florida (SEC Champion) 24
(1) Oklahoma (Big 12 Champion) 14 [13]

Conference bowl representation

Bowl Appearances Final Rankings
Conference No. of Teams Record Pct. Winners Losers Ranked
Teams
Team AP
(1/9/09)
Coaches
(1/9/09)
BCS
(12/7/08)
 Pac-10 5 5–0  1.000  USC
Oregon
Oregon State
California
Arizona
4 USC #3(1) #2  #5
Oregon #10 #9  #17
Oregon State #18 #19  NR
California NR #25  NR
Winners of 2008-09 Bowl Challenge Cup with perfect record.
 SEC 8 6–2  0.750  Florida
Georgia
Ole Miss
Vanderbilt
LSU
Kentucky
Alabama
South Carolina
4 Florida #1(48) #1(60)  #2
Alabama #6 #6  #4
Georgia #13 #10  #15
Ole Miss #14 #15  #25
Florida won the National Championship. Vanderbilt won in a bowl for the first time since 1955.
Kentucky won a bowl for the third straight season, a first in school history.
 Big East 6 4–2  0.667  West Virginia
South Florida
Rutgers
Connecticut
Cincinnati
Pittsburgh
3 Cincinnati #17 #17  #12
West Virginia #23 NR  NR
Pittsburgh NR NR  #20
Both of the Big East's BCS-ranked teams lost their games.
 Big 12 7 4–3  0.571  Texas
Missouri
Kansas
Nebraska
Oklahoma
Texas Tech
Oklahoma State
5 Texas #4 #3  #3
Oklahoma #5 #6  #1
Texas Tech #12 #12  #7
Oklahoma State #16 #18  #13
Missouri #19 #16  #21
 Conference USA 6 4–2  0.667  Southern Mississippi
Rice
Houston
Tulsa
Memphis
East Carolina
0 none
Rice ended a 54-year winless streak in bowls, Houston ended theirs at 28.
 Mountain West 5 3–2  0.600  Utah
TCU
Colorado State
Brigham Young
Air Force
3 Utah #2(16) #4(1)  #6
TCU #7 #7  #11
Brigham Young #25 #21  #16
Utes became first BCS outsider to win two BCS games; their other was the 2005 Fiesta Bowl.
The Utes also won their eighth straight bowl game.
 Independents 2 1–1  0.500  Notre Dame
Navy
0 none
Notre Dame won first bowl game since 1994 Cotton Bowl Classic.
 Sun Belt 2 1–1  0.500  Florida Atlantic
Troy
0 none
Only conference ineligible for 2008-09 Bowl Challenge Cup.
 ACC 10 4–6  0.400  Virginia Tech
Florida State
Maryland
Wake Forest
Georgia Tech
Boston College
North Carolina
Miami (FL)
NC State
Clemson
4 Virginia Tech #15 #14  #19
Georgia Tech #22 #22  #14
Florida State #21 #23  NR
Boston College NR NR  #24
The ACC's ten teams in postseason is a new NCAA record.
Boston College's streak of bowl wins in eight consecutive seasons ended.
 Western Athletic 5 1–4  0.200  Louisiana Tech
Boise State
Fresno State
Hawaiʻi
Nevada
1 Boise State #11 #13  #9
 Big Ten 7 1–6  0.143  Iowa
Penn State
Ohio State
Michigan State
Northwestern
Minnesota
Wisconsin
5 Penn State #8 #8  #8
Ohio State #9 #11  #10
Iowa #20 #20  NR
Michigan State #24 #24  #18
Northwestern NR #NR  #23
Iowa's win in Outback Bowl avoided a total shutout.
 Mid-American 5 0–5  0.000  Ball State
Central Michigan
NIU
Western Michigan
Buffalo
1 Ball State NR NR  #22
Only winless conference in bowl season.

NOTE: BCS teams are listed in italics.

Post-BCS All-Star Games

All-Star Game Date Location Television Result
East-West Shrine Game[14] January 17, 2009 Robertson Stadium
University of Houston
Houston, Texas
ESPN2 East 24, West 19
Senior Bowl[15][16] January 24, 2009 Ladd-Peebles Stadium,
Mobile, Alabama
NFL Network South 35, North 18
Texas vs. The Nation Game[17] January 31, 2009 Sun Bowl Stadium
University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, Texas
CBS College Sports Network The Nation 27, Texas 24

References

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