The bowl games in review: Pizza, Beef, Chicken and Fighting Hunger

This is Day 23 of the 24-day, 35-game college football bowl season, and the game we've all been waiting for is finally upon us.

Of course, I'm referring to tonight's Fight Hunger Bowl between Boston College and Nevada. That Auburn-Oregon game Monday night might be OK, too.

We've laughed, we've cried, we've asked “What is that?” when we saw the Beef O'Brady's Bowl, the TicketCity Bowl, and the BBVA Compass Bowl. Whatever happened to the classic, dignified names like the Poulan Weed-Eater Independence Bowl?

Before we all unite to fight hunger this evening by watching a run-of-the-mill team from the Big East play a game against a WAC co-champion in San Francisco, let's take a fond look back at the 22 days that have come before this.

The first bowl was something, wasn't it? BYU and UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl, two teams with 6-6 records. Someone had to win. It wasn't UTEP, which finished with minus-12 yards rushing. Little did the Miners know that would be 36 yards better than what Michigan State “gathered” on the ground against Alabama in the Capital One Bowl.

Fresno State did a humanitarian thing and gave 2,000 Humanitarian Bowl tickets to Idaho military personnel out of its allotted 3,000. Of course, the school sold just 250 tickets, so ...

Louisville was happy to play in the Dec. 21 Beef O'Brady's Bowl, and sold 10,000 tickets to the St. Petersburg, Fla., game. That's because it didn't want to be in any bowl played on or near Dec. 31, when the Cardinals men's basketball team faced archrival Kentucky.

Boise State and Utah players created a scene at a Las Vegas Bowl welcoming reception at the Hard Rock. They had a better battle there than in the game itself, a 26-3 Boise State breeze. “Some pushing and shoving, some dishes broken,” said the bowl's media director, Mark Wallington.

For the third-straight year, the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit didn't feature a Big Ten team even though the game has an affiliation with the conference. The Big Ten was one bowl-eligible team short of supplying one to America's only remaining pizza bowl (the former Papajohns.com Bowl is now that Compass thingie). Nonetheless, the bowl and the Big Ten have extended their relationship through 2013. A bowl can dream.

Florida State won the Chick-fil-A Bowl. I didn't want the chicken outfit to get left out after mentioning pizza and beef.

Air Force's live falcon normally flies into the stadium at the start of the Academy's football games. At the Independence Bowl, though, it flew out of the stadium and wandered around Shreveport. It was found unharmed. The bird may have had an inkling Air Force's 14-7 win over Georgia Tech would be dull.

By losing to Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl, Arizona closed its season with five straight defeats.

Adrian Hilburn of Kansas State was given a costly 15-yard penalty when he saluted the crowd following his touchdown that pulled the Wildcats within 36-34 of Syracuse late in the Pinstripe Bowl. K-State failed on its two-point conversion try from the 18-yard line. Some wondered if Hilburn would have been flagged had he been playing in the Military Bowl or Armed Forces Bowl.

The Meineke Car Care Bowl will be the Belk Bowl next year. That's all I'm willing to say about that at this time.

After losing 56-21 to Nebraska in September, Washington beat the Cornhuskers 19-7 in the Holiday Bowl. “It was a ridiculous performance,” said Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini. It also seems to be a fitting way for the Huskers to enter the Big Ten given the league's 0-5 showing in New Year's Day bowls.

Clemson, East Carolina, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State, Tennessee and UTEP all played in bowls. They all finished with 6-7 records. College football wouldn't lose its way if it lost a Compass Bowl or two.