Conference USA teams gear up for bowl season
Posted before the bowls began. A record six Conference USA teams are playing in bowl games after a successful 2005 football season. C-USA is matched up with the MAC in both the GMAC Bowl and Motor City Bowls, the Big 12 in the Fort Worth Bowl, the WAC in the Hawaii Bowl and the Sun Belt in the New Orleans Bowl.
- New Orleans Bowl - Southern Mississippi (6-5, 5-3 CUSA) vs. Arkansas State (6-5, 5-3 Sun Belt)
- Southern Miss comes off a 2004 New Orleans Bowl victory and is a 17 point favorite
- Arkansas State is making its first Division I-A bowl appearance
- New Orleans Bowl - ESPN.com
- GMAC Bowl - UTEP (8-3, 5-3 CUSA) vs. Toledo (8-3, 6-2 MAC)
- Fort Worth Bowl - Houston (6-5, 4-4 CUSA) vs. Kansas (6-5, 3-5 Big 12)
- Kansas is favored by 3 over Houston in a matchup of 6-5 teams
- Neither team has won a bowl game in 10 years; Houston's last bowl win was in 1980
- Fort Worth Bowl - ESPN.com
- Hawaii Bowl - Central Florida (8-4, 7-1 CUSA) vs. Nevada (8-3, 7-1 WAC)
- Nevada has won four straight and comes in a 2 point favorite over UCF
- UCF has improved to 8-4 and their first-ever bowl appearance after a 0-11 record in 2004
- Hawaii Bowl - ESPN.com
- Motor City Bowl - Memphis (6-5, 5-3 CUSA) vs. Akron (7-5, 5-3 MAC)
- Memphis is a 5.5 point favorite over the MAC Champion Akron Zips who won four of their last five games
- Motor City Bowl records: MAC 5-3, CUSA 0-3
- Motor City Bowl - ESPN.com
- Liberty Bowl - Tulsa (8-4, 6-2 CUSA) vs. Fresno State (8-4, 6-2 WAC)
- Both teams average over 33 points per game; this should be a high-scoring affair
- With a 1pm kickoff on New Year's Eve this should be a great game to get the party started early
- Liberty Bowl - ESPN.com
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