Rose Bowl: No. 6 USC vs. No. 13 Illinois
The USC Trojans will play in their sixth-consecutive Bowl Championship Series bowl in the 2008 Rose Bowl against at-large berth recipient Illinois, who was selected as one of the four at-large berths.
The selection of Illinois (9-3, 6-2 Big 10 Conference) for an at-large BCS berth is likely to stir up some controversy, though it does uphold the Rose Bowl’s traditional conference match-up. Among the naysayers will be fans of two-loss Missouri – who beat Illinois at home 40-34 to open the 2007 season – and two-loss Arizona State, who was ranked above Illinois and had hoped to play in the Fiesta Bowl right down the road from them in Glendale, Ariz., but will have to settle instead for the Holiday Bowl.
USC earned its sixth-straight Pac-10 title with its win over UCLA Saturday, the team that derailed its national championship hopes last year, to achieve full recovery from the embarrassment of a 24-23 home loss to the Stanford Cardinal.
Illinois defeated then-No. 1 Ohio State 28-21 Nov. 10 to push the Buckeyes out of the top spot in the BCS rankings, at least temporarily. With the Buckeyes headed to New Orleans to face LSU in the national championship game, Illinois got bumped up into the Rose Bowl.
The Rose Bowl is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. New Year’s Day and will be televised nationally on ABC.
Holiday Bowl: No. 12 Arizona State vs. No. 17 Texas
The college football season’s unpredictable upsets claimed another team this weekend, even though it won on the field. After beating rival Arizona, No. 12 Arizona State was in line to go to the Fiesta Bowl in nearby Glendale, Ariz. But No. 1 Missouri and No. 2 West Virginia both lost, allowing Big Ten Conference champion Ohio State to move into the national championship game.
Having lost one Big Ten team, the Rose Bowl picked Illinois to fill that spot and the falling dominoes knocked the Sun Devils (10-2, 7-2 Pacific-10 Conference) into the Holiday Bowl in San Diego where they will play No. 17 Texas (9-3, 5-3 Big 12 Conference) on Dec. 27 at 5 p.m. on ESPN.
The Holiday Bowl traditionally features a high-scoring game and both of this year’s teams feature powerful offenses that average more than 30 points per game. Arizona State scored more than 40 points in five games this season and Texas reached 50 points three times.
Coming off a 7-6 season, the Sun Devils and first-year head coach Dennis Erickson were led by quarterback Rudy Carpenter, linebacker Robert James and kicker Thomas Weber, a Lou Groza Award finalist.
The Longhorns have a talented dual-threat quarterback in Colt McCoy, who threw for 3,129 yards and rushed for 408 more. The Texas ground game is led by Jamaal Charles’ 1,458 rushing yards.
Emerald Bowl: Oregon State vs. Maryland
Oregon State, fresh off its double-overtime victory over Oregon in the Civil War, has accepted an invitation to the Emerald Bowl. The Beavers (8-4 overall, 6-3 Pacific-10 Conference) will face the Maryland Terrapins (6-6 overall, 3-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) in the bowl game to be held at AT&T Park on Friday, Dec. 28 at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN.
“We are proud to represent the Pac-10 Conference at the Emerald Bowl,” Oregon State athletic director Bob De Carolis said on OsuBeavers.com. “San Francisco is one of the great cities of the world and its proximity to `Beaver Nation’ certainly presents an opportunity to have terrific representation at the game.”
“Our kids are excited to be going to the Emerald Bowl and appreciative of this opportunity,” Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said. “We’re looking forward to playing a Pac-10 team, something we haven’t done in a long time.
“Oregon State is a fine team and Mike Riley is an excellent football coach. He has his team playing very well right now.”
The Terps finished fifth in the ACC Coastal division, and secured their bowl eligibility with a 37-0 win over N.C. State on Nov. 24. Oregon State finished third in the Pac-10 and locked up the position with Saturday’s Civil War victory.
Las Vegas Bowl: UCLA vs. No. 19 BYU
After going undefeated in the Mountain West Conference this season, league champion Brigham Young learned Sunday it would be playing in its second consecutive Las Vegas Bowl, against UCLA on Dec. 22, at 5 p.m., on ESPN. The teams won’t need to look far for their opponent’s scouting report – they already played each other on Sept. 8.
The Bruins (6-6 overall, 5-4 Pac-10) beat Brigham Young (10-2 overall, 8-0 MWC) 27-17 on Sept. 8 in Pasadena, Calif. Four months later, the No. 19 Cougars can reach 11 wins for the second consecutive season with a win, while UCLA finished the season tied for fourth-place in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Head coach Bronco Mendenhall’s Cougars are one of the nation’s most balanced, with its scoring offense and defense ranking 15th and 13th nationally. Cougars’ second-team freshman All-American running back Harvey Unga ran for 1,211 yards this year, the first BYU freshman to ever run for more than 1,000 in a season.
UCLA will count on its defense, which finished in the top third of the nation and averages 8.67 tackles for loss per game, to offset its 96th-ranked total offense that finished with 236 yards of offense against BYU in September.
Armed Forces Bowl: California vs. Air Force
The California Golden Bears, who finished the season tied for seventh in the Pacific-10 Conference, will play Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 31 in Fort Worth, Tex.
Cal (6-6, 3-6 Pac-10) began the season with promise, beating then-No. 15 Tennessee en route to six straight wins that culminated in a 31-24 defeat of then-No. 11 Oregon on Sept. 29. The Bears were rewarded with a No. 2 ranking but fell off quickly, losing six of their final seven games, including the Big Game against Stanford on Saturday.
Air Force (9-3, 6-2 Mountain West Conference) quietly finished second in MWC play to BYU, who handed the Falcons their first loss of the season on Sept. 22. After a loss to Navy the following week, Air Force rebounded to win six of their final seven games, losing only to New Mexico. The Falcons received votes in both the USA Today and AP polls.
The Falcons boast the second-best rushing attack in the nation, spearheaded by wide receiver Chad Hall, who averages 6.7 yards a carry in addition to 10.6 yards per reception. Cal running back Justin Forsett ran for 1,406 yards on the year, and the Bears feature three productive wide receivers in DeSean Jackson, Lavelle Hawkins and Robert Jordan.
The Armed Forces Bowl will be televised at 9:30 a.m. on ESPN.
