Oregon, South Florida and California were all ranked second in the country at some point this season. All will play in a bowl before the calendar flips to 2008.

What a letdown.

Twenty-one bowl games will be played before the new year. Most of the teams involved in those games can be placed in two categories: 1) trying to make the most of it; 2) thrilled to still be playing in any game.

Count the Ducks, Bulls and Golden Bears in the first category. Oregon plays South Florida in the Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve. It's a much bigger let-down for the Ducks, who were in the national title hunt in November but went tumbling out after star quarterback Dennis Dixon went down with a knee injury.

The Ducks lost their last three games. USF had its three-game losing streak in the middle of the season. The Bulls were probably thinking much bigger than a date in El Paso, Texas, when they were No. 2 in October.

The Golden Bears (6-6) lost as No. 2 on Oct. 13, then lost five of their final six. Now they need a victory over Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl just to finish over .500.

Count Boston College, Clemson, Arizona State and Texas among the others who were thinking big in November and ended up in second-tier games. Add in UCLA and Florida State to the list of teams ending disappointing seasons in low-profile bowls.

TODAY'S GAME

NEW ORLEANS BOWL

Florida Atlantic (minus 2 1/2) vs. Memphis: Go figure. The Owls are in a bowl and the Miami Hurricanes are not ... FLORIDA ATLANTIC 37-24.

SATURDAY'S GAMES

PAPAJOHNS.COM BOWL

Cincinnati (minus 11) vs. Southern Miss: Jeff Bower coaching last game for Eagles ... CINCINNATI 37-21.

NEW MEXICO BOWL

New Mexico (minus 2 1/2) vs. Nevada: Lobos lost last year's New Mexico Bowl to San Jose State ... NEW MEXICO 28-24.

LAS VEGAS BOWL

BYU (minus 5 1/2) vs. UCLA: Bruins won early season meeting against Cougars 27-17 ... BYU 27-24.

SUNDAY'S GAME

HAWAI'I BOWL

East Carolina (plus 10 1/2) vs. Boise State: Broncos have averaged 35 points in seven bowl games ... BOISE STATE 35-14.

WEDNESDAY'S GAME

MOTOR CITY BOWL

Central Michigan (plus 8 1/2) vs. Purdue: Dan LeFevour, the Tim Tebow of the MAC, has 17 TD runs and 23 TD passes ... CENTRAL MICHIGAN 38-31.

THURSDAY'S GAME

HOLIDAY BOWL

Arizona State (plus 2 1/2) vs. Texas: First meeting between Sun Devils and Longhorns ... ARIZONA STATE 28-24.

FRIDAY, DEC. 28

CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL

Boston College (minus 3 1/2) vs. Michigan State: Eagles have nation's longest bowl winning streak at nine ... MICHIGAN STATE 31-27.

EMERALD BOWL

Maryland (plus 5) vs. Oregon State: Beavers third in nation in sacks and second in rush defense ... OREGON STATE 28-10.

TEXAS BOWL

Houston (plus 4) vs. TCU: Cougars have lost seven straight bowl games ... TCU 37-28. Saturday, Dec. 29

MEINEKE BOWL

Connecticut (plus 2 1/2) vs. Wake Forest: Demon Deacons reached postseason in consecutive seasons for first time ... CONNECTICUT 23-21.

LIBERTY BOWL

Mississippi State (plus 3) vs. UCF: UCF's Kevin Smith needs 180 yards rushing to tie Barry Sanders' single-season record of 2,628 ... MISSISSIPPI ST. 28-24.

ALAMO BOWL

Penn State (minus 5 1/2) vs. Texas A&M: Joe Paterno's 500th game as Nittany Lions coach ... PENN STATE 24-14.

SUNDAY, DEC. 30

INDEPENDENCE BOWL

Colorado (plus 3 1/2) vs. Alabama: Alabama coach Nick Saban tries to avoid first losing season in 12 years as college coach ... ALABAMA 27-24.

MONDAY, DEC. 31

ARMED FORCES BOWL

California (minus 3 1/2) vs. Air Force: Golden Bears have scored over 30 points in seven straight bowl appearances ... CALIFORNIA 37-28.

SUN BOWL

South Florida (minus 6 1/2) vs. Oregon: Looked like potential BCS matchup in October ... SOUTH FLORIDA 28-24.

HUMANITARIAN BOWL

Fresno State (plus 4 1/2) vs. Georgia Tech: Yellow Jackets lead nation with 48 sacks. ... FRESNO STATE 33-28.

MUSIC CITY BOWL

Florida State (off) vs. Kentucky: Bobby Bowden coaching in bowl for 26th straight season, ties Tom Osborne's record ... KENTUCKY 28-17.

INSIGHT BOWL

Indiana (plus 4) vs. Oklahoma State: Hoosiers first bowl appearance in 14 years ... OKLAHOMA STATE 37-31.

CHICK-FIL-A BOWL

Clemson (minus 2 1/2) vs. Auburn: Auburn has won 12 straight against Clemson, back to 1951 ... AUBURN 24-17.

Championship weekend record: 9-4 (straight); 6-7 (vs. points).

Season: 203-67 (straight); 128-117-6 (vs. points).

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