THE COLLGE FOOTBALL BOWL GAMES

The opening kickoff for the 36 college bowl game will be Dec. 17, and in the Bahamas Bowl in Nassau sending Toledo (7-5) against Middle Tennessee (6-6).

And Middle Tennessee will be the first team to take the field with .500 records, all at 6-6, and there will be 20, some of whom are surprises with the likes of Florida, LSU, Auburn, Texas, Virginia, and even Maryland and Tennessee sporting below .500 records.

Regardless, these schools are probably just satisfied to land in bowl games or on the other hand, are not, but will take it or leave because each school is contacted first and decide whether they consent to a bowl game.

The Gators might belong on their recognition each year, but the recent 14-point loss at home to Southern University will not be forgotten when they match up with Central Florida (8-4) in the Gardelella Bowl in Tampa, Fla.

Then there’s Auburn, and it belongs because of the four-overtime game it lost to now top-ranked Alabama (11-1), which plays undefeated 4th-ranked Cincinnati (13-0) in the college 4-school playoffs on Jan.1 in the Cotton Bowl in San Antonio.

In the other semifinal the same day at the Orange Bowl in Miami, it matches surging  No. 2 Michigan (12-3) 12 against No. 3 Georgia (12-1), which was knocked out of the spot after the loss to Bama in the Southeastern Conference championship game.

The first ranked team to play is No. 12 Brigham Young (10-2) facing UAB (8-4) in the Dec. 18 Independence Bowl in Shervport, La. After that will come everyone of the top-25 ranked.

The SEC has the most invited teams, 10, with the Atlantic Coast Conference right behind with nine, the Big 12 with eight, the big Ten with seven, and the Pac-12 with four.

Some of the most anticipated pairings are of course the Crimson Tide-Bobcats and Wolverines-Bulldogs as the finale of the bowls.

There’s No. 13 Oklahoma (10-2) versus No. 14 Oregon (13-3) in the Alamo Bowl played in San Antonio, Tex., There’s No. 5 Notre Dame (11-1) going against No. 9 Oklahoma State (10-2) in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., and No. 7 Ohio State (10-2) meeting up with No. 10 Utah (10-3) in the Rose Bowl in Passadena.

Adding No. 11 Michiagan State (10-2) taking No. 13 Pittsburgh (11-3), in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, No. 20 Wake Forest (10-3) paired against No. 23 Texas A & M (8-4) in the  Gator.Bowl in Jacksonville, Baylor (11-2) meeting up with No.8 Mississippi (10-2) at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, and and No. 17 Iowa playing No. 25 Kentucky 9-3) in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

Then you’ve got ranked teams against unranked. No. 23 Arkansas (8-4) versus Penn State (8-5), No 24 UTSA (12-1) against San Diego State (11-2), and No. 21 Houston (11-2) facing  Auburn (6-6), and No. 16 Louisiana-Lafayette (12-2) meeting up with Marshall (7-5) in the New Orleans Bowl.

There are also unranked versus unranked. LSU (6-6) against Kansas State (7-5), UCLA (8-4) versus North Carolina State (9-3), Mississippi State (7-3) taking on Texas Tech (6-6), and Florida (6-6) playing UCF (8-4)