2011 Bowl Games: A Fascinating Thing You Need to Know About Every Team

Now that the regular season is over, conference champions have been crowned and the college football postseason is ready to get started. 

With all the bowl game announced, fans are able to start circling matchups on their calendars that they want to sit down and watch from start to finish.

Before getting comfortable on the couch and soaking in the bowl games, here is a look at both crazy and interesting facts about all 70 bowl teams. 

Temple

While Temple is certainly not a national power, the Owls have done a great job of finding talent in their backyard. Did you know that the Owls roster only has three players that are from states outside of the eastern timezone? 

Wyoming

Dave Christensen has done a great job since taking over at Wyoming. What many may not know is that Christensen actually spent 24 years as an assistant coach in college football before finally getting his shot. 

Utah State

After a great season, the Aggies are going bowling this year and it is well deserved.

With all the ups and downs that the program has encountered, the last time that the Utah State defense recorded a shutout was all the way back in 2003 when they shutout Arkansas State 49-0. More amazing was the fact that they did so in a year that they only won three games. 

Ohio

After facing the disappointment of losing the MAC championship, the Ohio Bobcats are still heading to a bowl game. Despite their five conference titles and recent success, the Bobcats have appeared in five bowl games and have lost them all. 

UL Lafayette

People outside of alumni and players know very little about UL Lafayette. While there are interesting players all over the roster, most interesting is kicker Brett Baer. 

Most interesting about this junior kicker is his major of choice, exercise science. 

San Diego State

While San Diego State has been impressive on the field, what is more impressive is a list of people who have been a part of the program. The list includes Sean Payton, John Madde, John Fox, Herman Edwards, Brian Billick and Joe Gibbs. 

Arkansas State

Arkansas State had a banner year this season. The Red Wolves won the Sun Belt and are heading to a bowl game. Since moving up to the now FBS, Arkansas State has only made one other bowl game and lost that 31-19 to Southern Miss. 

Marshall

Marshall is home of one of the biggest sports tragedies in history. Back in 1970, a plane crash ended up killing 75 people, 37 of which were part of the football program.

This tragedy was honored in a 2006 movie called We Are Marshall. 

Wake Forest

Jim Grobe has done a terrific job as head coach of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. He has done so well that his 11 years as head coach is only second to Peahead Walker, who coached for 14 years. 

FIU

In 2002, FIU had their first season and immediately went after their quarterback of the future. FIU brought in Jamie Burke from Cardinal Mooney High, Sarasota, FL.

The interesting part about Burke is that out of all the talent to come out of the state, he is the only player to ever throw for over 500 yards in a game. 

TCU

TCU had a great season this year despite losing Andy Dalton to the draft. The interesting part of the year is the fact that TCU was a part of two long home winning streaks coming to an end.

First, TCU lost at home to SMU in overtime but then passed the favor on to Boise State by beating them at home and snapping their streak. 

BYU

BYU has a great football history but something even more interesting is a fact about their stadium.

Instead of storing equipment and lawn maintenance items under their stadium, until 2005 the largest collection of Jurassic fossils could be found underneath LaVell Edwards Stadium.

Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt has done a nice job of rebuilding their program and getting them back into a bowl game this year. Unfortunately for Commodore fans, a bowl game will have to be enough since they have not won a conference title since 1923 and in the SEC, that run will not be ending anytime soon. 

Louisiana Tech

It will be interesting to see if when Louisiana Tech heads to their bowl game, if they will be bringing Tech XX and the Fire Bell along with them. Both are icons in the program and help make up the pageantry of college football. 

Arizona State

While Brock Osweiler may be a solid quarterback for the Sun Devils, football is not even his best sport. In high school, Osweiler was a standout basketball and original had committed to Gonzaga to play for the basketball program. 

Western Michigan

While Western Michigan may not be talked about a whole lot, they do have alum Greg Jennings to brag about. Not only is Jennings a successful NFL receiver but while at Western, Jennings set a record for three seasons with 1,000 receiving yards. 

Southern Miss

While Southern Miss pulled off a stunning victory this weekend to clinch the Conference USA title, their head coach may want to slow down after making the comment that they deserve to be in the BCS.

Southern Miss has lost to UAB, who was the only team to lose to Florida Atlantic this year. Granted the win was nice but the Golden Eagles aren't quite ready for the BCS. 

Iowa State

Everyone knows and watched the Iowa State Cyclones knock off Oklahoma State and ruin their perfect season. What people may not know is that while that game got them bowl eligible, the Cyclones lost their last two games after that win and scored fewer points combined then they did against the Cowboys. 

NC State

Despite the belief that Russell Wilson left the NC State offense dead in the water, the passing game seems to have not missed a beat. In his first year as starter, Mike Glennon is three touchdowns away of matching Wilson's best total while at NC State. 

Air Force

While many may think of places like Colorado providing an advantage due to the altitude and this air, it is interesting to note that Air Force is only second to Wyoming in terms of the altitude they play at while at Falcon Stadium. 

Nevada

While many realized how long Joe Paterno had been with Penn State, something less known is about the head man at Nevada. 

Chris Ault is now finishing up his 24th year with the Wolf Pack and this year was able to win his 226th game. 

Pittsburgh

Pitt has a great advantage in that they get to play in the home stadium of the Pittsburgh Panthers, Heinz Field. Not only do they share the stadium, another recruiting tool they have is the Panthers are also about to use the Steelers indoor practice field. 

Purdue

The mascot for Purdue is Purdue Pete. The original basis for his creation back in the 40's was to design him wearing things that would signify the various majors offered by the school. 

Baylor

After a tremendous season, Robert Griffin III finds himself in the thick of things for the Heisman Trophy. If Griffin is able to win the Heisman, he would be the first Baylor Bear to win the trophy. 

Houston

Houston had a tremendous year and was 12-0 going into the Conference USA championship. After getting stunned by Southern Miss, the 49 points that their defense gave up was the most points they had given up all year by over 10 points. 

Virginia

This year, Mike London had Virginia competing for a spot in the ACC title game. While London did a great job with Virginia, it is interesting to not that one of the most well known alumni of Virginia is Wake Forest's head coach Jim Grobe who is also in a bowl game this year. 

Illinois

Midway through the season, Illinois had climbed all the way up to No. 16 in the nation and were sitting at 6-0. Unless you paid attention to the Big 10, what you may not know is the Illini dropped there last six games and finished the year with an average 6-6 record. 

SMU

SMU has done a nice job of rebuilding their program. With their bowl appearance this year, the Mustangs will have made it to three straight bowls. The previous three bowl games were all before they received the death penalty. 

North Carolina

Despite being replaced after one year as interim head coach, Everett Withers is one of only three coaches in North Carolina's football history to lead his team to a bowl game in his first season as head coach. 

Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech has some great history around their program but one piece of that history takes the cake. The Yellow Jackets play on campus at Bobby Dodd Stadium. They have been doing so since 1905, the most time any school has played at an on campus stadium. 

Cal

Cal could argue that they had the hardest schedule in the nation this year because they never played a home game. Well technically this is right.

This year, Cal Memorial Stadium was under construction forcing the Golden Bears to play elsewhere. 

Louisville

The Big East has become a conference that is harder and harder to defend on a yearly basis. This year, Louisville earned a share of the Big East title at 7-5. Some of their losses included games against Florida International and Marshall.

Missouri

While Missouri has had some luck over the past few years and have also managed to win their division, the last time that Missouri was an outright conference champion was 1945. The last time they were even a co-champion was 1969.

Toledo

The Toledo Rockets are coming off of a great season for the program. One thing that is extremely interesting to know based on how rare it would be in todays time is that Toledo actually played their first couple of seasons without a nickname. 

Tulsa

While Tulsa is now known as the Golden Hurricanes, it was not always that simple for the program. Tulsa has gone through a multitude of nickname changes that include Orange and Black, Kendallites, Presbyterians, Tigers and Tulsans.

Rutgers

With the success that Rutgers had this season, coach Greg Schiano will likely be around for a few more season. Schiano has already served the program for 11 years and one more will tie him for having the longest tenure in program history. 

Mississippi State

Mississippi State secured their third straight win in the Egg Bowl this year by defeating rival Ole Miss. The last time that the Bulldogs won three straight games in this rivalry was from 1939-1942 when they won four straight. 

Iowa

Iowa is known for having a ferocious defense. Despite the history, this was the first year since 2006 that the Hawkeyes defense failed to hold an opponent to three points or less over the course of the season. 

Northwestern

Pat Fitzgerald has always been a Northwestern Wildcat to his core. Before being named the head coach of the program, Fitzgerald was also a player that helped lead Northwestern to a birth in the 1996 Rose Bowl. 

Utah

What a crazy season for Utah. In their first season with the Pac-12, things got off to a really shaky start. The Utes lost their first three conference games and yet still had an opportunity to win the Pac-12 South division in their last game of the year but two missed field goals blew that opportunity. 

South Carolina

While many are aware that the South Carolina Gamecocks play in the SEC, what they may not know is that they have also played in the ACC. From 1953 to 1970, South Carolina called the ACC home before morning over to the SEC. 

Cincinnati

Cincinnati was part of a three way tie for the Big East crown but unfortunately for the Bearcats, they were on the short end of that stick.

This is the second straight year that a conference ended in a three way tie. Last year, Michigan State was the odd man out in a tie in the Big 10.

Auburn

Despite not being able to defend their national title, the Auburn Tigers are heading to another bowl game this year and they have had great success in bowls. The Tigers are 21-13-2 in bowl games and have never lost more then three straight in their programs history. 

Nebraska

While it is certainly known now, years from now this will end up being a trivia question when friends get together and talk about Big 10 football. The first bowl that Nebraska will play in as a member of the Big 10 is the Capital One Bowl against South Carolina. 

Northern Illinois

Northern Illinois has won the MAC this year and are heading bowling for fourth straight season. While they have not produced a ton of NFL talent, Michael Turner did call Northern Illinois home during college. 

Kansas State

Bill Snyder has been a blessing for the Kansas State program. When Snyder took over the Wildcat program, Kansas State had the most losses in division 1.

Texas A&M

While it is well documented, it is still unbelievable to look at. Entering the second half of games this year, Texas A&M held the following leads and blew them all; 28-17, 31-21, 35-17, and 20-3.

The inability to close games ended up costing Mike Sherman his job. 

Texas

While Mack Brown may be under heat in Texas for two straight lackluster seasons, something interesting to note is that it took Mack Brown five years to win three bowl games at Texas. It took Brown that same five year stretch to just get North Carolina to a bowl game. 

Florida

After an 8-5 season last year, Gator fans hoped that with the changes to the coaching staff, things would turn around in 2011. They were wrong.

This year the Gators went 6-6. The last time they had a worse record then that was in 1979 when they went 0-10-1. 

Washington

With the loss of Jake Locker, the Huskies are looking for a new answer at the quarterback position. While Keith Price received the majority of the snaps this year, Washington is the home to Nick Montana, the son of Joe Montana. 

Oklahoma

This years games between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State did not go the way that Sooner fans had hoped. The Sooners ended up losing by 34 points and giving the Cowboys a rare win in the series. 

In their 106 meetings, the Cowboys have only won 17 times and the only loss worse than this game occurred in 1945 when the Sooners list 47-0. 

Notre Dame

Facing an 0-2 start and the possibility of going 0-3, Notre Dame hosted Michigan State in a game they desperately needed. The Irish would go on to win the game, which drew them a split with the teams from Michigan. The last time that Notre Dame was able to sweep those two teams was in 2004. 

UCLA

When at home, the UCLA Bruins wear their blue uniforms. These uniforms are some of the most recognizable in the nation. 

What is interesting about their jerseys is that they have renamed the color blue three times. It started as Yale Blue, then transferred to Powderkeg Blue and is now known as True Blue. 

Florida State

An incredible fact that I am sure most Florida State fans would like to forget about is coming into this season, the Seminoles were the preseason No. 6 team. They finished the season outside of the BCS Top 25. 

Boise State

After all the success that Kellen Moore has had at Boise State, it is interesting to know that besides for Boise State, the only other team to make an offer to him was Eastern Michigan. Boy did teams miss the boat on Moore. 

Georgia

Despite what Georgia fans may have told you during the offseason, Mark Richt is a good coach and helped the Bulldogs bounce back from an 0-2 start to finish 10-3. 

More impressive than what he does on the field is what Richt has done off of it. Off the field, Richt has adopted two kids from overseas with known medical disorders.  

Michigan State

While most people are aware of Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins, what people may not know is that the player to come down with the Hail Mary in the middle of the season against Wisconsin was a former quarterback himself.

Keith Nichol made one of the biggest catches in Michigan State history but his career actually started as a quarterback. 

Penn State

This years bowl game will have a very different feel to it then ever before. The last time that Penn State went to a bowl game without Paterno as its head coach was in 1962, three years before he became the head coach. 

Arkansas

What is crazy is that coming into this season, Arkansas was extremely balanced on offense. With Tyler Wilson throwing the ball and Knile Davis running it, Arkansas was on track for a great offensive season.

Before the year even got started, Davis was lost for the year and yet Arkansas managed to stay in the top 20 for scoring offenses and averaged over 37 points per game. 

Ohio State

Whats crazy about the Urban Meyer to Ohio State story is the fact that everyone knew this was the route that the Buckeyes would take a year ago. 

When Jim Tressel was ousted out of Columbus people saw Luke Fickell get named the head coach but everyone know it would end up being Meyer's job. 

Clemson

After a great season and winning the ACC, Clemson has earned itself a trip to the Orange Bowl. The interesting thing to note is that the last time the Tigers were in the Orange Bowl was 1981, the same year the program won its only national championship. 

West Virginia

West Virginia was the winner of the three way tie in the Big East and is heading to a BCS bowl game. What people need to know is that when you see their head coach, Dana Holgorsen walking the sidelines, the hairstyle he is going for is known as the skullet. 

Michigan

Well many people know about the highlight runs that Denard Robinson has proved the nation with, not many know that Robinson plays each game without tying his shoelaces. Kind of hard to believe based on the amount of cuts and runs he pulls off. 

Virginia Tech

When looking back at the history of the BCS, Virginia Tech is now the owner of a stat that is not that flattering. 

With their BCS birth this year, Virginia Tech is the first team to receive a bid without having a win over a top 20 team during the regular season. 

Stanford

Coming into this season, Stanford was riding an eight game winning streak. Very quietly, Stanford had the longest winning streak in the nation as it reached 17, which was also the longest streak in the schools history. 

Oklahoma State

While Oklahoma State fans are still getting over the sting of being left out of the NCAA championship, there is something that should be more publicized about Justin Blackmon.

On gameday, you will see Blackmon wearing a pink bracelet that he wears for a young girl he met while doing a team appearance at a children's hospital. He developed a friendship with her and was given this bracelet as a gift. 

He wears it to honor her during every game. 

Wisconsin

After a great regular season with Wisconsin, Russell Wilson may want to thank baseball for this opportunity. 

NC State coach Tom O'Brien was looking for more of a commitment for Wilson in the offseason instead of splitting time with baseball. Wilson was free to transfer and chose Wisconsin and baseball. 

Oregon

As most people know, Oregon has an infinite amount of option of what they can wear in a game. From their helmets to their shoes, the Ducks have a combination for every situation. 

What most people don't know is that for a long time, the Oregon Ducks mens golf coach was the person in charge of selecting the uniform combination. 

Alabama

In a crazy college football season, the Crimson Tide find themselves in the national title game against LSU despite not even playing for their conference title game.

What is crazy about this is what coach Nick Saban said back in 2003. "Anyone who doesn't win their conference, has no business playing in the national championship."

LSU

In case you have been living in a hole and have not heard of this. Les Miles has been known for reaching down and grabbing some grass off of the field and eating it. 

Miles has said, "I have a little tradition that humbles me as a man, that lets me know that I'm a part of the field and part of the game. You should have seen some games before this. I can tell you one thing: The grass in Tiger Stadium tastes best."