College Bowl Game Schedule, Preview: USC Trojans End Tumultuous Season vs Fresno State at Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl, More

New Mexico Bowl (University Stadium, Albuquerque, NM): Colorado State Rams (7-6) vs Washington State University Cougars (6-6)
Both Colorado State University and Washington State University are excited to be in the New Mexico Bowl with both schools having gone through long droughts between postseason appearance. Colorado State has not participated in a bowl game since 2008 while Washington State has a decade since last playing in a postseason bowl game.

Washington State head coach Mike Leach, whose team is loaded with underclassmen, is excited for his seniors, who are making their first postseason bowl game in their collegiate careers. The Cougars spread is led by junior QB Connor Halliday, and is ranked fourth in the nation in passing yards (4,187 yards) and tied for 13th in the country with 28 touchdowns, nearly upsetting top-tanked Auburn University - who is playing in the BCS title game - their first game of the season.

Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain is in his second year with the program, an offensive coordinator for the University of Alabama during the Crimson Tide's BCS national championship runs in 2009 and 2011, believes this game is the stepping stone to help get the Rams' program off the ground.

"One of the accomplishments you want early is to get in a bowl game and be part of that club," said McElwain in a news conference in Albuquerque. "There's a certain aura that comes with being a bowl team."

TV: 2 p.m. on ESPN

Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl (Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, NV): University of Southern California Trojans (9-4) vs Fresno State University Bulldogs (11-1)
USC's tumultuous 2013 season finally comes to an end, with a bowl berth after going through three coaches this year, having started the season with Lane Kiffin at a head coach before being fired Sept. 28 after the Trojans' 62-41 loss at Arizona State.

Offensive coordinator Ed Orgeron took over for Kiffin, winning six of his last seven games to lead the team to the Las Vegas Bowl. Orgeron's turnaround of their season was not enough for the school to take off the "interim" tag off his title, which led to Orgeron resigning from the team after the school hired Steve Sarkisian to handle coaching duties next season. Offensive coordinator Clay Helton will call the plays from the sideline during Saturday's Las Vegas Bowl and hopes to cap off the year with a postseason victory.

USC will have their hands full with Fresno State, winners of the Mountain West Conference after defeating Utah State in the title game. The Bulldogs started the season with BCS Bowl bid hopes, but San Jose State University eliminated any chance of their ambitious goals after upsetting Fresno State 62-52 loss on Nov. 29.

The Bulldogs offense is led by QB Derek Carr, brother of NFL QB David Carr, whose offense ranks first in the nation in passing (409.8 yards per game), third in total offense (570.6), and fifth in scoring averaging (43.5 points per game).

"This is a big reason why I came back [to school]," said Carr, who has thrown for at least 400 yards eight times this season. "I wanted to win an outright championship. Sharing a title was great. As a competitor that wasn't enough. We wanted to come back and finish this thing right."

TV: 3:30 p.m. on ABC

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Bronco Stadium, Boise, ID): University at Buffalo Bills (8-4) vs San Diego State University Aztecs (7-5)
San Diego State is making their fourth straight consecutive bowl appearance--head coach Rocky Long's third postseason appearance with the program--despite starting the season off to an 0-3 record and getting pounded by Eastern Illinois University on Aug. 31, only to be pummeled the following week by Ohio State University.

San Diego State rebounded, finishing second in the Mountain West Conference's West Division.

Buffalo also had a rough start to their season, getting beat down by Ohio State and Baylor University by a combined score of 110-33 before turning the season around with a five-overtime victory over downstate rival Stony Brook University, to start a seven-game win streak that carried the team into its second bowl appearance in school history, finishing the year 8-4.

"It's been four years in the making," said Bills head coach Jeff Quinn about his team's bowl berth. "We talked about setting our goals towards being a football program that has a November and December tradition. And to be invited to a bowl game when we knew there were more bowl eligible teams, represents the kind of hard work we have invested in ourselves."

TV: 5:30 p.m. on ABC

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (Mercedes-Benz Superdowm, New Orleans, LA): Tulane University Green Wave (7-5) vs University of Louisiana at Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns (8-4)
UL-Lafayette is looking for their third straight New Orleans Bowl victory when they take on in-state rival Tulane University, with the Ragin' Cajuns having won eight consecutive games before losing two straight to end up sharing the Sun Belt Conference title with Arkansas State University.

"The negative people can get off the train and the positive ones can join me in New Orleans because we're going back to a bowl," UL-Lafayette head coach Mark Hudspeth told the school's official Web site. "We are the Sun Belt Conference champions. Even though we finished tied, we beat the team head-to-head that we finished tied with and we won eight games in a row. We won a conference title in just our third year together and we are going to our third straight bowl."

Tulane is making their first bowl appearance since 2002, with QB Nick Montana - son of Hall of Fame QB Joe Montana - hampered with a shoulder injury in October, later re-aggravating the injury in the Green Wave's 17-13 loss to Rice University in November.

"Our quarterback wasn't very healthy since early on in the season," said Tulane head coach Curtis Johnson. "I think we just need to get healthy and back up and work on some fundamental stuff. I thought our fundamentals were slipping with the offensive line and the receivers. I think that will help us a lot."

TV: 9 p.m. on ESPN

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