Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, December 24, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN
What it is: Something to watch on Christmas Eve while you wait for Santa to arrive.
The teams: Hawaii and Tulsa
How Hawaii got here: By being the San Diego State of the WAC. In fairness, the Warriors encouraged us all to write them off by losing at Colorado by 18 points the third week of the season to move to 1-2. All they did from that point forward was win every game against teams not named "Boise State," with the bout with WAC Champion Nevada being the only game that was even close. The games against the Wolf Pack and Broncos were also the only ones that saw Hawaii score fewer than 40 points. You know their offense is as good as usual, but what you might not know is that the Warriors have one of the best defenses in the WAC. And it's not like the team is that bad in national terms, either.
How Tulsa got here: With an offensive barrage that averaged nearly 504 yards a game en route to a 9-3 record. The Golden Hurricanes blew through much of their schedule, averaging almost 40 points a game and scoring fewer than 28 points just once. Damaris Johnson is one of the most dynamic players in the NCAA and leads the nation with 191.8 all-purpose yards. The problem is that Tulsa also can't stop anyone, allowing almost 443 yards and 30 points a game. Tulsa also had the best turnover margin in Conference USA this season, if you pay attention to such things, helped out largely by having the Top 2 defenders in the league in terms of interceptions.
College football fans care because: This is our Christmas game; Saturday is all NFL and the NBA.
SEC fans care because: If Tulsa defeats Hawaii by more than 13, they will have proven themselves better than Lane Kiffin's Southern Cal.
Watch this game if...: You're done wrapping presents..
The result: Hawaii 54, Tulsoa 30