Valero Alamo Bowl, December 29, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN
What it is: A game in one of the most depressing supposed football stadiums in America
The Sponsor: An oil company. What else did you expect from the sponsor of a bowl game in Texas?
The Teams: Washington and Baylor
How Washington got here: Beating very bad teams. That's not entirely fair -- Cal and Utah both have winning records. But those are the only teams with that distinction on a resume that also has wins against Eastern Washington of the FCS, Hawaii, Colorado, Arizona and Washington State. The losses were most of the good teams on the slate, and often by lopsided margins: 51-38 at Nebraska, 65-21 at Stanford, 34-17 against Oregon, 40-17 at Southern Cal, and 38-21 at Oregon State. You might notice that one of those teams is not like the others. In any case, a sometimes-injured Keith Price still managed to throw for 2,625 yards and 29 touchdowns while completing 67.4 percent of his passes. The problem was that the defense was dreadful, allowing 33.3 points a game even as the offense averaged 31.5 a contest.
How Baylor got here: RG3. No matter how much some SEC fans might not care for Baylor President Ken Starr, it was hard not to like the school's starting quarterback and inaugural Heisman winner. Griffin's numbers were, simply put, almost ridiculous. He threw for 3,998 yards and 36 touchdowns against just six interceptions while completing his passes at a 72.4 percent clip. Oh, and he also ran for 644 yards and nine touchdowns on 161 attempts. That powered the best offense in the Big 12 and the second-best in the nation, generating 571.3 yards a game. The Bears' 43.5 points a game were seventh-best in the NCAA. A narrow loss to Kansas State and blowout losses to Texas A&M and Oklahoma State were the only things that kept Baylor from going undefeated. That included three of the only four games in which Baylor did not score at least 40 points. The defense. Well -- LOOK AT ALL THE POINTS THE OFFENSE SCORED THIS SEASON!
College football fans care because: It's the Heisman Trophy winner under center for Baylor. Oh, and it's Baylor in a bowl game trying for its 10th win of the season.
SEC fans care because: Some of you will want to watch Ken Starr lose. Others will want to watch an overmatched Pac-12 team blown out.
Watch this game if...: You like offense.
The result: Baylor 42, Washington 30