Hyundai Sun Bowl, December 31, 2 p.m. ET, CBS
What it is: A way to show the people of El Paso that UTEP is not representative of college football
The Sponsor: A South Korean car company
The Teams: Georgia Tech and Utah
How Georgia Tech got here: A late-season collapse. The Yellow Jackets got up to No. 12 in the polls after winning their first six games, then fell apart down the stretch with a 2-4 record to finish the year. It was really just about the change in the schedule; the four loses were at Virginia, at Miami, against Virginia Tech and against Georgia. But Paul Johnson's option offense rang up 316.8 yards a game along the way, the third-best total of any team in the country and tops in the ACC. The defensive results were more modest, with Tech finishing in the bottom half of the ACC in practically every major defensive category excepting passing yardage defense.
How Utah got here: As part of the convoluted race for the Pac-12 South. The Utes at first looked a little overwhelmed in their inaugural year as a BCS program; a demolition of Utah on the road was the only win against an FBS team in the first five weeks of the season. Utah then split a pair of road games against Pitt and Cal before tearing off four straight wins. But the season ended on a disappointing note, with Colorado edging the Utes and UCLA getting the division's berth in the first Pac-12 Championship Game. The defense was stout -- Utah gave up more than 27 points just three times on the season -- but the offense was lacking. The Utes did not score more than 14 points in any of their losses.
College football fans care because: Utah is making its bowl debut as an AQ program. That's all I've got.
SEC fans care because: Either the ACC or the Pac-12 will lose this game. It's a win-win.
Watch this game if...: You want to escape ESPN for a bowl game.
The result: Georgia Tech 31, Utah 17