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Five reasons to watch each and every bowl game Saturday
When the Grambling State Tigers take on the North Carolina Central Eagles in the Celebration Bowl, expect the halftime show to be as good as the game. Stephen Lew/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Five reasons to watch each and every bowl game Saturday

It's a long day of football. Let's give you all the reasons you need to stay in from the cold and watch each and every one of today's bowl games. We all could use an excuse to settle into our favorite chair with some snacks and escape into the wondrous high-scoring glory of the late-December college football.

Celebration Bowl
Grambling State (11-1, Southwestern Athletic Conference) vs North Carolina Central (9-2, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference)
Location: Georgia Dome, Atlanta
Time: 12 P.M ET/9 A.M. PT
Channel: ABC

  • The Celebration Bowl takes the place of the Heritage Bowl and pits the best teams from the MEAC and the SWAC. It is dubbed unofficially as the "HBCU championship" as it is the lone bowl during the season which features two FCS teams and celebrates historically black colleges and universities.
  • Grambling has won more HBCU titles than anyone and will be looking for their 14th championship. NCCU will be looking for their third title. Schools competing in this game give up their spots in the FCS playoffs.
  • NC Central's two losses this season came at the hands of fellow Durham school Duke as well as Western Michigan – one of two remaining undefeated teams. Grambling's lone loss was to Arizona.
  • Grambling quarterback DeVante Kincade transferred from Ole Miss to be closer to his mother who suffered a stroke in 2014. In one season at Grambling he's amassed a 173.5 quarterback rating with 30 touchdowns and just three interceptions
  • One of the best halftime shows of all the bowls is the Celebration Bowl's battle of the bands and the halftime could be more competitive than the actual game.

Mascot edge: In the battle of Tigers (Grambling) versus Eagles (NC Central) Tigers have the clear edge, but don't think an Eagle can't mess up a giant cat.

New Mexico Bowl
New Mexico (8-4, Mountain West Conference) vs Texas-San Antonio (6-6, Conference USA)
Location: Branch Field at University Stadium; Albuquerque
Time: 2 P.M. ET/11 A.M. PT
Channel: ESPN

  • Despite being a football program for just six seasons, Texas-San Antonio will be playing in their first bowl game. The program started with former Miami head coach Larry Coker for the first five seasons. He resigned after last season and former LSU associate head coach Frank Wilson took over.
  • This will be New Mexico's fifth "trip" to the New Mexico Bowl (a record). Of the eleven games played, nine featured at least one team from either New Mexico or one of its border states.
  • It is also tends to be one of the high-scoring bowls. In 7 of the last 8 games, the winning team has scored at least 35 points. In 3 of the last 4, the losing team scored at least 37 points.
  • The Lobos have the nation's top rushing offense, averaging over 360 yards per game. UTSA can run it too and may need to in order to not expose its suspect offensive line.
  • The trophy for the New Mexico Bowl is one of the most unique in sports; a Native American clay pot designed and handcrafted by Marcellus and Elizabeth Media from Zia Pueblo. They paint images of various animals, the logos of the bowl and the teams as well as the Zia sun symbol. The offensive and defensive MVP trophies are traditional leather shields.

Mascot edge: While Roadrunners (Texas-San Antonio) usually have the edge over their canine foes in the cartoons, we like Lobos (New Mexico) in this fight.

Las Vegas Bowl
Houston (9-3, American Athletic Conference) vs San Diego State (10-3, Mountain West Conference)
Location: Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas
Time: 3:30 P.M. ET/12:30 P.M. PT
Channel: ABC

  • Aztecs' running back Donnel Pumphrey may be the best player haven't seen play. He needs just 108 yards in this game to become the all-time leading rusher in FBS history. Houston is 0-3 this season when allowing more than 145 yards rushing.
  • The Vegas Bowl usually is a high-scoring affair. The winning team has scored at least 26 points in eight straight games with four winners topping at least 44 points.
  • What will Houston's demeanor be? After all, this was a team that had its sights set on a Playoff berth. That was knocked down to hopes for a New Year's Six bowl game. Instead, it's a bowl on the first day of bowl season with their coach now gone to Texas and the team suffering from all the attention it has caused. San Diego State could feel the same way.
  • Frankly, this could be a great game. For the first half of the season, Houston was a legit contender for a College Football Playoff spot. San Diego State finished the season down a bit, but would go on to win the Mountain West conference championship. If both teams are motivated for this one, this could be one of the better smaller bowl games.
  • How about the alumni watching this one? San Diego State has Julie Kavner (aka Marge Simpson), Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, Marshall Faulk, Kawai Leonard, actor Carl Weathers, Raquel Welch, Joe Gibbs and Armen Keteyian. Houston boasts Hakeem Olajuwon, Jim Parsons, Carl Lewis, Elizabeth Warren, the Quaid brothers (Randy and Dennis) and Shannon Miller.

Mascot edge: Cougars (Houston) vs Aztecs (San Diego State). We're not fans of animals against humans because humans win on the technology front, but really, a cougar would ruin any of our days if we didn't have the ability to make tools.

Camellia Bowl
Appalachian State (9-3, Sun Belt Conference) vs Toledo (9-3, Mid-American Conference Football)
Location: Cramton Bowl, Montgomery
Time: 5:30 P.M. ET/2:30 P.M. PT
Channel: ESPN

  • Both previous bowls have been doozies. In 2014, Bowling Green outlasted South Alabama, 33-28. Last year, Appalachian State beat Ohio on a last-second field goal.
  • App State is playing in just its second bowl game, but this is a program that has had high levels of success. The App State Mountaineers won three straight FCS National Championships from 2005-2007 and are famously known for beating Michigan at the Big House nearly a decade ago.
  • The Mountaineers also have one of the tougher defenses. Remember when it held its own against Tennessee in the regular season opener? In the last eight games, the 'Neers have given up just three passing TDs while picking off 17 passes.
  • Toledo's quarterback Logan Woodside trailed only Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield in passer efficiency this season. Woodside has thrown 43 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. The Rockets' offense ranks fourth in the nation and demolished Arkansas State (who tied Appalachian State for the Sun Belt title) earlier this season.
  • How about the alumni for this one? ASU can bring Caitlin Upton (the former Miss South Carolina who had a tough time answering questions about maps), country star Eric Church, Alvin Gentry, Franklin Graham and Dexter Coakley to meet up against Toledo's Phillip Baker Hall, Bruce Gradkowski and Fredric Baur, the inventor of the Pringles can.

Mascot edge: Mountaineers (Appalachian State) humans (probably superhumans, really), and humans make Rockets (Toledo) but a rocket could take out a person and vice-versa so let's call this one a draw.

Cure Bowl
Arkansas State (7-5, Sun Belt) vs Central Florida (6-6, American Athletic Conference)
Location: Camping World Stadium, Orlando
Time: 5:30 P.M. ET/2:30 P.M. PT
Channel: CBS Sports Network

  • The Cure Bowl is dedicated to charity, as most bowls are, but this one goes the extra mile. Proceeds from the game go to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the organizers of the game wanted the public to know where exactly where the money was going so they included it in the bowl's name. The bowl is in its second season and is one of three bowls held in Orlando.
  • UCF will playing a home game, but this game is huge for the Knights. Last season, this program finished 0-12 and seemingly undid all the solid program building of the last decade. Arkansas State began this season 0-4 but would win 7 of their final 8 games and a share of the Sun Belt title.
  • Watch the game for the frost – Scott Frost. While you may remember him as the quarterback for the 1997 National Champion Nebraska Cornhuskers (who beat Peyton Manning and Tennessee in the Orange Bowl), he's now known as a coach on the rise after turning around Central Florida's winless season into a bowl game. Frost was in serious contention for the Oregon job and should get a major gig sooner than later. Watch this game and you could say you remember him from the old days.
  • Arkansas State sure can play in some shootouts. In their last two bowl appearances, 182 points have been scored with the Red Wolves allowing 63 points to Toledo in 2014 and 47 to Louisiana Tech last season.
  • Arkansas State has a defensive back named Money Hunter. Best. Name. Ever.

Mascot edge: Knights (UCF) are going to take down Red Wolves (Arkansas State) most of the time but after reading all the of the Game of Thrones books we're not as sure about that as we used to be.

New Orleans Bowl
Louisiana-Lafayette (6-6, Sun Belt Conference) vs Southern Miss (6-6, Conference USA)
Location: Superdome, New Orleans
Time: 6 P.M. ET/3 P.M. PT
Channel: ESPN

  • Both schools are relatively close to New Orleans so it should be quite a crowd for this one. And why not come? Win or lose you are in New Orleans on a Saturday night. History suggests that the Ragin' Cajun fans will definitely show up.
  • Louisiana-Lafayette went to four straight New Orleans Bowls from 2011 to 2014. They won all four of those games, however two of the victories were later vacated. In fact, the 2005 game was played in Lafayette (ULL didn't play in the actual game) due to damage to the Superdome from Hurricane Katrina. Southern Miss will also be making their fifth New Orleans Bowl appearance.
  • Brett Favre may not be walking through that door, but the Golden Eagles offense sure likes to keep slinging it. QB Nick Mullens completed over 63% of his passes and he's completed TDs of 93, 78 and 71-yards this season.
  • The New Orleans Bowl has typically been a high-scoring game. Six of the last ten games has seen the winner score at least 40 points and scored 30 points in eight of those 10.
  • Great alumni for this one as well. ULL has Ali Landry, Jake Delhomme, Charles Tillman, Richard Simmons, Brian Mitchell and Elfrid Payton while Southern Miss has Brett Favre, Jimmy Buffet, Mack Brown and Cat Cora.

Mascot edge: A Golden Eagle (Southern Miss) is no match for a Ragin' Cajun.

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