(7–4) 10 The bowl season kicked off on December 14 with the fourth annual New Orleans Bowl, one of two bowl games played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. Dustin Almond passed for 249 yards and a touchdown, and rushed for a touchdown as well, as Southern Miss Golden Eagles (Conference USA) defeated the North Texas Mean Green (Sun Belt Conference) 31–10. Champs Sports Bowl Georgia Tech (6–5) 51, Syracuse (6–5) 14 The first of two bowl games at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida was the Champs Sports Bowl, held on December 21. It featured the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (ACC) and the Syracuse Orange (Big East). Georgia Tech quarterback Reggie Ball passed for two touchdowns and ran for another, while the Yellow Jackets defense recorded a touchdown off of an interception and a safety. Georgia Tech romped, 51–14. GMAC Bowl Bowling Green (8–3) 52, Memphis (8–3) 35 The Bowling Green Falcons (MAC) met the Memphis Tigers (C-USA) on December 22 in Mobile, Alabama in the GMAC Bowl. In a meeting of high-powered offenses, Memphis's Danny Wimprime threw for 324 yards and 4 touchdowns, but was outdone by his counterpart Omar Jacobs, who had 365 yards and 5 touchdowns. Bowling Green won, 52–35. Fort Worth Bowl Cincinnati (6–5) 32, Marshall (6–5) 14 The Fort Worth Bowl, held on December 23 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in the titular city, matched a departing C-USA team with a future member of that conference. The Cincinnati Bearcats, which left C-USA for the Big East Conference after the 2004–05 season, played the Marshall Thundering Herd, which joined C-USA from the MAC for 2005–06. Cincinnati quarterback Gino Guidugli returned from a broken hand to throw for two touchdowns, and the Bearcats defense held Marshall to 134 yards of total offense in a 32–14 win. The loss broke the Thundering Herd's streaks of 20 consecutive winning seasons and five winning bowl appearances (in nonconsecutive years). Las Vegas Bowl Wyoming (6–5) 24, UCLA (6–5) 21 The first matchup of the bowl season that pitted a team from a BCS AQ conference against a BCS non-AQ conference team was the Las Vegas Bowl, held at Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada on December 23. The UCLA Bruins (Pac-10) played the Wyoming Cowboys (Mountain West Conference), with UCLA the heavy favorite. The underdog Cowboys took an early 10–0 lead, but the Bruins stormed back to take a