The 2004–05 NCAA football bowl games were a series of 32 post-season games (including the Bowl Championship Series) played in December 2004 and January 2005 for Division I-A football teams and their all-stars. The post-season began with the New Orleans Bowl on December 14, 2004, and concluded on January 29, 2005, with the season-ending Senior Bowl. A total of 28 team-competitive games, and five all-star games, were played. For the first time in three years, the 56 available bowl slots were filled by teams with winning records, as no teams with non-winning seasons (6–6, or .500) were invited to participate in bowl games. Schedule Non-BCS bowls Of the 59 Division I-A football teams with winning records, 56 were invited to the various bowl games. This season, bowl officials had more difficulty than usual filling their slots. Because the regular season was only 11 games, teams had to finish at least 6–5 to qualify. Teams that were allowed under NCAA rules to play a 12th regular-season game in return for playing at Hawaii had to finish at least 7–5. Four conferences – the Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, and SEC – all failed to produce enough bowl-eligible teams to fill their contracted bowl slots. In addition, a massive brawl between Clemson and South Carolina players during their November 20 game, less than 24 hours following the Pacers–Pistons brawl during a National Basketball Association game, led both schools to announce that they would not go to any bowl game as a self-imposed punishment. Both schools were otherwise bowl-eligible, thus forcing bowl organizers to scramble even more to fill their slots. In addition, Utah's unexpected entry into the BCS caused further shuffling of normal bowl tie-ins. The main beneficiary of this unexpected chaos was the Mid-American Conference, which received five bowl bids instead of its contracted two. The only bowl-eligible team willing to accept an invitation that was left out of this season's bowl games was another MAC school, Akron. The Zips would make their first bowl appearance the next season. Three schools made their first-ever bowl appearance this season: UAB (Hawaii Bowl), UConn (2004 Motor City Bowl), and Troy State (Silicon Valley Football Classic). Of these three, only UConn won its game. For the first time since the 1968–1969 bowl season Nebraska did not go to a bowl game. Records shown are pre-bowl. New Orleans Bowl Southern Miss (6–5) 31, North Texas