College bowl season set to begin

ALBUQUERQUE, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- The 35-game college bowl season begins Saturday with three contests, one of which will bring together teams with breakeven records.

Texas-El Paso and Brigham Young University, both with 6-6 marks, will start things off at the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque. Fresno State (8-4) will take on Northern Illinois (10-3) in the Humanitarian Bowl, played in Boise, Idaho, and Ohio (8-4) will meet Troy (7-5) in the New Orleans Bowl.

The parade of bowl games will conclude Jan. 10 when unbeaten Auburn and Oregon will meet in Glendale, Ariz., to determine the national champion.

UTEP and BYU will not be the only teams with .500 records competing during the next three weeks. Of the 70 teams participating, 14 will go into their post-season game with a 6-6 mark.

The Southeastern Conference will have 10 bowl teams this year. Only Vanderbilt and Mississippi failed to earn a bowl berth from the SEC. The Atlantic Coast Conference will send nine teams into the action while the Big 12 and Big Ten Conferences will have eight teams each.

Six bowl games will be played on New Year's Day, five of them involving a team from the Big Ten.

Other than Oregon and Auburn, the only unbeaten team remaining as the bowl games begin is Texas Christian. The Horned Frogs will face Wisconsin Jan. 1 in the Rose Bowl.