The college football bowl season offers some interesting matchups, quite a few duds and the highly-anticipated USC-Texas showdown for the national title. Arkansas State’s first-ever 1-A bowl trip highlights the opening game when the Indians face Southern Miss in the New Orleans Bowl. This year, of course, the New Orleans Bowl isn’t in New Orleans - it’s in Lafayette. Maybe we should just call it the Lafayette Bowl. Or, since it is at Cajun Field, the Cajun Bowl sounds good. Anyway, this is also about the biggest dud of the bowl season. It usually is. Southern Miss is a 16-point favorite over the Sun Belt co-champs (with Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe). The Golden Eagles beat North Texas 31-10 in this game last year. Southern Miss isn’t the only team playing in the same bowl game as last year. In all, four teams will have a feeling of deja vu. Minnesota is headed back to the Music City Bowl for the second straight year and the third time in the last four years. Miami is making a return trip to the Peach Bowl. Texas is playing in back-to-back Rose Bowls. Ohio State went to the Alamo Bowl last year but is back at the Fiesta Bowl for the third time in the last four seasons. Florida went to the Peach Bowl last year but is back in the Outback Bowl for the third time in the last four years. Arkansas State is one of four teams going bowling for the first time. Akron, Central Florida and South Florida are the others. Akron is making its first 1-A bowl appearance at the Motor City Bowl as the MAC Champs take on Memphis. The Zips moved up to 1-A in 1987. Central Florida, which tried and failed to become kings of the MAC for three seasons from 2002-2004, switched to CUSA this year and found success. Last year, the Golden Knights went 0-for-11 in the MAC after a 3-9 season in 2003. This year, UCF dropped its first two games before ending a 17-game losing streak with a home win over its former MAC counterpart, Marshall. The Golden Knights are 8-2 in their last ten games and headed to the Hawaii Bowl for their first postseason trip as a 1-A school. Central Florida will take on WAC co-champ Nevada. UCF began its football program in 1979 and moved up to 1-A in 1996. South Florida is even younger. USF didn’t have a football program of any type until 1997. Now, the Bulls are facing N.C. State in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte. The Bulls moved up to 1-A in 2001, joined CUSA in 2003 and switched to the Big East this year. The Meineke Car Care Bowl (formerly the Continental Tire Bowl), despite its stupid sponsor-only name, was ranked by Sports Business Journal behind only the NFL’s Houston Texans and ESPN The Magazine on its list of Best Sports Start-Ups over the past five years. The bowl started in 2002 and has averaged over 65,000 fans with two sell-outs in three games.