(USA Today Sports Images)In its final four games of the season, Baylor had four wins including blowout victories against Kansas State and UCLA and a victory against Oklahoma State.

Make no mistake, Art Briles is a really good coach.

The difference in the Holiday Bowl, in which UCLA was embarrassed 49-26 in nearby San Diego, was that Baylor fixed its problems in the time leading up to the bowl, and the Bruins never saw it coming.

[Related: Duke's 51-year bowl drought continues in stunning fashion]

This isn't fair. Duke football didn't deserve what happened to it in the Belk Bowl.

This is the heartbreaking story of the college football season, or of many seasons. Duke went from being at the 5-yard line with about a minute-and-a-half left, looking for its first bowl win since the 1961 season, to losing the Belk Bowl 48-34 to Cincinnati in regulation.

This loss was horrible and unbelievable, especially for Duke running back Josh Snead.

[Related: Baylor throttles UCLA in Holiday Bowl]

(USA Today Sports Images)

Independence Bowl
Ohio (8-4) vs. Louisiana-Monroe (8-4)
Dec. 28, 2 p.m. ET (ESPN)

About the Bobcats: Ohio was a hot story early in the season, getting in the Top 25 for the first time since 1968. The Bobcats faded after that, losing four of their last five games to close out the regular season. Coming into this game, Ohio is dealing with some injuries. Two starting offensive linemen will miss the Independence Bowl and a third, Eric Herman (elbow), will be playing despite being questionable for the game, the Athens Messenger said. A couple of key defensive linemen are banged up but will probably play as well. The Bobcats will have to rely on quarterback Tyler Tettleton and running back Beau Blankenship, who had 1,500 yards this season.

(@_KatherineWebb)

One story that will never change, no matter how long the game of football is played: The quarterback will always get the girl.

You recall Johnny Manziel, the Texas A&M quarterback, and his model girlfriend Sarah Savage. Well, BustedCoverage.com and LarryBrownSports.com say that fellow SEC quarterback, Alabama's A.J. McCarron, is dating Katherine Webb. And Webb just happens to be Miss Alabama 2012. The sites cracked the case by piecing together flirty tweets to each other, the picture above that Webb tweeted, and a tweet from Webb that said she would be sitting with the McCarrons for the BCS Championship Game.

Your move, Zach Mettenberger.

(USA Today Sports Images)

Holiday Bowl
UCLA (9-4) vs. Baylor (7-5)
Dec. 27, 9:45 p.m. ET (ESPN)

About the Bruins: Jim Mora's first season as Bruins coach has been a success. UCLA won nine games, beat USC convincingly, won its division and almost won the Pac-12 Championship Game at Stanford. The arrow is pointing up for this program. Losing the final two games of the year to a strong Stanford team shouldn't put a damper on the season. UCLA proved to be a tough-minded team that can score points in bunches thanks to a passing game led by redshirt freshman quarterback Brett Hundley and running back Johnathan Franklin, who was arguably the best runner in college football this season. A 10th win would be a nice finish to the Bruins' season.

(USA Today Sports Images)

At every bowl game, there are events for each team to attend. The committees that put on the bowls normally bend over backwards for the teams, to ensure they have a great bowl experience. The people responsible for the bowls work tremendously hard at planning executing such things. That's not always easy with more a couple hundred people traveling with the teams.

And, one of the few requirements of the teams is that they show up. USC apparently believes it is too good to follow this one requirement.

Last night, Duke Keith of the El Paso Times tweeted that USC was an hour late for the Sheriff's Posse Dinner, so Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson took his team and left. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the obvious, that the Yellow Jackets were apparently not pleased at the snub. The AJC and Los Angeles Daily News reported that the Trojans were actually 90 minutes late for the dinner.

No matter whether it was an hour or 90 minutes, let's all agree that either amount of time makes the Trojans football team look like classless jerks.

(USA Today Sports Images)The most lackluster of all bowl matchups at least produced an interesting talking point.

Put yourself in the role of coach: Western Kentucky trailed 24-21 but - thanks in large part to recovering its own fumble on a third-down conversion - moved deep into Central Michigan territory late in the fourth quarter. With 51 seconds left, the Hilltoppers had a fourth and 2 at CMU's 19-yard line.

You kick the field goal and try to tie the game, right? Well, Western Kentucky interim coach Lance Guidry didn't feel that way.

(@CBrueyWFTV)

One of the few schools that can begin to understand the horror Sandy Hook Elementary School has gone through is Virginia Tech.

It's fitting that during its game against Rutgers in the Russell Athletic Bowl, Virginia Tech will be wearing a helmet decal that is a tribute to the victims of two of the most devastating school shootings in American history.

The helmet decal was tweeted out by Christian Bruey of WFTV in Orlando, and his picture is shown at the top of this post.