Today is a sad day my friends and readers. Today officially marks the end of the college football season.

NCAA basketball is currently underway, but let's face it, college basketball only gets good in late January.

Fifty-six teams were invited to compete in bowl games with 57 teams finishing the season with at least six wins. Akron was the team that got left out of the equation.

Here is a recap of the bowl season for those of you who might have missed it.

Bowl Season 2004 kicked off with the New Orleans Bowl with North Texas and Southern Miss squaring off in the Big Easy. It was C-USA versus the Sunbelt but the Golden Eagles proved to be too much for the Mean Green and picked up the victory.

Georgia Tech proved to be the better team when they faced Syracuse in the Champs Sports Bowl, but the loss led to Paul Pasqualloni's dismissal as the coach of the Orange.

Bowling Green took their high-powered offense to Mobile and dismantled a tough Memphis Tiger defense in the GMAC Bowl. Cincinnati sent the Marshall Thundering Herd to pasture in the

Fort Worth Bowl and the Wyoming Cowboys rode to victory in the Las Vegas Bowl against UCLA.

The Rainbow Warriors defended their home turf against the invaders from the Mainland in the Hawaii Bowl against UAB.

By December 27, Bowl week was in full swing and

Fresno State defeated the Wahoo's from Virginia on the frozen blue turf of Boise State in the MPC Computers Bowl. Connecticut picked up their first bowl victory in school history against the Toledo Rockets in the Motor City Bowl and Iowa State used a last-minute pick to beat the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks in the Independence Bowl. Oregon State beat Notre Dame in the Insight.com Bowl.

Colorado, the best party school in the nation, used a late touchdown to their tight end to secure a victory over the Miners of UTEP in the Houston Bowl and Ohio State was too much for Oklahoma State in the Alamo Bowl.

Boston College picked up a victory in the Continental Tire Bowl with Navy winning it's first bowl game in many, many years in the Emerald Bowl. Texas Tech used their Playstation-style offense to knock off the Cal Bears in the Holiday Bowl and Northern Illinois defeated Troy in Silicon Valley.

Minnesota beat Bama in

Nashville, the Sun Devils beat the Boilermakers in the Sun Bowl and Louisville hung on to beat Boise in the Liberty Bowl with the 'Canes beating the Gators in the Peach Bowl to round out 2004.

On the first day of the new year Georgia defeated Wisconsin in a slugfest to win the Outback Bowl and Tennessee knocked off Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl.

The Seminoles won in Jacksonville while the Hawkeyes won in Orlando. Texas won in Pasadena with a last minute field goal and Utah won in the desert with a departing coach.

And Monday night, the Auburn Tigers held off a squad of hungry Hokies to secure a 13-0 season and at least a No.3 ranking in the polls.

That's the bowl recap folks.

Now, this writer is going to go in mourning until March Madness begins.

It's that simple.

Griffin Pritchard is the Sports Editor of the Greenville Advocate. He can be reached phone at 382-3111 or emails can be sent to griffin.pritchard@greenvilleadvocate.com