The holiday season is here and if you're a fan of college football, there is even more reason to celebrate through the New Year.

Bowl season began on December 20 and will culminate with the FedEx BCS National Championship game on January 8, 2009.

Here is a breakdown of the Bowl Championship Series.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

2009 Rose Bowl

Penn State Nittany Lions vs. University of Southern California Trojans

Line: USC -9.5, Total 45

Records

Penn St. 11-1 SU, 7-3-1 ATS, 7-4 OU
USC 11-1 SU, 7-5 ATS, 3-7-2 OU

Trends

The "Granddaddy of them all" will see the champions of the Big Ten taking on the top team from the Pac-10 on New Year's Day with two coaching legends, Penn State's Joe Paterno and USC's Pete Carroll.

The two teams have only met twice since 1996 and have evenly split the series going 1-1 straight up and against the spread.

USC is 9-1 SU and ATS in its last 10 games against the Big Ten conference but its last SU and ATS loss came against Penn State.

Like the Trojans with the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions have also been profitable against Pac-10 opponents going 3-1 SU and ATS in the last four matchups against the conference.

The Trojans are 3-7-2 on the Over/Under this year while the Lions are 7-4.

2009 Orange Bowl

Cincinnati Bearcats vs. Virginia Tech Hokies

Line: Cincy -2.5, Total 41.5

Records

Cincinnati 10-2 SU, 6-5 ATS, 6-5 OU
Va. Tech 9-4 SU, 5-7 ATS, 5-7 OU

Trends

Although the teams are 1-1 SU in their last two meetings, the Bearcats hold the edge ATS going 2-0.

This will be Cincy's first foray into the BCS while Virginia Tech is 0-3 in games under the BCS system, which came into effect during the 1999 bowl season.

The Hokies have gone 9-7 SU and 11-5 ATS in the last 16 games when an underdog of 4-points or less.

The Bearcats have gone 6-0 SU in their last six games.

Friday, January 2, 2009

2009 Sugar Bowl

Utah Utes vs. Alabama Crimson Tide

Line: Alabama -10, Total 46

Records

Utah 12-0 SU, 7-3-1 ATS, 9-2 OU
'Bama 12-1 SU, 9-4 ATS, 4-8-1 OU

Trends

The Utes haven't lost a game straight up in a while, currently 13-0 SU.

Alabama is 18-2 SU when favored by more than 8-points and has the Under has cashed in 15 out of 20 times in the same situation.

Monday, January 5, 2008

2009 Fiesta Bowl

Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Texas Longhorns

Line: Texas -8, Total 53

Records

Ohio State 10-2 SU, 5-6 ATS, 5-6 OU
Texas 11-1 SU, 9-3 ATS, 5-6-1 OU

Trends

Once considered a big game team, Ohio State has struggled in January bowl games going 5-5 SU and 4-6 ATS since 1997.

Texas hasn't fared well ATS against the Big Ten conference going 3-2 SU but only 1-4 in its last five Big Ten games against the line.

Ohio State has gone 7-1 SU and 5-3 ATS in its last eight games against the Big 12 conference.

BCS Bowls, National Championship