2011-2012 College Football Bowl Game Schedule

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images It's an SEC showdown for college football's national championship when No. 1 LSU meets No. 2 Alabama on Jan. 9 in New Orleans. The SEC sent a whopping nine teams to post-season play. PHOTOS: Hollywood's Biggest Fantasy Football Fans ESPN is broadcasting the bulk of the BCS bowl games, some of which sport names that could be mistaken for parodies, i.e., the New Era Pinstripe Bowl (Iowa St. vs. Rutgers), the Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl (Florida vs. Ohio St.) and the Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl (Florida International vs. Marshall). Not even the granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl, can escape a wacky bowl name but at least it managed to give its corporate sponsor second billing -- the Rose Bowl presented by VIZI. PHOTOS: 10 Broadcast and Cable Shows Most Watched by Men Also of note, in spite of months of controversy over a child sex abuse scandal by longtime former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, and the firing of university institution Joe Paterno, Penn St. made the cut and faces Houston in the TicketCity Bowl on Jan. 2. The complete 2011-2012 college football bowl schedule is below. DEC. 17 Gildan New Mexico Bowl -- Albuquerque, NM Wyoming vs. Temple 2 p.m. ET, ESPN Famous Idaho Potato Bowl -- Boise, ID Ohio vs. Utah State 5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl -- New Orleans, LA San Diego State vs. Louisiana-Lafayette 9 p.m. ET, ESPN DEC. 20 Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg Bowl -- St. Petersberg, FL Florida International vs. Marshall 8 p.m. ET, ESPN DEC. 21 San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl -- San Diego, CA TCU vs. Louisiana Tech 8 p.m. ET, ESPN DEC. 22 MAACO Bowl Las Vegas -- Las Vegas, NV Boise State vs. Arizona State 8 p.m. ET, ESPN DEC. 24 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl -- Honolulu, HI Southern Mississippi vs. Nevada 8 p.m. ET, ESPN DEC. 26 AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl -- Shreveport, LA North Carolina vs. Missouri 5 p.m. ET, ESPN DEC. 27 Little Caesars Pizza Bowl -- Detroit, MI Purdue vs. Western Michigan 4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN Belk Bowl -- Charlotte, NC North Carolina State vs. Louisville 8 p.m. ET, ESPN DEC. 28 Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman -- Washington, D.C. Toledo vs. Air Force 4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl -- San Diego, CA California (U.C. Berkeley) vs. Texas 8 p.m. ET ESPN DEC. 29 Champs Sports Bowl Florida State vs. Notre Dame -- Orlando, FL 5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN Valero Alamo Bowl -- San Antonio, TX Baylor vs. Washington 9 p.m. ET, ESPN DEC. 30 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl -- Dallas, TX BYU vs. Tulsa 12 p.m. ET, ESPN New Era Pinstripe Bowl -- NY, NY Iowa State vs. Rutgers 3:20 p.m. ET, ESPN Franklin Am. Mortgage Music City Bowl -- Nashville, TN Mississippi State vs. Wake Forest 6:40 p.m. ET, ESPN Insight Bowl -- Tempe, AZ Iowa vs. Oklahoma 10 p.m. ET, ESPN DEC. 31 AutoZone Liberty Bowl -- Memphis, Tenn. Vanderbilt vs. Cincinnati 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl -- San Francisco, CA Illinois vs. UCLA 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN Chick-fil-A Bowl -- Atlanta, GA Virginia vs. Auburn 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN Meineke Car Care of Texas Bowl -- Houston, TX Texas A&M vs. Northwestern 12 p.m. ET, ESPN Hyundai Sun Bowl -- El Paso, TX Georgia Tech vs. Utah 2 p.m. ET, CBS JAN. 2 TicketCity Bowl -- Dallas, TX Penn State vs. Houston 12 p.m. ET, ESPNU Outback Bowl -- Tampa, FL Michigan St. vs. Georgia 1 p.m. ET, ESPN Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl -- Jacksonville, FL Florida vs. Ohio State 1 p.m. ET, ESPN2 Capital One Bowl -- Orlando, FL South Carolina vs. Nebraska 1 p.m. ET, ESPN Rose Bowl presented by VIZIO -- Pasadena, CA Wisconsin vs. Oregon 5 p.m. ET, ESPN Tostitos Fiesta Bowl -- Glendale, AZ Oklahoma State vs. Stanford 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN JAN. 3 Allstate Sugar Bowl -- New Orleans, LA Michigan vs. Virginia Tech 8: 30 p.m. ET, ESPN JAN. 4 Discover Orange Bowl -- Miami, FL Clemson vs. West Virginia 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN JAN. 6 AT&T Cotton Bowl -- Arlington, TX Arkansas vs. Kansas St. 8 p.m. ET, Fox JAN. 7 BBVA Compass Bowl -- Birmingham, AL Pittsburgh vs. SMU 1 p.m. ET, ESPN JAN. 8 GoDaddy.com Bowl -- Mobile, AL Northern Illinois vs. Arkansas State 9 p.m. ET, ESPN JAN. 9 Allstate BCS National Championship Game -- New Orleans, LA No. 1 LSU vs. No. 2 Alabama 8:30 p.m., ESPN PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery Hollywood's Biggest Fantasy Football Fans Sports Joe Paterno Jerry Sandusky