by Matthew Zemek

Bowl season roundup

Bowl recaps and analysis:

EagleBank: Wake 29, Navy 19 | CFN
New Mexico: Colo. St. 40, Fresno St. 35
St. Petersburg: S. Florida 41, Memphis 14
Las Vegas: Arizona 31, BYU 21 | CFN
New Orleans: SMU 30, Troy 27 (OT) | CFN
Poinsettia: TCU 17, Boise St. 16 | CFN
Hawaii: Notre Dame 49, Hawaii 21 | CFN
Motor City: FAU 24, Cen. Mich. 21 | CFN
Meineke: W. Virginia 31, UNC 30 | CFN
Champs Sports: Fla. St. 42, Wis. 13 | CFN
Emerald: Cal 24, Miami 17 | CFN
Independence: La. Tech 17, NIU 10 | CFN
Papajohns.com: Rutgers 29, N.C. St. 23
Alamo: Mizzou 30, N'west. 23 (OT) | CFN
Humanitarian: Maryland 42, Nevada 35
Texas: Rice 38, W. Michigan 14
Holiday: Oregon 42, Oklahoma St. 31 | CFN
Armed Forces: Houston 34, Air Force 28
Sun: Oregon St. 3, Pittsburgh 0 | CFN
Music City: Vandy 16, BC 14 | CFN
Insight: Kansas 42, Minnesota 21
Chick-fil-A: LSU 38, Georgia Tech 3
Outback: Iowa 31, South Carolina 10 | CFN
Capital One: Georgia 24, MSU 12 | CFN
Gator: Nebraska 26, Clemson 21
Rose: USC 38, Penn St. 24 | Analysis
Orange: Va. Tech 20, Cincinnati 7
Cotton: Ole Miss 47, Texas Tech 34
Liberty: Kentucky 25, East Carolina 19
Sugar: Utah 31, Alabama 17
International: UConn 38, Buffalo 20
Fiesta: Texas 24, Ohio St. 21 | Analysis
GMAC: Tulsa 45, Ball St. 13
BCS title: Florida 24, Oklahoma 14
Complete bowl schedule

Photo gallery:

• Fiesta Bowl snapshots
• Snapshots from Saturday's bowls
• Best from bowl season's 1st weekend

Shopping:

• Get your '09 BCS bowl gear!

Just two minutes into the third quarter at Camp Randall Stadium, the yardage scoreboard read 184-156 in favor of Penn State. Yet, the point scoreboard showed a margin of 24. How did Penn State dominate in the only important number while not blowing away the Badgers in terms of pure offensive firepower? Special teams and timely turnovers tell the tale.

There wasn't any guesswork involved in analyzing this quick killing of a Wisconsin team whose season has become a solemn march of misery and melancholy. The Badgers put forth a commendable effort, and Penn State didn't bring its very best game to the ballpark, a scary thought for Ohio State and anyone else who stands in the way of this proven pigskin powerhouse. Yet, in the blink of an eye, the visitors from Happy Valley had the playmaking studs who could turn on the afterburners and run the Badgers ragged.

Derrick Williams — as in his performance against Illinois a few weeks earlier — returned a punt for a touchdown to bust open this Big Ten battle. On another punt, the mere threat of Williams helped lead to a shank that set up a short field and a Nittany Lion field goal. And in a third and separate situation, a Wisconsin fumble by beleaguered quarterback Allan Evridge inside his own 20 led to another immediate score by Penn State. The visitors were able to get touchdowns from so many sources that Darryl Clark didn't need to lead many sustained scoring drives, but on a few occasions he did break loose on the perimeter while also spreading the ball to his receivers. A little Williams plus a little Clark and a little Wisconsin futility led to a scoreboard blowout despite the nearly even yardage totals.

Penn State passed its first night game road test in the Big Ten. A home win over Michigan next week is the only thing standing in the way of a perfect conference record for this team when it travels to Ohio State on Oct. 25. With all the weapons at their disposal — displayed with might on this night in Madison — the Nittany Lions won't figure to be outgunned when they duel with the Buckeyes, in a game that seems likely to decide the 2008 Big Ten title.