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!

In game No. 12, however, coach Brady Hoke's boys finally nailed down a MAC West loaded with quality opponents.

Just six days after surviving an inspired effort from two-time defending conference champion Central Michigan, Ball State had to win yet one more game against a formidable Western Michigan outfit to, at long last, clinch the division and punch a ticket to Detroit for the MAC Championship Game on Dec. 5 against Buffalo.

Despite playing with the burden of needing to be perfect just to win an incredibly tough division, the Cardinals never faltered on the road to the Motor City.

And while BSU's defense has consistently contained its opponents in 2008, the main reason for this team's sensational success could only be found in the form of one man, quarterback Nate Davis. Number 13 showed up against the 9-2 Broncos on Tuesday in Muncie, Ind.

As a result, Western Michigan left Ball State Stadium with a 9-3 mark. The Cardinals strolled to a 12-0 record and a piece of pigskin perfection because they had the best player on the field, and the Broncos didn't.

Some games require a complex analytical approach. This MAC matchup wasn't one of them. Davis, a BCS-level quarterback playing in a competitive non-BCS conference, towered above the entirety of the proceedings. He mastered the moment in Muncie, showing the complete toolbox of a supremely skilled signal caller. Like any dominant athlete at the top of his game, Davis bashed the Broncos in all aspects of quarterback play.

Davis threw with zip, rocketing balls into tight windows. He threw with touch when he hit his tight end, Darius Hill, for a 38-yard gain that set up one of Ball State's five offensive touchdowns. He threw the short ball and the long ball comfortably and confidently. As a thrower, Davis completed 68 percent of his passes without a single interception, all while being aggressive in his approach.

With his legs, however, Davis proved to be no less impressive.

On some plays, he turned on the afterburners to get around the corner and outrun the Broncos' front seven. On other occasions — such as his crucial touchdown run just before halftime, which gave Ball State a 10-point lead the Cardinals only added to after the break — Davis used a combination of muscle and shiftiness to shrug off WMU pass rushers and then slash through traffic to get the job done.

All in all, there was nothing Davis couldn't do. While Western Michigan quarterback Tim Hiller showed a reasonably good throwing arm at times, the Broncos' field general lacked the footspeed and the ball security of Davis, and that, in short, made the difference in BSU's comfortable and crowning conquest.

Nate Davis might not be able to play USC's defense in a BCS bowl, or a highly-touted team like Boise State or TCU in an attractive second-tier bowl, as the BCS and its attendant bowl system continually fail to give most of the little guys in college football a chance for premium postseason showcases.

But even if this quality quarterback won't be able to stare down a big-time defense in a bowl game, the leader of a 12-0 Cardinals team will at least get the chance to win a conference championship, a championship that was very much in doubt until the final game of Ball State's regularly-scheduled slate.