2015 GoDaddy Bowl results: Toledo runs past Arkansas State, 63-44

The FBS season’s second-to-last game was perhaps the most MACtion game of the entire season. Let’s take a look at the key numbers from Toledo’s 63-44 GoDaddy Bowl win over Arkansas State.

The problem for the Red Wolves was that they also lived down to their inefficient stats. They rushed for 65 yards -- Gordon had 10 carries for 36 -- and nine of Knighten’s completions went for five or fewer yards. It was all or nothing for an all-or-nothing offense, and the result was enough drive failures to give Toledo a nearly game-long cushion.

Hero.

Bowl season brings a strange set of traditions. The festivities begin with mid-December games in Albuquerque and New Orleans. (And the game in New Orleans always features UL-Lafayette.) We visit Hawaii on Christmas Eve. We say hello to Shreveport the week after Christmas.

My favorite random tradition: the second-to-last game of the college football season takes place on a Sunday night in Mobile following a day of NFL playoffs. And for the fourth consecutive year, it will feature an Arkansas State squad either wrapping up its first season under [Random Coach] or playing for an interim after [Random Coach] left for another job.

ASU was dealing with a new head coach for the fourth straight year with Blake Anderson, who did a standout job getting the Red Wolves to bowl eligibility. A tough non-conference schedule featured games against Tennessee and Miami, but they were able to finish 7-5 to get back to the postseason.

As for the Rockets, they were one of the best teams in the MAC this year, but a three-point loss to eventual West Division champions Northern Illinois kept them from a chance at the conference title. The Rockets won games against Central Michigan, Western Michigan and Bowling Green, but one conference loss kept them from getting to the championship game.

Despite their strong regular season play in recent years, the Kansas State Wildcats are just 1-5 straight up and against the spread over their last six bowl appearances. The Wildcats will be looking for more favorable results in the Alamo Bowl at 6:45 p.m. ET on Friday against the UCLA Bruins.

Kansas State is a 1.5-point underdog in the Alamo Bowl, according to sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Both teams finished the season with 9-3 SU records, but Kansas State held the clear ATS edge at 8-4 over UCLA at 4-8 ATS. The betting favorite is 5-1 ATS over the last six Alamo Bowl games.

The GoDaddy Bowl, previously the Mobile Alabama Bowl, the GMAC Mobile Alabama Bowl, the GMAC Bowl and the GoDaddy.com Bowl, has been around since 1999. Now a matchup between Sun Belt and MAC teams, Conference-USA and the ACC have at one point sent squads to Ladd-Peebles Stadium for the bowl, which moved from mid-December to early January before the 2006 season. Arkansas State has made four straight appearances now against three different MAC representatives, winning the last two editions of the game.

Date and time: Sunday, Jan. 4, 9 p.m. ET