Cincinnati vs. San Diego State, 2015 Hawaii Bowl results: Aztecs complete first 11-win season since 1969

Honestly, a 6-6 cutoff for a bowl is pretty arbitrary. Going by F/+ ratings, your average 5-7 power-conference team is midway between your average 7-5 or 8-4 mid-major. The only reason we cut things off at 6-6 is to make ourselves feel better about not sending a team with a losing record to a bowl.

We learned this year that having 40 bowls is a tipping point. While there were plenty of scenarios that could make for 80 bowl-eligible teams, three 5-7 teams -- Nebraska, San Jose State, and Minnesota -- got postseason bids.

When I was growing up, my family always went to my grandparents’ house for Christmas Eve. Before we left every Christmas Eve morning, we would put a plate of cookies and a glass of wine on the kitchen table for Santa Claus. “Santa gets enough milk at the other houses,” my mom would explain.

On Christmas Eve morning, 25 years ago today, we put out the cookies and wine and I dutifully jumped into the backseat of our car, when I realized that I had forgotten my hat. I went back into the house to get my hat, and it was then that I found my mom drinking the glass of wine.

In the Christmas spirit, University of Cincinnati receiver Chris Moore decided to give one of the handful of fans attending this year’s Hawaii Bowl a present. That’s a wonderful act!

Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has been doing this in the NFL nearly every week. The only unfortunate difference is that Moore actually got an unsportsmanlike penalty for this. It doesn’t seem like the referees had the same Christmas spirit. They didn’t even cut Moore a break knowing that the Bearcats were in the middle of what would become a 42-7 romping.

Rocky Long has quietly built San Diego State into a Mountain West powerhouse. Now, the only thing that’s keeping him from the first 11-win Aztec season since 1969 is Cincinnati.

Those two teams will meet in paradise at the 2015 Hawaii Bowl. The Mountain West Champion Aztecs are currently one of college football’s hottest teams. They’ve won nine straight games, all against conference opponents, after a rough 1-3 start to the season. That stretch included five victories over bowl eligible teams.

How much does momentum matter after a three-week bowl break? Because one Hawaii Bowl participant had a lot of it when the regular season ended, and the other had almost none.

Long might be the most underrated coach in college football. At New Mexico, he inherited from Dennis Franchione a program that had just barely gotten off the ground; the Lobos had gone 9-4 in Franchione’s last season but before that had won more than six games just once in 18 years. He did so four times in his last seven years and took the Lobos to five bowls.

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The Sheraton Hawaii Bowl is the only bowl game featuring leis, Hawaii shirts and sunshine during prime time and will have its 14th edition at Aloha Stadium.

A few other bowl games were previously played in Hawaii, including the Poi Bowl, Pineapple Bowl, Aloha Bowl and Oahu Bowl, although none are affiliated with the current Hawaii Bowl. Called the ConAgra Foods Hawaii Bowl for its inaugural event in 2002, Sheraton became the title sponsor in 2003 and has remained as such for 13 games.