For the 13th year in a row, some the best and brightest future stars of the college football gridiron came together in San Antonio for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl. Each year dozens of elite prospects go head-to-head all week in practice trying to showcase their talents for former NFL coaches, the fans, their fellow recruits and college coaches. The East Team (black) defeated the West Team (yellow) 15-8 on the back of a few big plays from its offense and special teams. So after a week of practice and 60 minutes of play, who are the winners and losers from San Antonio?

If Ole Miss players need a tour guide around Birmingham, they could ask their opponents.

Making their third consecutive trip to the BBVA Compass Bowl, Pittsburgh players should know the hot spots around town by now. While Ole Miss may be happy to play in a bowl anywhere, the Panthers are happy to make a bowl trip with a full-time coach in tow.

Florida and Louisville haven’t played each other during the lifetime of many of the players on the field in New Orleans, but familiar faces will be all over the place.

With the 15th season of BCS bowl action about to take place, Athlon reviewed the tapes of the four (now five) biggest bowl games in college football. Since 1998, teams have been fighting to land a spot in the BCS and here are the players who made the most of their opportunities.

The end of every year is always a good time for reflection and examining what improvements could be made for the following 12 months. And that’s the case with college football, especially as the sport gets ready to close the books on a crazy 2012 season and move on to 2013 with another interesting race for the national title ready to unfold. There are still plenty of big events coming to college football in the next few days, including the anticipated Notre Dame-Alabama BCS championship game on Jan. 7.

With the 15th season of BCS bowl action just about ready to kickoff, Athlon reviewed the tapes of the four (now five) biggest bowl games in college football. Since 1998, teams have been fighting to land a spot in the BCS and here are those teams whose performances didn’t live up to the spotlight and prestige attached to the bowl they played in.

The third annual bowl game at Yankee Stadium may technically be a matchup between the Big 12’s West Virginia Mountaineers and the Big East’s Syracuse Orange. But the reality is that this is a grudge match between former Big East rivals who first played in 1945 and have played every year since 1955.

Two teams with impressive bowl streaks and were once members of the same conference will play each other in the postseason for the first time as Rutgers and Virginia Tech face off in Orlando. The Hokies are playing in their 20^th straight bowl game, a streak matched only by five other programs, but only because they won their last two games.

Good thing the Belk Bowl in Charlotte is only a drive of two hours or so from Durham.