College football TV schedule and open thread: Weekend bowls

There are two days of exclusively ESPN-airing bowl games before you prior to the holiday bowl season break. So if you want a taste of collegiate football before Christmas, Friday and Saturday are it.

As with the other early bowl season match-ups, I won’t be doing in-depth bowl previews of these particular games, but just saying as few words as possible and noting what swag the player participants in each bowl receive.

Friday, December 22

Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl
Florida International vs. Toledo (12:30 p.m., ESPN): All I’m going to say about this game, played in a track stadium, is that it is sponsored by a Chicago suburban community ‘s industrial park. Bowl season is weird.

Bowl gifts: A gift suite, Yeti rambler, string backpack, board shorts, towel, and a pin.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Western Michigan vs. BYU (4:00 p.m., ESPN): One of these teams has a prolific offense (WMU) and the other has a stingy defense (BYU). This bowl also has a weird anthropomorphic potato mascot.

Bowl gifts: A gift suite, Oakley backpack, hydroflask, and a beanie.

Saturday, December 22

Jared Birmingham Bowl
Memphis vs. Wake Forest (12:00 p.m., ESPN): This game may feature a lot of points, which is always objectively fun. Also, Memphis will be without sensational running back Darrell Henderson - who is electing not to play ahead of the NFL Draft.

Bowl gifts: A gift suite, Oakley backpack or sunglasses, cooling hoodie, and a football.

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
Houston vs. Army (3:30 p.m., ESPN): The Cougars will be without defensive star Ed Oliver (NFL Draft) and quarterback D’Eriq King (knee). Top receivers Courtney Lark and Keith Corbin are also questionable.

Bowl gifts: A gift suite, Bluetooth speaker helmet, and a football.

Dollar General Bowl
Buffalo vs. Troy (7:00 p.m., ESPN): Another bowl pairing of a great offense (Buffalo) and a solid defense (Troy). I admittedly haven’t seen much, if any, of these two teams this year but recently learned that the Bulls have a 6-foot-7 250-pound dual-threat QB, which is neat.

Bowl gifts: Yamaha sound bar with built-in subwoofer, Timely Watch Co. watch, Maui Jim sunglasses, and a Wilson game ball. (One of the very few, if not the actual first, bowl game so far to not feature the illustrious gift suite.)

SoFi Hawai’i Bowl
Louisiana Tech vs. Hawai’i (10:30 p.m, ESPN): I’ll save you a googling and tell you that SoFi is an “online personal finance company.”

Bowl gifts: Electronics gift suite, Oakley backpack, Oakley sunglasses, Tori Richard aloha shirt, shorts/swim trunks, performance T-shirt, and a beach towel.

And here are your Friday and Saturday schedule tables.