USF has distributed 3,200 of its 10,000 allotted tickets for today's Birmingham Bowl against South Carolina, "representing a mild dropoff" from last season's appearance in the Miami Beach Bowl. South Carolina reportedly has sold "3,000 of their allotted 7,500 tickets" ( TAMPA BAY TIMES, 12/27 ). Elsewhere, "more than 40,000 tickets have been sold" for today's Arkansas-Virginia Tech Belk Bowl at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte ( CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 12/29 ).

• Kansas State defeated Texas A&M 33-28 in front of 68,412 in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl at Houston's NRG Stadium, the "fourth largest crowd in the bowl's history" (CHRON.com, 12/29).

• A crowd of 48,625 was on hand at Camping World Stadium yesterday as Miami defeated West Virginia 31-14 in the Russell Athletic Bowl, marking UM's first bowl win since '06. Miami coach Mark Richt: "I've heard the term 'meaningless bowl games.' It just makes me mad when I hear that because I know how much it means to us" (MIAMI HERALD, 12/29). It was the bowl's best crowd since '13 (THE DAILY).

• The seventh New Era Pinstripe Bowl drew a "crowd announced at 37,918" to Yankee Stadium, where Northwestern defeated Pitt 31-24 (N.Y. TIMES, 12/29). The last two years have produced the bowl's two smallest crowds (THE DAILY).

• Utah defeated Indiana 26-24 yesterday in front of a "sparse crowd that didn’t nearly account for the 27,608 tickets 'distributed' for the Foster Farms Bowl" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 12/29). It was the bowl's smallest crowd since moving to to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara in '14 and the smallest crowd overall for game since '05 at AT&T Park in S.F. (THE DAILY).

Meanwhile, all players from Iowa and Florida ahead of the Jan. 2 Outback Bowl will receive a bowl-specific Jostens-made ring. The game is the only one where all the participants receive a ring. Jostens has produced rings for the BCS and CFP every year since '02, and this winter also will produce championship trophies for more than a dozen bowls. The CFP committee will order 125 rings for the national champions again next month, which Jostens will deliver in late February, a CFP spokesperson said ( David Broughton, Research Director ).