The Fort Worth Bowl, held on December 23 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in the titular city, matched a departing C-USA team with a future member of that conference.

Cincinnati quarterback Gino Guidugli returned from a broken hand to throw for two touchdowns, and the Bearcats defense held Marshall to 134 yards of total offense in a 32–14 win.

In an offensive shootout that saw both quarterbacks (Hawaii's Timmy Chang and UAB's Darrell Hackney) throw for over 400 yards, the homestanding Warriors won 59–40.

Rockets quarterback Bruce Gradowski, affected by a broken hand suffered in the MAC championship game, was ineffective before being benched at halftime.

On December 28 in Shreveport, Louisiana, another BCS AQ/non-AQ matchup took place in the Independence Bowl between the Iowa State Cyclones (Big 12) and the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks (MAC).

The game was a rematch of the 2001 Fiesta Bowl, played at the nearby Sun Devil Stadium, with a similar result (Oregon State blowout victory).

The Miners led for most of the game, but Buffaloes quarterback Joel Klatt threw two TD passes in the fourth quarter to lead CU to a 33–28 win.

Justin Zwick, starting at quarterback in place of the suspended Troy Smith, threw a touchdown pass to Anthony Gonzalez three plays later, giving the Buckeyes a lead that they never relinquished.

The second game on December 30, the Emerald Bowl held at SBC Park in San Francisco, pitted the Navy Midshipmen (independent) against the New Mexico Lobos (MWC).

The Midshipmen defense performed well in the clutch, forcing two turnovers in the first half that led to TDs and making a successful goal-line stand in the third quarter.

This would be the last game ever for this bowl, as poor attendance due to a driving rainstorm, a rarity of December in the Bay Area, along with bad publicity as neither the Pac-10 or WAC had teams with the necessary winning records and other negative press led the NCAA to strip the Silicon Valley Football Classic of its certification on April 20, 2005.

The first game on December 31, the Music City Bowl held at The Coliseum in Nashville, matched the Alabama Crimson Tide (SEC) and Minnesota Golden Gophers (Big Ten).

The offensive fireworks began on the first play from scrimmage of the second half, with Boilermakers QB Kyle Orton connecting with Brian Hare on an 80-yard TD pass.

Purdue got the ball with 1:55 remaining and trailing 20–16; Orton took the Boilermakers down the field in four plays and 33 seconds, completing the drive with a 6-yard TD pass to Charles Davis.

The Louisville Cardinals (C-USA) led the nation in scoring and total yardage per game; their opponents, WAC champion the Boise State Broncos, were second in both categories.

The Hurricanes did most of their damage on special teams and defense, returning a blocked field goal and a punt for touchdowns, and intercepting Gators QB Chris Leak twice.

The Cotton Bowl Classic, held in the stadium of the same name in Dallas on January 1, matched the Tennessee Volunteers (SEC) and the Texas A&M Aggies (Big 12).

Thomas Brown added 111 rushing yards and a TD for the Bulldogs, and Lombardi Award winner David Pollack forced a key Badgers fumble with one of his three sacks.

However, inconsistent Seminoles QB Chris Rix helped keep the Mountaineers in the game, throwing two interceptions and fumbling three times, losing one, in the first half.

Even more tellingly, the Mountaineers were unsuccessful in the red zone; they advanced the ball past the Seminoles 20 five times, but could only score a TD and a field goal.

The Hawkeyes scored on their first possession, with QB Drew Tate burning an LSU blitz by completing a pass to Clinton Solomon that turned into a 57-yard touchdown play.

With the loss, Saban's record fell to 30–1 when leading at the half with LSU, who also became the first defending BCS national champion to lose a non-BCS bowl the following year.

Nonetheless, the match-up promised to be highly entertaining, as well as historic for being the first ever game between Michigan and Texas, the winningest and third-winningest college football programs, respectively, of all time.

The matchup was fairly controversial, though not because of the Utes' presence; in their 11–0 regular season, they had defeated three schools from BCS AQ conferences, two of which participated in bowl games, by an average of 22 points.

The Panthers finished 8–3 in a conference that had just lost its two strongest programs (Miami-Florida and Virginia Tech) to the ACC—a tiebreaker among four teams granted Pittsburgh the Big East championship.

The Tigers had a chance to blow the game open in the first half, but were unable to score a touchdown in three trips inside the Hokies' 10-yard line, settling for three field goals from John Vaughn.

Tech QB Bryan Randall threw two TD passes to Josh Howard, the last an 80-yard bomb, in the fourth quarter, cutting the Auburn lead to 16–13.

An Orange Bowl record five touchdown passes were thrown by Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, and 38 points were scored by the Trojans in the first 20 minutes of the first half alone to effectively seal the victory.

In the Gridiron Classic, the first of the four post-BCS bowl games played January 15, 2005, at The Villages retirement center in Lady Lake, Florida, Marcus Randall (quarterback for LSU) ran seven out of eleven passes for 88 yards as he led the South squad to a win over the North by the score of 24–21.

The 80th East–West Shrine Game, played January 15, 2005, (just after the Gridiron Classic) at SBC Park in San Francisco, saw two Louisville teammates, Stefan LeFors and J. R. Russell, propel the East squad to a 45–27 win over the West team.