There were 4 teams that won bowl games for the first time this year: Akron, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern and Western Michigan. App St. and Georgia Southern were both highly successful IAA/FCS teams and are relatively new to FBS, so I will only congratulate them briefly. I am sure we will see plenty more winning from them.

Akron and W. Mich. have long been members of the FBS corps, and a bowl win has been a long time coming for them. Congratulations on finally getting it done. Here is some history on the programs:

Akron -
Was originally called "Buchtel College" and was coached by the legendary John Heisman. They transitioned from IAA to IA in 1987, and joined the MAC in 1992. Their previous forays into the college football post-season were a first round loss in the 1985 IAA playoffs, and a 38-31 loss in the Motor City Bowl. Congrats on not only the first bowl win in program history, but the first post-season win as well.

Western Michigan -
Broncos had 6 undefeated seasons before joining the MAC, including the 1922 season in which they were not scored on. The hot streak ended, and they won their first MAC title (shared) in 1966, and winning their only outright MAC title in 1988. Before this year they played in 6 bowl games (losing all of them) as well as losing two straight MAC title games, both at Marshall. Congratulations to them, as I'm sure the win made the Bahamas trip even better.