Anyone familiar with college bowl games knows this much: the level of enthusiasm and excitement can vary widely from team to team.

Records don't matter. The leagues they represent don't matter. Even the talent level of respective squads can be misleading.

Rather, look at what's at stake. Consider the motivational factors involved, then pick your winners.

Example?

Try last year's Fiesta Bowl, when Big 12 powerhouse Oklahoma found itself matched against WAC champ Boise State.

The Sooners had very little to gain with a win. They were not playing for a national title, they were playing a school that didn't represent a BCS conference, and they were supposed to win handily.

Motivation level on a scale of 1-10: about a 5.

Boise State, on the other hand, had everything to gain: respect, an unbeaten season, national prominence and the reputation that goes with playing one of college football's storied powerhouses. Motivation level: 10-plus.

Guess who won.

In 1998, Kansas State swept through the regular season unbeaten. Ranked No. 2 in the nation by the Associated Press, the Wildcats were one game away from playing for a national title.

But they lost in double overtime to Texas A&M in the Big 12 championship game, and were then banished to the Alamo Bowl as a result.

Motivation level: Zero, and the one-time national title contenders lost to unranked Purdue in their bowl game.

There are similar examples every year -- and it's by no means easy to predict.

Former Colorado coach Eddie Crowder saw it work both ways when he was a coach.

In 1969, Crowder took his 7-3 Buffs to the Liberty Bowl to meet Alabama. His players at the time called the chance to play a program so steeped in tradition a "once in a lifetime opportunity."

In a missive to current coach Dan Hawkins, Crowder wrote, "The practices ... were the most focused and intense of any game preparation week in my 11 years of coaching the Buffs."

The Buffs then proceeded to deal Bear Bryant's Crimson Tide a 47-33 defeat, a game that vaulted CU into national prominence.

A year later, though, the Buffs were invited back to the Liberty Bowl. Several high-profile schools, including Florida, turned down invitations to Memphis. The Buffs instead played Tulane, and Crowder said the disappointment in his team was palpable.

"Our guys had no interest," Crowder said, and it was evident. Tulane won, 17-3, in perhaps CU's most-listless performance of the season.

Which brings us to this year's CU bowl game against Alabama.

On the surface, at least, Colorado should have no problem in the motivation department. A modestly successful season, a game against one of college football's storied programs and the chance for a winning record are on the table.

In short, it's the chance for the Buffs to continue to push the program in the right direction. There's plenty at stake from their end.

It is the Crimson Tide that will be a question mark.

A team that started out 6-2 was at one time ranked No. 17 in the nation after a 41-17 win over Tennessee. But then came four consecutive losses down the stretch, including a defeat at the hands of Louisiana-Monroe, followed by a bitter loss to rival Auburn.

Any way you draw it up, it's a disappointing season for the Crimson Tide. Throw in the fact that the seniors likely have little allegiance to first-year coach Nick Saban, plus the Tide players can't be happy about returning to Shreveport, La., for the second straight year, and you have to wonder how high the Tide will be.

Motivation factor? Good question.

It doesn't mean the Tide won't play lights out.

But it is something to consider.