When Arkansas State (6-5) finished off North Texas in a 31-24 win Saturday night, it had to wait until Louisiana-Monroe lost to Louisiana-Lafayette to celebrate.

The Indians, with their win and La.-Monroe's loss, put ASU in the postseason for the first time since the 1987 Division I-AA playoffs as the Sun Belt Conference's New Orleans Bowl representative.

The Indians are one of six teams from the Sun Belt, Western Athletic, Mountain West, Mid-American conferences, and Conference USA, to earn bowl bids heading into championship week.

TCU (10-1), the Mountain West champion, accepted a bid to the Houston Bowl last week. While the Houston Bowl isn't tied to the Mountain West, officials invited the No. 15 Horned Frogs anyway, opening up all three spots in the MWC's three bowl ties. TCU will face a Big 12 team, possibly former Southwest Conference rival Texas Tech, on Dec. 31 at Reliant Stadium.

Colorado State (6-5), also out of the Mountain West, will face Navy in the inaugural San Diego County Credit Union Poinsetta Bowl on Dec. 22. The other MWC automatic bids went to BYU (6-5), which will play the fifth-place team from the Pac-10 in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22, and Utah (6-5), which will play the Pac-10's sixth-place team in the Emerald Bowl on Dec. 29.

Left out in the cold, at least for the moment, is New Mexico (6-5). The Lobos, who have been to a bowl game each of the last three years, may have to wait until the dust settles next weekend to see if they'll reach a bowl game.

The only other bowl invitation handed out thus far is to Fresno State (9-2), coming off its loss to Nevada. Even before that defeat the Bulldogs had secured the WAC's automatic berth in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Dec. 31, where they'll play the Conference USA champion, either Tulsa or Central Florida. That will be settled Saturday in Orlando.

Check with OCF for bowl updates throughout the week.