Getting fired

[Fast Food Knight]

I am a recent college grad and have spent the past 8 months working at the corporate office of a giant home improvement retailer. I worked hard and loved my job, but had a personality conflict with my boss, who eventually fired me.

There are lots of details involved but based on the situation and on the feedback I got from former team members, other managers, friends, family, and my mentor, I decided to seek "Wrongful Termination." HR did an investigation and I found out today that the verdict was not in my favor. [censored]!!!

Things against me: I'm jobless and the only real pertinent work experience on my resume ended in termination due to "performance issues."
Things in my favor: A ton of former coworkers have emphasized to me that they would happily serve as references, I have an engineering degree from the #1 school for that type of engineering, and I have a good GPA.

Has anyone else been in this situation? How do I handle this in interviews? What can I do in terms of damage control? I'm an extremely competent person and pretty much everyone agrees I got a totally raw deal, but I can't exactly say that to a potential employer without sounding pathetic. Any advice on how to deal with any aspect of this situation would be GREATLY appreciated.