How did each college football team and conference do in the bowl season of 2022-2023? How did the leagues and teams do?
This was the strangest bowl season ever, and it will only get more interesting as the transfer portal plays a bigger role, NIL money comes into play, and the College Football Playoff gets bigger in 2024.
What teams went to their bowl games, and which ones didn’t bother?
We give each team a grade based on how well they did compared to the other teams. The only thing that really matters is winning the game, but did the team play as well as it could, or did it have to push too hard against a weaker team? Did the team that lost put up a good fight, or did it lose face?
This was the last test. How did everyone do?
2022-2023 Team, Conference Bowl Grades
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players |
Ranking all Bowl Games
Final Rankings:
CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP | Coaches Top 150 National Champions of All Time
ACC Bowl Grades
ACC Bowl Grade: B
Straight Up: ACC 5-4
The ACC is 6-3 against the spread.
It won the games it was supposed to, and some of the bigger ones were close, but it didn’t do well enough in the Orange, which it needed to win.
The best game was Pitt’s 37-35 win over UCLA in the Tony the Tiger Sun. The worst games were Clemson’s loss to Tennessee in the Orange, Florida State’s win over Oklahoma in the Cheez-It, and North Carolina’s loss to Oregon in the Holiday.
But you have to give the league credit for making some noise. Duke beat UCF badly in the Military, Wake Forest beat Missouri in the Gasparilla to get an SEC win, and Louisville beat a weak Cincinnati team in the Fenway.
Clemson Bowl Grade: C-
Prediction: Clemson 34, Tennessee 30 Line: Clemson -6, over/under: 61
Final Score: Tennessee 31, and Clemson 14.
Even with all the talk about transfers, opt-outs, and how Clemson does things, this was a very bad performance. Tennessee was missing more key parts than Clemson, but it didn’t make much of a difference. The Tiger defense was good, and the offence put up a lot of yards with QB Cade Klubnik as the clear leader, but the team didn’t get any wins. Because of how Klubnik played, this loss is just a step back before he makes a big jump forward.
Duke Bowl Grade: A
Military Bowl Prediction: Duke 30, UCF 20
Line: Duke -3, over/under: 62.5
Score in the end: Duke 30, UCF 13.
So, how’s that for a ninth win to end the season in a bowl game? Fair enough, UCF was really hurt and didn’t play like itself, but the Blue Devils played a great, tight game with only one turnover and a shockingly easy win.
Florida State Bowl Grade: B
Cheez-It Bowl Prediction: Florida State 34, Oklahoma 20 Line: Florida State -10.5, Over/Under: 66
Final Score: Florida State 35, Oklahoma 32
Even though the Seminoles won, it wasn’t a bad game for them, because Oklahoma wasn’t its usual self. The win should have been a lot easier to get. But the win did two very important things: 1) It brought in a lot of new fans for 2023, and 2) Jordan Travis’s 418-yard day will be a big deal next season. It’s a bowl win, and it shows that Florida State is getting better.
Louisville Bowl Grade: A
Wasabi Fenway Bowl Prediction: Louisville 23, Cincinnati 20
Line: Louisville -2, o/u: 39.5
Final Score: Louisville 24, Cincinnati 7
Louisville lost its head coach, didn’t have a lot of key stars, and wasn’t going to be its normal self on the field, but Cincinnati had even more problems. The Cardinal did exactly what they were supposed to do. The running game was great, and the defense was great. It was one of the best wins that didn’t come in a big bowl.
Grade: B North Carolina Bowl
Credit Union of San Diego County Prediction for the Holiday Bowl: Oregon will beat North Carolina 41–30.
Line: Oregon -13, o/u: 76
Oregon won, 28–27, and North Carolina lost.
Even though the offence didn’t work as well as it should have, it was still a good game with a lot of back and forth. Late in a wild fourth quarter, the defense couldn’t stop the offence, and the offence had to settle for field goals, but Oregon was a good team. Let’s put it this way: the Tar Heels were supposed to lose, but they won easily.
Grade: C in the NC State Bowl
NC State will beat Maryland by a score of 27 to 20. The
Line is NC State -2 and the over/under is 45.5.
The final score is Maryland 16, NC State 12.
This should have been possible for the Wolfpack. The defense did its part to keep the powerful Terps to only 16 points in a very frustrating game. But Maryland’s best receivers were all gone, so this wasn’t the same offence as during the regular season. NC State couldn’t do anything on the ground, and the offence could only score four field goals. The team never had that one big moment of success.
Pitt Bowl Grade: A+
Tony was a tiger. Sun Prediction for the bowl: UCLA 34, Pitt 20
Line: UCLA -8.5, o/u: 53.5
Final Score: Pitt 37, UCLA 35
Wow, wow, wow, wow, WOW. Pitt shouldn’t have been in this game. It was missing too many key players, but UCLA had enough of its regular starters to be good, and no one would have been surprised if the team gave up after a demoralising pick-six gave the Bruins a 28-14 lead in the third. But the Panthers kept fighting and chipping away at the enemy’s strength until… it was over. UCLA scored with 40 seconds left to win, but they didn’t. PK Ben Sauls became famous, and Pitt won one of the most gutsy bowl games of the year.
Syracuse Bowl Grade: B-
Pinstripe Prediction for the bowl game: Minnesota 27, Syracuse 13
Line: Minnesota -10, o/u: 44.5
Final Score: Minnesota 28, Syracuse 20
This was never meant to even be close. The Orange were never really in it, but they made it a little more interesting late on and screwed everyone with the wrong side of the spread. They weren’t bad considering how badly they were undermanned. The run defense did a great job, and the team had more yards than the Gophers (477 to 215), but one pick-six was the game-winner. All things considered, the effort was good.
Grade for the Wake Forest Bowl: A
Union Home Predictions for the Gasparilla Bowl: Wake Forest 30, Missouri 27
Line: Wake Forest -2.5, o/u: 58.5
Wake Forest won, 27–17, and Missouri lost.
It was a good, even performance that kept them close until the second half, when they pulled away. Wake Forest went up 14–3, but Missouri came back, and after that, the rest of the game was won by the ACC. Sam Hartman threw two touchdown passes, which led to 13 unanswered points. The defence was great when it needed to be, and they beat an SEC team in a bowl game. Mizzou blinked, and Wake Forest didn’t.
2022-2023 Team Bowl Grades, Conference Bowl
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players |
Ranking all Bowl Games
Final Rankings:
CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP | Coaches Top 150 National Champions of All Time
UP NEXT: Grades for the American Athletic Bowl
The grades for the American Athletic Conference Bowl
The American Athletic Association Bowl Grade: B
The American Athletic Association Plain and simple: 4-3
Against the spread, the American Athletic Conference went: 4-3.
Tulane beat USC by coming back. All done. The Cotton Bowl was the big game for the soon-to-be-defunct conference, and it was played by one of the teams that will stay in the league until the end.
UCF and Cincinnati’s blowout losses to the ACC can be somewhat understood, since neither team had anything close to its normal starting 22. SMU, on the other hand, should have been able to beat BYU, but didn’t.
The Green Wave was the only Power Five team to win, but East Carolina and Memphis took care of business, and 2022 Houston did 2022 Houston things and made things harder than they needed to be in their win.
Cincinnati Bowl Grade: D+
Louisville vs Cincinnati
Prediction: Louisville 23, Cincinnati 20
Line: Louisville -2, o/u: 39.5
Final Score: Louisville 24, Cincinnati 7
The situation is the only reason why this isn’t a big, screaming F. Luke Fickell was fired as head coach, Scott Satterfield wasn’t in charge yet, and almost no one who was important was playing for Cincinnati. Yeah, but a lot of Louisville’s guys were also not there. The Bearcats tried, but they didn’t have enough players to win. It was a bad loss.
East Carolina Bowl Grade: A
TicketSmarter Prediction for the Birmingham Bowl: East Carolina will beat Coastal Carolina 37 to 26.
Line: East Carolina -8, o/u: 62
Final Score: East Carolina 53, Coastal Carolina 29
East Carolina had the most fun when they won a bowl game. Well, Georgia might have had fun, but the Pirates played like they wanted to do something great. They had no trouble getting through Coastal Carolina’s weak defense. Holton Ahlers finished his 14th year as the starting quarterback by throwing five touchdown passes. The offence got going after falling behind 14-10, and the 11 penalties for 130 yards were made up for by the +3 turnover margin.
Houston Bowl Grade: B-
Prediction for the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl: Houston will beat Louisiana by 41 points. 27
Houston is -6.5, and the total is 56.5.
Houston wins by 23, and Louisiana loses by 16.
At the end of the day, which was very, very long, Houston won, covered, and ended its time in the American Athletic Conference on a high note. It will have to do a lot better in the Big 12 than it did against a mediocre Ragin’ Cajun team. It took a touchdown pass with ten seconds left to win, but the defence didn’t give up a single point in the second half, so they deserve some credit. Houston should never have been behind 16–6, but a win is a win is a win.
Memphis Bowl Grade: A
A for the Memphis Bowl. I think Memphis will beat Utah State 34 to 23 in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl.
Line: Memphis -7, o/u: 61.5
Memphis beat Utah State 38 to 10 in the end.
It took a quarter, and then everything started to happen. Memphis had a nice walk in the park of a bowl game. They were up 24–3 at the half and just kept on going. Utah State was a little bit dangerous, but nothing bad happened. The Tigers had a +2 turnover margin, only got flagged five times, and did great on third downs. It was about as easy as it gets to win a mid-level bowl.
Tulane Bowl Grade: A
A Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic is the grade for the Tulane Bowl.
The score will be USC 34, Tulane 20.
Line: USC -2.5, o/u: 63
Final Score: Tulane 46, USC 45
The only reason this isn’t an A+ is that 1) USC was missing a few key players, 2) Tulane still couldn’t figure out the new Trojan offensive line, and 3) it took a series of miracles to pull this off. WHATEVER. Tulane won a crazy game that will be remembered forever because they ran for more than 300 yards on the ground and scored 16 points in the last 4:07.
SMU Bowl Grade: B
The state of New Mexico Prediction for the bowl: SMU 35, BYU 30
Line: SMU -4, o/u: 64
Final Score: BYU 24, SMU 23
This was supposed to be a close game, and it was until BYU went on a 17-point scoring run to give them a 14-point lead that they kept into the fourth quarter. With eight seconds left, SMU scored a touchdown after a long, hard drive, but their two-point try failed. The team could have played better, but the defense was good and the offence picked up when it needed to. In the end, it was a close game that went the other way.
UCF Bowl Grade: C
Duke will win the Military Bowl, 30–20.
Line: Duke -3, o/u: 62.5
Score in the end: Duke 30, UCF 13.
I’m going to give UCF a break on this one because it wasn’t even close to being itself because too many opt-outs and transfers were missing. It’s not like Duke blew the doors off the bowl. The Knights still had more yards than Duke. But after tying the score at 7 in the first quarter, nothing worked.
2022-2023 Team Bowl Grades, Conference Bowl
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players |
Ranking all Bowl Games
Final Rankings: CFN 1-131 |
CFN Season | AP | Coaches Top 150 National Champions of All Time
NEXT: Big Ten Bowl Grades
Big Ten Bowl Grades
Big Ten Bowl Grade: B
Big Ten Straight Up: 5-4
5-4 for the Big Ten against the spread.
Why such a low grade, given that they went 5-4 in bowl games?
Penn State was great in the Rose Bowl, Wisconsin was great against Oklahoma State in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, Iowa and Minnesota won with little trouble, and Ohio State was this close to winning the national title, which it would have if it had pulled that off against Georgia.
What’s going wrong?
Michigan sucked against TCU and didn’t get to play for the national title. Illinois couldn’t beat a mediocre Mississippi State team, and before the horror of the College Football Playoff National Championship, Big Ten West Champion Purdue suffered the worst loss in bowl history up to that point.
Illinois Bowl Grade: C–
ReliaQuest Bowl Prediction: Illinois 20, Mississippi State 19
Line: Mississippi State -1.5, o/u: 46
Final Score: Mississippi State 19, Illinois 10
It didn’t help that they didn’t have RB Chase Brown, but that wasn’t the problem. Even without the star player, the running game should have gotten more than 35 yards. Illinois just kept missing chances to win the game, and they didn’t. This was an opponent whose style was similar to Illinois’s, but Illinois still lost in the fourth quarter by letting the other team score on two long scoring drives.
Iowa Bowl Grade: B+
TransPerfect Prediction for the Music City Bowl: Iowa will win 19 to 16
Line: Iowa -2.5, o/u: 31
Iowa won 21–0, and Kentucky lost 0.
How come it’s not an A? 0 for 11 on third downs and a total offence of 206 yards. However, Iowa went Iowa. The offence scored one touchdown, and the defense did everything else. It held a depleted Kentucky team to less than 200 yards, and it was a totally dominant win over an SEC team to end the season with a big moment. Most of Kentucky’s starting players didn’t want to play, but that’s not Iowa’s fault.
Maryland Bowl Grade: B+
NC State vs. Maryland
NC State will beat Maryland 27-20.
Line: NC State -2, o/u: 45.5
Maryland won 16–12 against NC State.
Any landing from which you can walk away is good. Even though it wasn’t pretty, the defence kept NC State to less than 300 yards and only four field goals. Even though the offence wasn’t as good as it should have been, they scored a touchdown and didn’t fall behind until the middle of the second quarter. The other team didn’t score a touchdown.
College football Michigan Bowl Grade: D-
Winner: Vrbo Prediction for the Fiesta Bowl: Michigan 34, TCU 17;
Line: Michigan -7.5, over/under: 58.5
TCU won 51 to 45, and Michigan lost 45.
5 Ideas about TCU’s victory over Michigan
No matter how you try to make it sound, that was just a joke. Michigan was nowhere near as steady and consistent as it was during the regular season and against Ohio State, when it was so good.
From the embarrassing Philly Special early on to the panicked play-calling that tried to bomb away to get back in it to the defense giving up in the second half and having its worst day of the season against the run, this was a painful disaster. And because of it, we got TCU vs. Georgia, from which we may never recover.
Minnesota Bowl Grade: B
Pinstripe Bowl Prediction: Minnesota 27, Syracuse 13 Line: Minnesota -10, Over/Under: 44.5 Final Score: Minnesota 28, Syracuse 20
It went well. Don’t ask questions. Don’t look a gift bag in the mouth, and don’t worry about how it looked. This should have been easy, especially for those who had Minnesota -10, and it came really close before a tough late beat.
But the offensive line wasn’t great, and the offence only gained 215 yards. It was more about holding serve than being dominant. No matter what, it was a good bowl win for PJ Fleck’s team.
College football grade for the Ohio State Bowl: A-
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: Georgia will beat Ohio State 36 to 30.
Line: Georgia -6.5, o/u: 62
Final Score: Georgia 42, Ohio State 41
5 Thoughts about how Georgia beat Ohio State
You can argue all you want about how the offence should have gotten a few more yards for a slightly shorter final field goal try or how the defense failed late, but at the end of the day, Ohio State played a great game that won them the national championship.
All of the talk about how Georgia is some kind of unstoppable dynasty almost never happened. The Buckeyes came close to winning.
The Penn State Bowl Grade: A
The Rose Bowl will be won by Utah, 30–27, over Penn State.
Line: Utah -2.5, o/u: 52
Final Score: Penn State 35, Utah 21
BOOM! In the second half, Penn State was fast, consistent, and when it needed to be, strong. Even though Utah quarterback Cameron Rising got hurt, the offence still blew up against Ohio State in last year’s Rose Bowl. It was a big win that showed that this really was one of the best teams in the country and NEVER got enough credit for it. The offence was sharp and the defence was tight.
Purdue Bowl Grade: D-
Cheez-It Prediction for the Citrus Bowl: LSU 31, Purdue 20
Line: LSU -14.5, o/u: 56.5
Final Score: LSU 63, Purdue 7
When the effort is there, we can’t give an F. The late coaching change didn’t really help Purdue’s team, which had already lost a lot of players to opt-outs and transfers. Even so, that team played for the Big Ten Championship and lost in the biggest blowout in college football bowl history before Georgia pulled a “hold my beer” against TCU.
Wisconsin Bowl Grade: A
Rate You Can Count On Prediction for the bowl game: Wisconsin 23, Oklahoma State 19
Line: Wisconsin -3, o/u: 43
Wisconsin wins, 24–17, over Oklahoma State.
Wisconsin was switching coaches and tried to make the change as smooth as possible, but it didn’t have its new head coach, and the other team had Mike Gundy, who is great in bowl games. It got a little too interesting at the end, but with all the changes and opt-outs, this was a great way to end a rocky season, to put it nicely.
2022-2023 Team Bowl Grades, Conference Bowl
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players |
Ranking all Bowl Games
Final Rankings:
CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP | Coaches Top 150 National Champions of All Time
NEXT: Big 12 Bowl Grades
Big 12 Bowl Grades
Big 12 Bowl Grade: C
Big 12 Straight Up: 2-7
Against the spread, the Big 12 went 4-5.
Yes, it was great that a team from the Big 12 made it to the national championship, right up until it was destroyed in a way that had never happened before.
Overall, the bowl season showed how far behind the Big 12 is compared to the rest of the pack. It didn’t help that Houston, UCF, Cincinnati, and BYU were all pretty average teams, either. There were a lot of opt-outs and transfers, but that was the same for everyone.
A Mountain West team beat Baylor by a score of 2 to 0. A team from Wisconsin that wasn’t very good beat Oklahoma State badly. Texas Tech was great, Kansas was amazing in a loss, and Oklahoma put up a good fight in a loss, but Texas lost an Alamo home game to Washington because the O didn’t work until it was too late.
And Alabama is a good football team, but it doesn’t look good when your conference champion loses by 25 points.
The Baylor Bowl got a D.
Air Force will beat Baylor in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, 26 to 24.
Line: Baylor -5.5, o/u: 48.5
Score in the end: Air Force 30, Baylor 15.
Air Force is good, but if your head coach is Dave Aranda, you’re in the Big 12 and playing a team from the Group of Five, and you have a few weeks to get ready, you figure it out. It’s okay to have trouble with the Air Force option style; everyone does. Not isn’t going 0 for 11 on third downs and being down 30-7 with four minutes left.
Kansas Bowl Grade: A-
AutoZone Liberty Bowl Prediction: Arkansas 38, Kansas 34
Line: Arkansas -1.5, o/u: 70.5
Final Score: Arkansas 55, Kansas 53 3OT
Even though Kansas lost, who cares? People will only remember one of the craziest and most amazing comebacks that has ever happened in a bowl game. It’s Kansas in a bowl, and even when all was lost, it still balled out hard. It was a heartbreaking ending, and no, the team shouldn’t have needed heroics in the first place, but… it was Kansas in a bowl, and it was good.
Kansas State Bowl Grade: C-
Allstate Sugar Bowl
Prediction: Alabama will win 34-20 over Kansas State
Line: Alabama -6, o/u: 56
Final Score: Alabama 45, Kansas State 20
Shouldn’t you be the champion of the Big 12? Yes, it’s Alabama, but it’s also the same Alabama that struggled all year against a bunch of average teams and almost lost to Texas, which is not the Big 12 Champion. Worse yet, the Big 12 Champion had a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Okay, so Alabama is still Alabama, but still..
Oklahoma Bowl Grade: B
Cheez-It Prediction for the bowl game: Florida State will win 34 to 20.
Line: Florida State -10.5, o/u: 66
Final Score: Florida State 35, Oklahoma 32
It was a loss, and Oklahoma fans will never be okay with that. But for a team that was supposed to lose, they put up a great fight. The running game was great, and Dillon Gabriel made a lot of big plays. Late in the game, the defense couldn’t keep up, but OU turned what should have been an easy win into a fun four-quarter battle. Yes, there is such a thing as a good loss for a team that needs to rebuild going into the off-season.
Grade: C Oklahoma State Bowl
Rate Guaranteed Prediction for the bowl game: Wisconsin 23, Oklahoma State 19
Line: Wisconsin -3, o/u: 43
Wisconsin wins, 24–17, over Oklahoma State.
Opt-outs and missing parts hurt both teams, but Oklahoma State’s coaches were a little more set in their ways while Wisconsin was making the switch to Luke Fickell. The Cowboys couldn’t get the O going, but they fought hard and kept things interesting until the end. They could have wrapped it up when Wisconsin was in charge, but they didn’t.
College football TCU Bowl Grade: A-
Playoff: Vrbo Fiesta Bowl Line: Michigan -7.5, Over/Under: 58.5
TCU won 51 to 45, and Michigan lost 45.
5 Ideas about TCU’s victory over Michigan
Prediction for the College Football Playoff National Championship: Georgia will beat TCU 44 to 23.
Line: Georgia -13, o/u: 62.5
Final Score: Georgia 65, TCU 7
Whatever. So TCU got to go on the trip, even though it had the worst loss in the history of college bowl games. Georgia was Georgia, it was too talented, and it would have ripped through everyone that night. TCU will always be known for their shocking and exciting win over Michigan. It was the first crazy upset in the College Football Playoff’s nine-year history.
Okay, so the Bulldogs will also remember how it looked like there were only eight players on the field. It would have been nice if it had some kind of answer or idea in LA, but again, whatever. TCU tried to win the national championship.
Texas Bowl Grade: C+
Prediction for the Alamo Bowl: Texas will win 40 to 38.
Line: Texas -3, o/u: 66.5
Washington won, 27–20, and Texas lost.
It was a fun game with two even teams, but Texas fell behind 27–10 and couldn’t catch up. Most of the year, Washington’s defense was average to bad, and they were missing some players, but Texas still couldn’t get through. Yes, not having Bijan Robinson hurt, and it was a bit like playing at home, but the Longhorns should have started off better.
Grade for the Texas Tech Bowl: A
Ole Miss will win the Texas Bowl by 34 points over Texas Tech.
Line: Ole Miss -4.5, o/u: 72.5
Score in the end: Texas Tech 42, Ole Miss 25
Everyone was short on players, but Ole Miss is in the SEC and has a hotshot head coach who is supposed to make up for everything. Instead, Texas Tech won the first half by a score of 26-7. Even though the defense gave up a lot of yards in the second half and Ole Miss got within ten points late, it didn’t matter because of the five takeaways. With a big game from Tyler Shough, the Red Raiders won quickly and easily.
2022-2023 Team Bowl Grades, Conference Bowl
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players |
Ranking all Bowl Games
Final Rankings: CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP |
UP NEXT: USA Conference Bowl Grades
The USA Conference Bowl Conference USA Grades Bowl Grade: B
The USA Conference Directly: 3-3
The USA Conference The Point Spread: 3-3
The conference didn’t have to do anything out of the ordinary. There were no games against teams in the Power Five.
Here’s what’s wrong. In the fight for the soul of the Group of Five, how the Conference USA and the new and improved Sun Belt look is a little bit important. The Sun Belt champion beat the Conference USA champion, and the Conference USA champion lost to its ex-teammate Frank Gore Jr. and Southern Miss.
But WKU beat a good South Alabama team, North Texas stayed close to Mountain West champion Boise State, and Middle Tennessee beat San Diego State.
Middle Tennessee Bowl Grade: B+
EasyPost Prediction for the Hawaii Bowl: San Diego State will beat Middle Tennessee by 23. 13
Line: San Diego State -6.5, o/u: 48.5
Final Score: Middle Tennessee 25, San Diego State 23
Middle Tennessee won a bowl game even though they didn’t have an offensive line. The battle on the lines was completely won by San Diego State. What saved the Blue Raiders? Takeaways, the same thing that got them through the whole year. With five turnovers, a team with only 170 yards of offence can make it to a bowl game. Even though it wasn’t pretty, Hawaii’s walk-off field goal for a Hawaii Bowl win was all good.
Frisco gets an A- for the North Texas Bowl.
Prediction for the bowl game: Boise State 38, North Texas 20
Line: Boise State -10.5, o/u: 59.5
The final score is Boise State 35, North Texas 32.
The Mean Green did lose. They ought to have been wiped out. The runner-up from the Mountain West should have been able to run all over the runner-up from the Conference USA. It should have been able to use its great defense to stop the game early, and it should have been a fun practice against a team without its head coach. North Texas was already outmatched, but it stayed in the game for the whole hour.
Grade for the rice bowl: B-
The Tree Bowl will be won by Southern Miss, 26–20.
Line: Southern Miss -6.5, over/under: 45.5
Score in the end: Southern Miss 38, Rice 24
The final score of the LendingTree Bowl won’t be kind to the performance, and all anyone will remember is Frank Gore Jr.’s 329 rushing yards, but Rice was up 24-17 with 20 minutes to go. The defense gave up 21 unanswered points, which were capped by a Gore dash, but it wasn’t bad for a five-win team in a bowl game.
UAB Bowl Grade: B
HomeTown Lenders Bahamas Bowl Pick: UAB 31, Miami University 20
Line: UAB -11.5, o/u: 45.5
The final score is UAB 24, Miami 20.
Even though UAB was a double-digit favorite, it made it out of the coaching change to Trent Dilfer and the upcoming emotional change in one piece. Miami University put up a good fight, but the season ended on a somewhat disappointing note with a great push to take the lead, and the D held on for dear life at the very end. Even though it was a winning season, UAB is still firing the coach who helped make it happen.
UTSA Bowl Grade: C
Duluth Trading Co. Prediction for the Cure Bowl: UTSA will win, 30–27.
Line: UTSA -2.5, o/u: 56.5
Score in the end: Troy 18, UTSA 12
Troy may have brought a great defence to the Bahamas, but UTSA won the Conference USA title for a reason. The offence, which had been so good all year, only scored 12 points (one touchdown) in the first half. The defence held the Trojans to only 153 yards, and the offence and defence both made mistakes (turnovers and penalties). The O got yards, but then they messed up and gave up 18 unanswered points, which was a huge disappointment.
Grade for the WKU Bowl: A+
R+L Carriers The city of New Orleans Prediction for the bowl game: South Alabama 35, WKU 30.
South Alabama is -4, and the total is 57.5.
The final score is 44 to 23 for WKU.
This might have been the most underrated bowl win of the season. South Alabama was great all year, barely lost two games, including one to UCLA, and started off badly as WKU jumped out to a 31-3 lead at halftime. Everything went well, and the programme came up with something interesting.
2022-2023 Team Bowl Grades, Conference Bowl
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players | Ranking all Bowl Games
Final Rankings: CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP | Coaches Top 150 National Champions of All Time
NEXT: Independent Bowl Grades
Independent Team Bowl Grades
Independent Bowl Grade: A-
Independents Straight Up: 3-2.
Against the Spread: 5-0.
How could this have possibly turned out better? With a strong win over South Carolina, Notre Dame got rid of the ghosts of last year’s bowl loss. BYU beat TCU, and New Mexico State’s win over Bowling Green was one of the best stories of the 2022 season. Overall, the independents had a good time. UConn was at least close with Marshall, and Liberty just showed up to play Toledo and kept it close until the end.
BYU Bowl Grade: A-
New Mexico Bowl Prediction: SMU 35, BYU 30 Line: SMU -4, over/under: 64
Final Score: BYU 24, SMU 23
They finished the job. Without QB Jaren Hall, the offence was a problem, but BYU was able to gut-check its way to a lead and then hold on for dear life at the end. It shouldn’t have come down to a missed two-point conversion because the defence couldn’t get off the field during a long, hard march, but after all the problems and issues, and with just 256 yards of total offence, it was a bowl win. Just grab this and run.
Liberty Bowl Grade: B
RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Predictions for the bowl: Liberty 30, Toledo 26
Line: Toledo -3.5, o/u: 51
Toledo won, 21–19, and Liberty lost.
It was hard for the Liberty football team to win. Hugh Freeze was busy picking out curtains for his office at Auburn, and Toledo was the MAC champion. The last part of the campaign was a disaster. It was meant to be near. After Liberty went up 7–0, their defense was strong, but everything fell apart in the last ten minutes. Give the team credit for fighting and making it close—for some, too close—but it was a disappointing end to a strange season.
A Quick Lane Bowl is the grade for the New Mexico State Bowl.
Bowling Green will beat New Mexico State 34 to 30.
Line: Bowling Green -3.5, o/u: 48.5
The final score is New Mexico State 24, New Mexico State 19.
The Aggies were down 14-0 at halftime, but Bowling Green came back with a vengeance. In the end, they had to show a lot of guts to win. Even though they didn’t have the best players in the world, the defence held the Falcons to less than 300 total yards of offence and hurt them. QB Diego Pavia was able to keep the ball for more than 38 minutes by grinding and grinding. New Mexico State won the bowl game. These things are important.
Notre Dame Bowl Score: B
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Prediction: Notre Dame 27, South Carolina 23
Line: Notre Dame -3.5, o/u: 50.5
The final score was 45 to 38 in favor of Notre Dame.
That was a lot more fun than it ought to have been. Both teams were still in it thanks to Notre Dame, especially quarterback Tyler Buchner, but he came through when it mattered. Give credit to the Irish for fighting back after falling behind 21-7 in the first quarter and for the last scoring drive that broke a 38-38 tie, but this wasn’t exactly a smooth ride with how much the offence moved up and down the field. No matter what happens, Marcus Freeman will be happy to win.
UConn Bowl Grade: B-
Myrtle Beach Marshall will beat UConn in the bowl, 30 to 16.
Marshall -12.5, over/under: 41
Score in the end: Marshall 28, UConn 14
UConn played in a bowl. After that, the rest is gravy. The team was too weak to win, and they did get rolled for a half. But in the third quarter, things started to go well. The team showed good fight and ran hard, but it wasn’t enough. Even though they lost, it was a close game.
2022-2023 Team, Grades for the Conference Bowl
ACC, American, Big Ten, Big Twelve, C-USA, and Ind
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players | Ranking all Bowl Games Final Rankings:
CFN 1-131 | AP | Coaches | CFN Season All-time list of the top 150 national champions
NEXT: MAC Bowl Grades
MAC Bowl Grades
MAC Bowl Grade: A- MAC Plain and simple: 4-2
MAC In favor of the underdog: 5-1
Give that bowl season a hot serving.
Toledo won the MAC, but it was hard for them to beat Liberty. Second place Ohio beat Wyoming with a strong effort, Buffalo shocked Georgia Southern’s great offence, and Eastern Michigan beat a good San Jose State team. Okay, so Bowling Green should have beaten New Mexico State but didn’t, but Miami University was only one yard away from beating UAB.
Bowling Green Bowl Grade: C
Bowling Green will beat New Mexico State in the Quick Lane Bowl 34 to 30.
Line: Bowling Green -3.5, Over/Under: 48.5 Final Score: New Mexico State 24, New Mexico State 19
Bowling Green wasn’t a huge favorite, but Ford Field is the home of the MAC, and the team from the conference didn’t defend it. The offence couldn’t score early, the defense couldn’t get off the field late, and the comeback in the fourth quarter wasn’t enough. The Falcons should have made this a shootout, but they didn’t or couldn’t.
Buffalo Bowl Grade: A Camellia Bowl
Georgia Southern will beat Buffalo 38 to 27.
Line: Georgia Southern -3.5, over/under: 66.5
In the end, Buffalo beat Georgia Southern 23 to 21.
The high-powered offence of Georgia Southern was supposed to come in, get going, and win easily against a weak Buffalo team that had to beat Akron to get here. Instead, UB took control of the story, the defence had one of its best games of the season, and the team ended up with a winning season, though it took a lot of twists and turns to get there.
Eastern Michigan Bowl Grade: A
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Prediction: San Jose State 27, Eastern Michigan 23
Line: San Jose State -3.5, o/u: 54
The final score is Eastern Michigan 41, San Jose State 27.
The Eagles had to go to the Mountain West to play San Jose State, which was trying to finish strong. Instead of sputtering along, the team got through a rough start by scoring 33 points in a row. This changed the momentum of the game. There, San Jose State never had a chance. The team, which is still getting used to bowl games, got its second win ever in the postseason.
University of Miami Bowl Grade: B
HomeTown Lenders Prediction for the Bahamas Bowl: UAB will beat Miami University 31–20.
Line: UAB -11.5, o/u: 45.5
The final score is UAB 24, Miami 20.
It was a great game that didn’t end the way anyone wanted. Miami University came back after being down 10-0 in the first quarter. The offence scored a touchdown late in the game, and UAB won with a good scoring drive of its own. Someone had to lose this game, and Miami came close with no turnovers and good toughness on fourth downs.
Grade for the Ohio Bowl: A-
Barstool Sports Ohio will win the Arizona Bowl, 26–23.
Line: Ohio -2.5, o/u: 41.5
Ohio won 30–27, and Wyoming lost 27–27.
Ohio got it done. In overtime, Wyoming got a field goal, and Ohio got a touchdown. UW was missing way too many parts, so it should have been easier, but it was a good back-and-forth fight that would have been a lot easier if the Bobcats had turned a few more field goals into touchdowns. They got the drive they needed to force overtime with a last-second bomb of a field goal, and they finally scored when they had to.
Toledo Bowl Grade: A-
RoofClaim.com Prediction for the Boca Raton Bowl: Liberty will beat Toledo 30–26
Line: Toledo -3.5, o/u: 51
Toledo won, 21–19, and Liberty lost.
It would have been nice if the MAC Champion was a little more dominant, and it would have been nicer for some if they hadn’t let things get so loose in the last ten minutes, but it was a great way to end a strong season. The O worked. It kept the ball for more than 40 minutes and was in charge of almost everything until the very end. Even though they lost, the Rockets still won.
2022-2023 Team, Conference Bowl Grades
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players | Ranking all Bowl Games Final Rankings: CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP | Coaches Top 150 National Champions of All Time
NEXT: Grades for the Mountain West Bowl
Grades for the Mountain West Bowl
The grade for
Mountain West Bowl is B-. Right to Left: 3–4
Against the Spread: 2-5 Mountain West
The big one went to Fresno State. The Mountain West champion beat the Pac-12 programme by beating Washington State in the LA, and Boise State was able to sneak by North Texas. Air Force’s win over Baylor was the other big win over a Power Five school.
But San Jose State was terrible for the middle 30 minutes of their loss to Eastern Michigan, and San Diego State lost to Middle Tennessee even though they were the better defensive team. Utah State was supposed to lose to Memphis, which wouldn’t be a big deal, and Wyoming was supposed to lose to Ohio in a heartbreaker.
The Air Force Bowl Grade: A
Air Force will beat Baylor in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, 26 to 24.
Line: Baylor -5.5, o/u: 48.5
Score in the end: Air Force 30, Baylor 15.
276 yards rushing. More than 40 minutes of time to use. There were no turnovers, only two penalties, the defence against the run was strong, they doubled up the Big 12 team, and they were in complete control with a 30–7 lead late in the game before giving up a touchdown that didn’t matter. That’s about as good as an Air Force bowl performance can get.
Boise State Bowl Grade: B
Frisco Prediction for the bowl game: Boise State 38, North Texas 20
Line: Boise State -10.5, o/u: 59.5
The final score is Boise State 35, North Texas 32.
Obviously, the bowl win is the only thing that matters, except for those who had Boise State -10.5. This should have been a lot easier than it was against a North Texas team that might have played in the Conference USA Championship but wasn’t even close to being itself in this. It took the Broncos a half to show up, but when they did, they were ready. It shouldn’t have taken much effort to do.
Grade: A Fresno State Bowl
Jimmy Kimmel The LA Bowl will be won by Washington State, 24–20, over Fresno State.
Line: Fresno State -4, o/u: 53
Fresno State won 29 to 6 against Washington State.
This game was so easy for Fresno State to win that it made the host complain about how boring it was. Jimmy Kimmel came into the TV booth and joked about how boring it was. On both sides of the ball, Fresno State had a lot to do with that.
San Diego State Bowl Grade: C-
EasyPost Prediction for the Hawaii Bowl: San Diego State will beat Middle Tennessee by 23. 13
Line: San Diego State -6.5, o/u: 48.5
Final Score: Middle Tennessee 25, San Diego State 23
San Diego State, really? YOU JUST HAD TO KEEP THE BALL FROM TURNING OVER. The defensive line did its job in the back field of Middle Tennessee. Jalen Mayden had 309 yards of passing. The team was up 14-0 after the first quarter, and all it had to do to win was not make a huge mistake, take its time, and rely on its defense.
Instead, the Aztecs lost possession of the ball five times and could only score three field goals the rest of the way, but they still won the game. All they had to do was make one last stop on defense, but they didn’t. Middle Tennessee worked hard and won with a walk-off field goal.
San Jose State Bowl Grade: D+
The well-known Idaho Potato Bowl
Prediction: San Jose State will win 27-23 over Eastern Michigan.
Line: San Jose State -3.5, o/u: 54
The final score is Eastern Michigan 41, San Jose State 27.
Ugh. It would have been one thing for San Jose State to lose in a game that should have been close. Instead, they completely broke down. It got off to a good start and was about to go up 14-0 in the first quarter when the two-point conversion was blocked and EMU scored on a two-point conversion. From there, nothing went right. The Spartans couldn’t change the flow of the game, and by the end of the third, they were behind 33–13.
Utah State Bowl Grade: C-
SERVPRO Prediction for the First Responder Bowl: Memphis will beat Utah State 34 to 23
Line: Memphis -7, o/u: 61.5
Memphis beat Utah State 38 to 10 in the end.
Utah State just never had it. The offence, which had its moments during the season, couldn’t get going. The only touchdown came in the fourth quarter, when Memphis was already in charge. The three turnovers hurt, and the 261 yards of total offence weren’t even close to enough.
Grade in the Wyoming Bowl: B+
Barstool Games Ohio will win the Arizona Bowl, 26–23.
Line: Ohio -2.5, o/u: 41.5
Ohio won 30–27, and Wyoming lost 27–27.
Even though they were missing a lot of key players, the Cowboys did a great job. They didn’t make that one big stop in the last few seconds of regulation, and they didn’t score in overtime, but whatever. It was a great fight that had to end with someone losing.
2022-2023 Team, Grades for the Conference Bowl
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players | Ranking all Bowl Games Final Rankings: CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP | Coaches Top 150 National Champions of All Time
Next: Grades for the Pac-12 Bowl
Pac-12 Bowl Grades
Pac-12 Bowl Grade: C
Straight Up Pac-12: 3-4
Against the spread, the Pac-12 went 2-5.
Yes, Oregon State was great against whatever Florida did, Oregon made it through against North Carolina, and Washington beat Texas well.
But the misses were much too frustrating.
Utah couldn’t keep up with Penn State in the Rose Bowl, Washington State didn’t travel to Fresno State just to lose, and UCLA and USC both lost games they should have won easily.
Oregon Bowl Grade: B
San Diego County Bank of America Prediction for the Holiday Bowl: Oregon will beat North Carolina 41–30.
Line: Oregon -13, o/u: 76
Oregon won, 28–27, and North Carolina lost.
It wasn’t a perfect game, but the team did well considering the opt-outs and missing pieces. I stayed until the end of the game, even though there were problems in the third quarter. In the fourth, North Carolina’s powerful offence could only score field goals, thanks to the defence. Then Bo Nix went Bo Nix for the touchdown drive that won the game. Why not an A then? When you think about the parts that are missing, Oregon should have won a lot more easily than this.
Oregon State Bowl Grade: A
A SRS Grade for the Oregon State Bowl Vegas says Oregon State will beat Florida in the bowl game. 24
Line: Oregon State -8.5, o/u: 52.5
Final Score: Oregon State 30, Florida 3
On the other side of the field, there were Florida players from the SEC. It’s not Oregon State’s fault that the other team didn’t show up in Vegas with its best game. It took a while to put this game out of reach, but the Beavers never let it get interesting. They were up 30-0 before the SEC team scored a sad field goal in the last seconds.
UCLA Bowl Grade: D+
Tony was a tiger. Prediction for the Sun Bowl: UCLA 34, Pitt 20
Line: UCLA -8.5, o/u: 53.5
Final Score: Pitt 37, UCLA 35
Oh UCLA. Pitt was missing way too many key starters. Even if they had all of their players, they shouldn’t have been able to beat UCLA, but they did. The five giveaways didn’t help at all. It was ahead by two touchdowns with 20 minutes left, but the other team scored 27 points in the rest of the game. It couldn’t make one last stop, even though it looked like it was going to win, and… ugh.
Grade for the USC Bowl: B- Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
The score will be USC 34, Tulane 20.
Line: USC -2.5, o/u: 63
Tulane won the game 46 to 45.
Really? USC lost to a team from the Group of Five? Even though it was a tough loss, the Trojans deserve a lot of credit for giving it their all. It had to switch up its offensive line, and its defence was still terrible against running the ball. However, with just over four minutes left in the game, it was cruising to a double-digit win. Tulane just made a small miracle happen.
Utah Bowl Grade: C
The Rose Bowl will be won by Utah, 30–27, over Penn State.
Line: Utah -2.5, o/u: 52
Score in the end: Penn State 35, Utah 21
The offence lost their starting quarterback Cameron Rising, but he had only completed 8 of 21 passes before he got hurt. The running game couldn’t take over, the defence couldn’t make up for it, and the team that was so confident against USC and did such a good job overall didn’t own the lines like it needed to.
Alamo Bowl: A Washington Bowl:
Prediction: Texas will win 40-38.
Line: Texas -3, o/u: 66.5
Washington won, 27–20, and Texas lost.
This was great, especially since it’s been a while since the team went to a bowl game. The Huskies played in the middle of Texas and had one of their best defensive games of the season. Michael Penix Jr. and the passing game didn’t work well, but the team was more physical, went up 27-10 late in the fourth, and won their 11th game of the season. This will give them a good foundation to build on for the 2023 season.
Jimmy Kimmel’s grade for the Washington State Bowl is a D-
LA Prediction for the bowl: Washington State will beat Fresno State 24–20.
Line: Fresno State -4, o/u: 53
Fresno State won 29 to 6 against Washington State.
Washington State is supposed to be part of the Pac-12, but it looked like it didn’t belong on the same field as the Mountain West champion. Fresno State ran whenever they wanted, but the defence stopped everything, and Wazzu never had a chance, since they had 501 yards less than Fresno State.
2022-2023 Team Bowl Grades, Conference Bowl
Top 100 Bowl Players | Ranking all Bowl Games ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP | Coaches’ Top 150 National Champions Ever
NEXT: SEC Bowl Grades
SEC Bowl Grades
SEC Bowl Grade: B-
SEC Plain and simple: 7-5
5–7 for the SEC against the spread.
Georgia won the games that really mattered to and were important for the SEC. Everywhere else, it was a mixed bag.
Alabama showed its strength against Kansas State, and Mississippi State beat Illinois. However, Missouri couldn’t keep up with Wake Forest, Florida failed miserably against Oregon State, Ole Miss was weirdly bad against Texas Tech, and Kentucky made the world a sadder place with whatever they did against Iowa.
On the plus side, Tennessee was great against ACC Champion Clemson, Arkansas beat Kansas in a heart-stopping game, South Carolina fought hard but lost to Notre Dame, and…
Oh yeah, Georgia did okay.
Grade for the Alabama Bowl: A
Prediction for the Allstate Sugar Bowl: Alabama 34, Kansas State 20
Line: Alabama -6, o/u: 56
Final Score: Alabama 45, Kansas State 20
There is one problem with Alabama’s 25-point Sugar Bowl win over the Big 12 Champion: where the hell was THAT in every game? Even though Texas A&M wasn’t that good, Arkansas wasn’t that bad, and Texas didn’t even make it to the Big 12 Championship, Alabama had trouble with all three of them and wasn’t always as dominant as it usually is. But when Alabama decided to kick it all in with 10 points down at the end of the first quarter, that was the Alabama we came to see.
Arkansas Bowl: A-
Prediction for the AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Arkansas 38, Kansas 34
Line: Arkansas -1.5, o/u: 70.5
Final Score: Arkansas 55, Kansas 53 3OT
Everyone is praising Kansas for its amazing comeback, which they should, but Arkansas deserves all the credit in the world for not giving up and coming out on top. No, it shouldn’t have come down to three overtimes, and yes, the Hogs should have won it more easily, but that’s how you take a momentum punch and keep going.
Florida Bowl Grade D-
From the SRS Las Vegas Prediction for the bowl game: Oregon State 31, Florida 24
Line: Oregon State -8.5, o/u: 52.5
Final Score: Oregon State 30, Florida 3
You’re an SEC program, Florida. Act like it.
The Gators were missing a lot of important parts, like almost all of them, but they shouldn’t have needed a field goal in the last few seconds to have something to show for their terrible trip. This didn’t work: 219 yards and 11 penalties. The only reason it’s not a F is because the guys who did play gave it a shot and the defense kept it from getting out of hand, but… no. This was no contest.
Georgia College football bowl grade: A
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Game
Georgia will win 36 to 30 over Ohio State.
Line: Georgia -6.5, o/u: 62
Final Score: Georgia 42, Ohio State 41
5 Thoughts on Georgia’s win over Ohio State Prediction: Georgia will beat TCU 44 to 23 in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
Line: Georgia -13, o/u: 62.5 Final Score: Georgia 65, TCU 7
The only reason this isn’t an A+ is because Georgia is just a side note if Ohio State makes that kick straight.
The Buckeyes also have players from the NFL, and they got it. They were going to win the CFP Semifinal, but Stetson Bennett led a drive for the ages, the defence held on long enough to force a 50-yard field goal try, and then it was off to Los Angeles for the biggest blowout in college football bowl history. The win over TCU was one for the record books.
Kentucky Bowl Grade: D-
TransPerfect City of Music
Prediction for the bowl: Iowa 19 and Kentucky 16
Line: Iowa -2.5, o/u: 31
Iowa won 21–0, and Kentucky lost 0.
This deserves an F. Iowa had one of the worst offences in the country coming into this game, and it didn’t change. It’s not a fail just because the Kentucky defence was better than Iowa’s. Iowa didn’t convert any of their 11 third downs, and they only got 206 yards. Even though the UK offence wasn’t great and was missing its best players, 185 yards of total offence wasn’t good.
LSU Bowl Grade: A
Cheez-It Prediction for the Citrus Bowl: LSU 31, Purdue 20
Line: LSU -14.5, o/u: 56.5
Final Score: LSU 63, Purdue 7
Yeah, yeah, yeah, half of Purdue’s team wasn’t there, and its regular coaches weren’t there either. LSU did what it was supposed to do and showed off in what was the biggest bowl win in college football history before Georgia beat TCU.
Last year’s LSU team was broken after losing to Kansas State in the bowl game. This was a big chance to start over and show that things are going well under Brian Kelly.
Mississippi State Bowl Score: A
ReliaQuest Bowl
Prediction: Illinois 20, Mississippi State 19
Line: Mississippi State -1.5, o/u: 46
Final Score: Mississippi State 19, Illinois 10
Don’t just ignore this because Illinois isn’t as well-known as Ohio State or Michigan in the Big Ten. Mississippi State beat a very tough Illinois team. The defense held strong and only let in three points in the second half, while the offence put together the big drives it needed to win. This was a great way to end a good season on the field and a sad one off of it.
Missouri Bowl Grade: C
Union Home Gasparilla Bowl Predictions: Wake Forest 30, Missouri 27 Line: Wake Forest -2.5, o/u: 58.5 Final Score: Wake Forest 27, Missouri 17
The defense for Missouri did what it could. It stopped Wake Forest’s offence and Sam Hartman from going off, but the other team didn’t help in the second half. Too many mistakes were made, too many drives got stuck, and the lift was too heavy after getting down quickly, coming back, and then buckling late. In the last 20 minutes, all the Tigers needed was one big scoring drive, but they couldn’t get it.
Grade for the Ole Miss Bowl: C-
TaxAct Ole Miss will win the Texas Bowl by 34 points over Texas Tech.
Line: Ole Miss -4.5, o/u: 72.5
Score in the end: Texas Tech 42, Ole Miss 25
Really? Even though they were down 26-7 at halftime, they could have done a lot more with the skill players they had. The Rebels tied it at seven, but after that, they were out of it. They put up a fight and made things a little bit more interesting at the end, but it wasn’t much thanks to their five turnovers, eight pentacles, and painful inability to stop the other team on fourth down.
The state of South Carolina Bowl Grade: B-
Prediction: Notre Dame will beat South Carolina in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, 27–23.
Line: Notre Dame -3.5, o/u: 50.5
The final score was 45 to 38 in favour of Notre Dame.
This is a little too kind, considering that the Gamecocks blew a 21-7 lead in the first quarter. However, they were able to keep fighting, and the defence made a few big plays to keep the game going. With two minutes to go, the game was tied. There were enough missing pieces to make it hard for both teams, but it was still fun to watch. The Gamecocks just couldn’t think of another play on D.
Tennessee Bowl Grade: A
Capital One Prediction for the Orange Bowl: Clemson 34, Tennessee 24. 30
Line: Clemson -6, o/u: 61
Tennessee won with 31, and Clemson lost with 14.
What else could you possibly have wanted? The Tennessee defence, which had been shaky all season, pitched a gem in which it moved a lot but didn’t give up much. Joe Milton showed that he could be the next great quarterback for the Vols, and there wasn’t even a hint of drama as the team rolled past the ACC champion for their 11th win of the season.
2022-2023 Team Bowl Grades, Conference Bowl
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players | Ranking all Bowl Games Final Rankings: CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP | Coaches Top 150 National Champions of All Time
NEXT: Sun Belt Bowl Grades
Sun Belt Bowl Grades
Sun Belt Bowl Grade: B-
Sun Belt Straight Up: 3-4
Against the Spread, Sun Belt: 3–4
The conference champion won when Troy beat UTSA, but North Texas couldn’t beat Boise State in a tough game. Marshall and Southern Miss didn’t have any problems in their bowl games, but South Alabama didn’t show up against WKU and Georgia Southern was a big disappointment against Buffalo.
Coastal Carolina tried, but it was ready to move on from the 2022 season. Louisiana fought hard, but Houston was too strong for them.
TicketSmarter gives
The Coastal Carolina Bowl a grade of B-
Prediction for the Birmingham Bowl: East Carolina will beat Coastal Carolina by 37. 26
Line: East Carolina -8, o/u: 62
Final Score: East Carolina 53, Coastal Carolina 29
To be totally and completely fair, Coastal Carolina did the best it could. It gets a pass because the coaching situation is so confusing and quarterback Grayson McCall got hurt. The defense had no chance; it gave up 29 points as the game got out of hand in the second half. However, the Chanticleers were ahead in the second quarter before everything went wrong.
Grade: C Georgia Southern Bowl
Camellia Prediction
For the bowl game: Georgia Southern 38, Buffalo 27
Line: Georgia Southern -3.5, over/under: 66.5
In the end, Buffalo beat Georgia Southern 23 to 21.
Kyle Vantrease, the former quarterback for Buffalo, and Georgia Southern should have rolled. Vantrease did throw for 352 yards, so the offence that was sometimes so fast and good shouldn’t have had any trouble. The time had run out. The offence never got in charge, UB always had the ball, and the team couldn’t make a late comeback. The team did better than finish with a losing record, but that’s what happened.
Louisiana Radiance Technologies gets a B-
Prediction for the Independence Bowl: Houston 41, Louisiana 27
Houston is -6.5, and the total is 56.5.
Houston wins by 23, and Louisiana loses by 16.
Even though Louisiana lost, it wasn’t supposed to be this close. Don’t worry about the spread being less than a touchdown; that had more to do with how inconsistent Houston was than how well the Ragin’ Cajuns played. It was a good fight to get up 16-6 in the first half, but when the score was tied at 16, the defense couldn’t hold on and lost the game by letting a 92-yard touchdown drive happen. The -3 margin of turnovers was a killer.
Marshall Bowl Grade: B+
Myrtle Beach Marshall will beat UConn in the bowl, 30 to 16.
Marshall -12.5, over/under: 41
Score in the end: Marshall 28, UConn 14
There was kind of no drama, no worrying, and no problems. Overall, it wasn’t a great game, and there was a point in the second half when it looked like the Herd were about to lose it all. However, the clamps kept the game under control, and the team won by two touchdowns. It wasn’t very exciting, but the team did what it needed to do.
South Alabama Bowl Grade: D
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl Prediction: South Alabama will beat WKU 35 to 30.
South Alabama is -4, and the total is 57.5.
The final score is 44 to 23 for WKU.
This is a very, very nice thing to do. South Alabama was almost unbeaten and headed to the Sun Belt Championship and then the Cotton Bowl. That’s a little bit of a stretch, but not much. It was great all year, on both sides of the ball, and when they were down 31-3 to WKU, they were never, ever in the game. The offence wasn’t bad and they didn’t turn the ball over much. The defense never even came close.
The grade for the Southern Miss Bowl is a B+
The Tree Bowl will be won by Southern Miss, 26–20.
Line: Southern Miss -6.5, over/under: 45.5
Score in the end: Southern Miss 38, Rice 24
329 yards. No one has ever run for more yards in a bowl game than Frank Gore Jr. Did a great job to beat Rice and set a new record. So why isn’t the grade better? The three turnovers were bad, being down 24–17 late in the third quarter was worse, and the defense breaking down for a while after halftime was a problem. But it was a 14-point bowl win against a team that had five wins and got in with those.
The Bowl Grade: A
Duluth trading Cure Bowl
For the Troy Bowl Bowl pick: UTSA will beat Troy 30–27.
Line: UTSA -2.5, o/u: 56.5
Score in the end: Troy 18, UTSA 12
And THAT is how Troy won the Sun Belt title. The defense, which had been great all year, came up with five takeaways after falling behind 12-0 to the powerful Conference USA champion. The offence scored two touchdowns when the defense turned the ball over, and it had one good drive that led to a field goal. 12 wins, win in the signature bowl, boom.
2022-2023 Team, Conference Bowl Grades
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USA | Ind
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players | Ranking all Bowl Games Final Rankings: CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP | Coaches Top 150 National Champions of All Time
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