This article series is very simple. We are going to give a bowl grade to every single team that competed in a bowl game this year. These are the grades for the eleven bowl games played from December 26th-29th. The first team graded is always the winning team.
Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl: Louisiana Tech 35, Illinois 18
Louisiana Tech came a few plays away from upsetting Marshall for the Conference-USA championship and got a low-tier Power 5 team as their reward. They took full advantage and played a full team game in their victory over Illinois.
Grade: B+
Coach Tim Beckman probably saved his job by getting Illinois to this bowl game, but the Illini did not acquit themselves well against a mid-major opponent. They’re moving in the right direction, but major strides are necessary if they want to compete for Big Ten titles again.
Grade: F
Quick Lane Bowl: Rutgers 40, North Carolina 21
We expected a high-scoring shootout. Rutgers’ defense was impressive, though, shutting out North Carolina in the first half and only giving up seven points before garbage time. The offense will have to replace Gary Nova next year, but this team looks ready to compete in the Big Ten moving forward.
Grade: B
North Carolina came out flat against N.C. State to end the regular season and came out even flatter here. There’s not much nice to say about this game, so I won’t say anything at all.
Grade: F
Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl: N.C. State 34, UCF 27
Coach Dave Doeren is doing good things at N.C. State and building them back towards being an ACC contender. The Wolfpack jumped out to a good lead and withstood UCF’s comeback. This is a solid win for a program moving in the right direction.
Grade: B
UCF had its best season in school history last year. Losing way too many starters (including a top five draft pick) from a BCS Bowl-winning team was bound to have an effect. I’m sure they would have liked to have played better in this bowl game, but it’s not a bad season overall for a program primed to consistently compete for that top mid-major spot.
Grade: C-
Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman: Virginia Tech 33, Cincinnati 17
You have to wonder where this Virginia Tech team was all season. This was the defensive talent they showed against Ohio State and Duke but combined with one of their best offensive performances of the season. This could have been a 8-to-10-win team if they had played this well all season:
Grade: A-
Cincinnati, on the other hand, could not find the rhythm that they sustained after their embarrassing loss to Memphis. It was a good season for the Bearcats, but not a good bowl game.
Grade: D-
Hyundai Sun Bowl: Arizona State 36, Duke 31
The Sun Devils were heavy favorites in this game and played like it. The close score was entirely due to Duke playing in a bowl like they haven’t won one since 1961. Arizona State was solid as they were all season. In this case that was enough to win and probably get their first Top 15 finish since the 1996 season.
Grade: B+
I’m going to give Duke the same grade I gave Arizona State. They flat-out earned it. They played their hearts out and pulled out all the stops, including trick plays, to get this win. It wasn’t to be this year (due to a huge kickoff return right after Duke took the lead), but they will definitely get that bowl win under Dave Cutcliffe.
Grade: B+
Duck Commander Independence Bowl: South Carolina 24, Miami (Fl) 21
This was not the prettiest of bowl games, but South Carolina held on to win and avoid Steve Spurrier’s first losing record 2002 with the Washington Redskins (his last losing record in college was in 1987). The defense did well to bend but not break early and after that it was all about taking advantage of Miami’s mistakes.
Grade: C
Here’s the deal: I hate it when coaches can’t do basic game management. Absolutely hate it. You’re paid millions of dollars, so don’t blow a game by not knowing basic football logic. Miami should have had a chance to get the ball back if they had called their timeouts properly. Instead, coach Al Golden called timeout before a South Carolina first down and cost his team 10-15 seconds, during which the Gamecocks would have had to have punted. Al Golden, you get a big, fat F.
Grade: F
New Era Pinstripe Bowl: Penn State 31, Boston College 30
Speaking of basic game management errors, Penn State coach James Franklin called timeout to take a game-tying field goal with 25 seconds left instead of with five seconds left. This meant that he had to kick the ball back to Boston College to give them a chance to win in regulation. It’s just dumb. Anyway, this was a great moment for the Penn State seniors who came in thinking they would never see a bowl game and got their huge win. Congrats.
Grade: B-
Boston College was a tipped extra point away from a second overtime here. They played a solid game against an evenly-matched team. They weren’t spectacular but did nothing too wrong either. This was a good bowl game between two middle-of-the-pack Power 5 teams.
Grade: B-
National University Holiday Bowl: USC 45, Nebraska 42
USC’s offense looked incredible for most of three quarters before Nebraska started stepping up their D. Still, this looks like an incredibly talented USC team that is running on very few scholarship players. It will not take them too long to get back to the squads we saw under Pete Carroll.
Grade: A-
Nebraska showed a ton of fight after losing a beloved (by the players, at least) head coach. They played hard, never gave up, and almost made a huge comeback. Some might even think they deserved another Hail Mary shot after a pretty blatant pass interference that went uncalled on the final play.
Grade: B+
Autozone Liberty Bowl: Texas A&M 45, West Virginia 37
It looked early like Texas A&M might get blown out here, but they did an excellent job recovering and riding their offense to a big bowl win. The defense still needs a ton of work, but it stepped up when it needed to and won them this game.
Grade: B+
West Virginia never gave up but this has to be a disappointing season overall from a team that beat Baylor at home by two touchdowns. 7-6 was not where they wanted to end up after that start. The talent is there; the team just couldn’t put it together in the second half of this season.
Grade: B
Russell Athletic Bowl: Clemson 40, Oklahoma 6
Oh how a few years can change things. Three years ago, during a blowout loss to West Virginia, the jokes were rolling in that “West Virginia just scored again”. Those identical jokes were coming in now, only in Clemson’s favor. It was a good cap to a solid season for the Tigers and should be a Top 15 finish.
Grade: A+
Oklahoma did not look like they wanted to be here from start to finish. And why would they? They came into the season as national title hopefuls and ended up 8-4 (with a heartbreaking rivalry loss) and in the Russell Athletic Bowl. I’m not blaming them, but they still get an F for (lack of) effort.
Grade: F
Advocare B100 Texas Bowl: Arkansas 31, Texas 7
This was a great showing from Arkansas, who might be the best 6-6 team we’ve ever seen. They got better as the season went on and are probably better than several ranked teams at this point. We won’t likely see them ranked because the beginning of the season counts, but watch out for them next year. They closed it out with a comprehensive domination of Texas. The controlled every facet of this game. The offense moved at will. Calling the defense stifling is an understatement. The special teams were impeccable. No complaints here whatsoever.
Grade: A+
Texas played hard but they just got beat. It wasn’t close. They put effort in against a more talented team, though, so I’ll reward that.
Grade: D-
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