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.
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: Notre Dame 31, LSU 28
Notre Dame kinda fell off the wagon towards the end of the season, but they did an amazing job getting up for this bowl game. They limited turnovers and played one of their best games of the season, keeping them close enough for Kyle Brindza to kick the game-winning field goal.
Grade: B+
LSU did not play poorly at all. It was a good game between two evenly-matched teams. Like any close game, you can always point to the few mistakes that changed things. LSU might have liked better for this season, but 8-5 in a very tough division is not bad for a rebuilding year.
Grade: B
Belk Bowl: Georgia 37, Louisville 14
In a New Year’s-time slate in which the SEC did not impress, Georgia held their ground. The Bulldogs faced a talented opponent with a stout run defense and just wore them down, very reminiscent of what they did to Clemson early in the year. Nick Chubb is going to be something special.
Grade: A
Louisville has been much better at home than away all year and this was no different. With the way Georgia’s offense was clicking they were never going to win this, but they definitely have the offensive talent to have kept this close. Credit to Georgia that they didn’t.
Grade: C
Foster Farms Bowl: Stanford 45, Maryland 21
This may go down as a lost year for Stanford. The Cardinal have a ton of talent but lost the plot offensively for a little while in the middle of the season. The finished with impressive wins over UCLA and Maryland, though.
Grade: A
Maryland made this final look closer than it should have been with some garbage time scores. They came out fighting but just could never keep up with Stanford’s offense or find any traction against this defense.
Grade: C-
Chik-Fil-A Peach Bowl: TCU 42, Mississippi 3
TCU felt left out of the CFP and they came out trying to show that they belong. There was no letdown, no hangover, and no disappointment. Just domination from start to finish. If TCU is on the bubble next year, you can bet that this game will be in the committee’s minds, even if not mentioned.
Grade: A+
There was really nothing Ole Miss could have done this game. Sure, Bo Wallace had some head-scratching “Bad Bo” moments, but it was really caused by the unrelenting TCU attack. Mississippi wasn’t bad here–they were just outclassed.
Grade: D
Vizio Fiesta Bowl: Boise State 38, Arizona 30
What is it with Boise State and Fiesta Bowls? The Broncos become the only school other than Penn State to be undefeated in this game with three or more appearances. Boise might have come in as the underdog, but they came out firing and punched Arizona in the mouth. They made enough plays to hang on when the Wildcats fought back in the second half.
Grade: A
This will go down as Arizona missing an opportunity for one of the biggest wins in school history and will renew questions about Rich Rodriguez’s ability to win “the big one”. It shouldn’t, though. Arizona played well. Boise just played better.
Grade: B+
Capital One Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech 49, Mississippi State 34
What a season for Georgia Tech. They got better and better as the year went on and that perfectly-executed triple-option was gorgeous to watch in both the ACC Championship Game and the Orange Bowl. This is a school that could challenge for a CFP spot next year with Justin Thomas returning at quarterback. Now they just need to build a solid defense.
Grade: A
Mississippi State is a team that got worse as the year went on. Don’t believe me? Re-watch their last few games an compare them to their early ones. They never gave up fighting, though, which is a credit to this team and their coach. Mullen is building a program and the longer he stays, the more likely it is that they will play for a national championship someday soon.
Grade: B
Outback Bowl: Wisconsin 34, Auburn 31 (OT)
This was just a great bowl game between two even teams. Melvin Gordon showed he can run on anyone, even an SEC defense. Joel Stave was not good at QB all game, but he made some huge throws with the game on the line. Paul Chryst returns as head coach and he can develop quarterbacks. Wisconsin needs it.
Grade: B
Auburn was a team of destiny last year but just couldn’t get the bounces this year. Still, they hung tough all game and fought to the wire. They never gave up on defense, either, even with Wisconsin running all over and around them. In the end, though, not hitting a field goal in overtime was the only thing that could separate these two teams.
Grade: B
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic: Michigan State 42, Baylor 41
What a game. Michigan State could have given up at any point once it was clear that they couldn’t stop Baylor and couldn’t quite keep up on offense. They didn’t, though, and got two fourth-quarter stops that made all the difference. Connor Cook was far from perfect, but he stepped up huge when thee situation absolutely necessitated it.
Grade: B+
Baylor may have thought they had this in the bag a little too early, which is ironic because they did this exact same thing to TCU earlier in the year. They pulled off a great trick play, but a late blocked field goal and the inability to get a defensive stop in the 4th quarter (aside from an ill-advised throwaway from Cook) cost them their biggest bowl win since the 1950s.
Grade: B
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Missouri 33, Minnesota 17
Mizzou has had a very confusing season. They refused to lose except for that head-scratcher against Indiana. They were outclassed by both Georgia and Alabama, but otherwise they were the country’s most “clutch” team (aside from Florida State). Their never-say-die attitude continued into the bowl game, where they didn’t give up even after being outplayed early. In the end, their adjustments were too much for Minnesota and they pulled away for a relatively comfortable victory.
Grade: B
Jerry Kill is building a program at Minnesota. They’re not elite yet and it might be too much to classify them as “very good”. But they are getting there and they have all spring and summer to look forward to a season-opening visit from TCU next year.
Grade: C+
Rose Bowl Game Presented by Northwestern Mutual: Oregon 59, Florida State 20
So… Umm… How about those Ducks? Oregon put an emphatic stamp on the season by playing their best game of the year and wiping out Florida State. They have one more game for the first national championship in school history.
Grade: A+
Honestly, Florida State didn’t play an awful game. They kept it close in the first half. Then it was like all of the good second-half luck they had built up over the regular season came back all at once. Turnovers were capitalized on by Oregon and then things kind of blew up from there. The final score was embarrassing, but the game as a whole wasn’t.
Grade: C
Allstate Sugar Bowl: Ohio State 42, Alabama 35
Ohio State dominated this game statistically from start to finish. A few mistakes in the red zone, a bad fumble by Ezekiel Elliot, and an interception on a miscommunication were the only reasons Bama was up big early. Ohio State never panicked and didn’t give up, scoring the next 28 to key this milestone victory.
Grade: A
Alabama is probably the most talented team in the country. Ohio State consistently outplayed them and yet they still were just a few plays away from a comfortable victory. That’s why this team is so impossible to beat. You have to be almost perfect just to have a chance. Ohio State was pretty perfect and they took their chance.
Grade: B
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