Bowl season winners and losers: Bryce Young shines, Penn State rolls, USC defense flops again

Bill Bender

•
Bowl season winners and losers: Bryce Young shines, Penn State rolls, USC defense flops again image

We had a 329-yard rushing performance, a five-touchdown afternoon from a guy everyone thought would opt-out, a late safety that turned the Cotton Bowl, a mind-bending cover on Jan. 2 and 15 teams that scored at least 40 points. Yes, the 2022 bowl season brought it.

No. 3 TCU is the Cinderella story, and they get a shot at derailing MNo. 1 Georgia's hopes for a second straight national championship on Jan. 9. The winner will join those who took advantage of the postseason, but there were some missed opportunities by some other players, coaches and conferences. 

Hey, there are Duke's Mayo baths. Anything goes in bowl season. 

Who said there are too many bowl games? There were 11 games decided by three points or less, including Ohio's walk-off 30-27 overtime victory against Wyoming in the Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl. The MAC did have the best bowl record at 4-2 after all. 

Let's sort out the rest of the biggest winners and losers from the 41 bowl games: 

Bowl winners and losers

Conference bowl records for 2022-23

CONF W L .PCT
MAC 4 2 .667
Independent 3 2 .600
American 4 3 .571
ACC 5 4 .556
Big Ten 5 4 .556
SEC 6 5 .545
C-USA 3 3 .500
Pac-12 3 4 .429
MWC 3 4 .429
Sun Belt 3 4 .429
Big 12 2 6 .250

Winners: Sonny Dykes and Kirby Smart 

Give credit to the two coaches in the national championship game. 

Dykes, SN's Coach of the Year, out-coached Michigan's Jim Harbaugh in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. The Horned Frogs erased any doubts about Big 12 toughness by rushing for 263 yards, and Dykes didn't overthink it in the red zone. The Horned Frogs were 5-of-5 in the red zone. The Wolverines were 5-of-7. That was the difference in a 51-45 thriller. 

MORE: Dykes named SN's Coach of the Year

Smart called a timeout just before Ohio State tried to run a fake punt with 8:58 remaining. The Buckeyes led 38-27 at that point, and Georgia erased that with back-to-back TD drives in winning time from veteran quarterback Stetson Bennett for a 42-41 victory. That's coaching.

TROCCHI: Smart, Bennett, lead Georgia to thrilling win over Ohio State

Losers: Jim Harbaugh and Ryan Day 

This is part of the job. The Big Ten suffered double-barrel losses on the big stage. Harbaugh lamented the "Philly Special" goal line play in the first quarter that set the tone for the Wolverines' mistake-filled dud. Michigan committed three turnovers and left two red-zone scores on the field. Day was brilliant for most of the game against Georgia, but the Buckeyes broke down on defense late and had a chance to give Noah Ruggles more room on the 50-yard field goal at the end of regulation. 

Harbaugh is 2-6 against top-five teams, and both wins are against Ohio State. Day is now 2-5 against top-five teams, and the wins were against Clemson and Notre Dame. At some point, one of these coaches will need to knock the SEC off their pedestal. 

BENDER: Where do Ohio State, Michigan go from here?

Winners: Bryce Young opting in

Bryce Young, the 2021 Heisman Trophy winner,  opted into the Sugar Bowl, and led No. 5 Alabama to a 45-20 blowout against No. 9 Kansas State. Young finished 15 of 21 for 321 yards and five TDs with a brilliant performance that left some wondering how the Crimson Tide would have fared if the 12-team playoff were this year. Young made his case to be the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. 

MORE: What a 12-team bracket would have looked like in 2022

C.J. Stroud also was a bright spot for Ohio State against the Bulldogs. He passed for 348 yards and four TDs, and he added 12 carries for 34 yards rushing. Stroud answered questions about his toughness and accuracy and gave the Buckeyes every chance to win. 

That debate about Young and Stroud as the top quarterback in this year's draft is bound to heat up. 

Loser: Will Levis opting out 

Will Levis opted out of the Wildcats' bowl game, which was a disastrous 21-0 loss to Iowa in the Music City Bowl. We don't fault Levis' decision to risk injury (we're past that now), but he likely will slip behind Young and Stroud in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Will the fact that Young and Stroud played in the bowl games be a separator? Probably not, but it won't hurt the other two quarterbacks. 

Getty Images

Winner: Joe Milton, late-round flier? 

Joe Milton took advantage of the opportunity in leading No. 6 Tennessee to a 31-14 Capital One Orange Bowl victory against No. 7 Clemson. With star quarterback Hendon Hooker (ACL) out for the game, Milton finished 19 of 28 for 251 yards and three TDs and flashed that arm strength that will get NFL scout's attention.

Winner: Penn State's offense

No. 11 Penn State broke open a close Rose Bowl with a series of big plays in a 35-21 victory against No. 8 Utah on Monday. Nick Singleton's 87-yard TD run in the third quarter broke the tie, and veteran quarterback Sean Clifford had a pair of TD passes for the Nittany Lions, who finished off a 11-win season in style. James Franklin broke a streak of 10 straight losses to top-10 teams, and Penn State should be right back in the top-10 in 2023. Will they overtake Ohio State and Michigan this time? 

Loser: USC's defense 

No. 10 USC had a 15-point with 4:30 left against No. 16 Tulane. Then, a special teams miscue, a safety and two-minute collapse by the defense led to a stunning 46-45 loss to the Green Wave. That spoiled another great performance from Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams, who finished with 460 yards with five TDs and an interception.

Michael Pratt's six-yard TD pass to Alex Bauman on a between-the-legs catch that capped the comeback. 

The Green Wave rolled up 539 total yards, including 305 rushing yards. That was the fifth time USC allowed more than 500 yards in a game, and that included the two losses to Utah. Lincoln Riley had an impressive first season with the Trojans, but that no-defense narrative has followed him from Oklahoma. 

Loser: The rest of the Big 12

TCU was great, but Texas Tech was the only other team in the conference to win a bowl game. The Red Raiders beat Ole Miss 42-25 in the TaxAct Texas Bowl. The Big 12 finished 2-6 in bowl games, the worst mark among Power 5 conferences. 

Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas each had one-score losses in their respective bowl games, and those three perennial Big 12 brands combined for a 21-18 record. On top of that, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy lashed out at a reporter and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian tried to bully an operations worker before his game.

None of them will be ranked in the final AP Poll. Kansas – who was darling of the first half of the season – lost a 55-53 triple-overtime thriller with Arkansas in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. The Jayhawks finished 6-7. Baylor topped that off with a 30-15 loss to Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl. 

Winners: Marcus Freeman and Brian Kelly 

These coaches will be linked after switching jobs, but it’s fair to call both a success in their first seasons. 

No. 21 Notre Dame beat No. 19 South Carolina 45-38 in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl after a rough first-quarter start. Freeman finished off a nine-win season with up-and-down quarterback play, and that was evident with Tyler Buchner against the Gamecocks. Still, the Irish won nine games, which wasn’t expected after the 0-2 start. 

Kelly, meanwhile, led a 10-win season after blasting undermanned Purdue 63-7 in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. Kelly even had some Cheez-It crackers afterward. Considering all the meme material in the offseason, a 10-win season, SEC championship appearance and bowl victory are a great start in Baton Rouge, La. 

Expectations will increase now. Both teams should be ranked in the top 10 to start 2023. 

Losers: Billy Napier and Brent Venables 

The Gators suffered one of the worst blowouts of bowl season. No. 14 Oregon State routed Florida 30-3 in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl. First-year coach Billy Napier finished 6-7 in his first season as a result. 

We mentioned the Big 12 struggles and Venables. Oklahoma finished 6-7 after losing 35-32 to No. 13 Florida State in the Cheez-It Bowl. 

Those programs will expect significant improvement in Year 2. 

Winner: Mississippi State's Mike Leach tribute

The Bulldogs led Illinois 13-10 with one play to go in their Reliaquest Bowl matchup against Illinois. The Ilini tried a series of laterals, but the fifth one bounced off the turf into the arms of Marcus Banks, who rumbled 60 yards for the TD to cover the spread for Mississippi State. 

It was a fittingly wild finish in the first game since Mike Leach's death, and a building block for first-year coach Zach Arnett heading into 2023. 

Loser: Cincinnati

It wasn't the best bowl season for the Bearcats. Luke Fickell, who had a 57-18 record the last six seasons, left for Wisconsin. Cincinnati hired Scott Satterfield away from Louisville, then lost 24-7 to Louisville in the Fenway Bowl. Satterfield will lead Cincinnati into the Big 12, but that wasn't the best closing chapter to the end of the Fickell era. 

Winner: Frank Gore Jr. 

The Southern Miss running back had a record-setting performance in the 38-24 victory against Rice in the Lending Tree Bowl. Gore Jr. set a bowl record with 329 rushing yards, and he book-ended the Golden Eagles' victory with a 64-yard TD run in the first quarter and a 55-yard TD run to seal it in the fourth quarter. Gore's father rushed for 16,000 yards in the NFL. This performance likely gives his son an interesting shot at the next level. 

 

Bill Bender

Bill Bender Photo

Bill Bender graduated from Ohio University in 2002 and started at The Sporting News as a fantasy football writer in 2007. He has covered the College Football Playoff, NBA Finals and World Series for SN. Bender enjoys story-telling, awesomely-bad 80s movies and coaching youth sports.