As the New Year approaches, rice bowl season is in full swing. With Saturday’s bowl slate being the busiest of the year, we thought it was the perfect time to take a look at the postseason winners and losers so far.
winner
Missouri State: The Tigers came from behind to beat Iowa State 27-24 thanks to a late fourth-down stop in the Music City Bowl on Monday.
Iowa was stopped about a yard short of the first-down marker on third down with just over a minute left as a timeout expired. The Hawkeyes rushed to the line trying to perform a QB sneak, but LB Corey Flagg blocked the playout, forcing Brendan Sullivan to try to attack to the left. It didn’t work.
The win moves Missouri State to 10-3 on the season and snaps a 10-win season for the Tigers, who went 11-2 in 2023. This is the first time since 2013 that the Tigers have had double-digit wins in consecutive seasons. In 2014, Mizzou won 23 games and appeared in back-to-back SEC title games.
Iowa finished the season with 8 wins and 5 losses.
USC: The Trojans capped off a disappointing season with a win over an SEC team in Las Vegas. USC opened the season by defeating LSU in Week 1 at Allegiant Stadium and ended it with a 35-31 victory over Texas A&M in the Las Vegas Bowl on Friday night.
QB Jayden Maiava threw three interceptions, but after Marcel Reed gave Texas A&M a three-point lead with 1:49 remaining, Kyle Ford scored the game-winning goal with eight seconds remaining.
With the win, USC finished the season at 7-6 and avoided the first losing season in Lincoln Riley’s head coaching career. But 7-6 wasn’t what brought Riley to Los Angeles. He faces a difficult rebuilding challenge with USC’s performance in 2024 and his exit from the team via the transfer portal.
Vanderbilt: A team that was widely expected to finish last in the SEC ended up winning. The Commodores defeated Georgia Tech 35-27 in the Birmingham Bowl on Friday thanks to 21 straight points in the second half.
QB Diego Pavia threw three touchdowns and will be back for another season thanks to his wins on the court. After playing in junior college, Pavia successfully sued for another year of eligibility and will return to Nashville with assistant coach Jerry Kill and tight end Eli Stowers. Stowers, who played with Pavia under Coach Kill at New Mexico State in 2023, had 49 catches for 638 yards and 5 TDs in 2024 and caught 4 passes for 55 yards and 1 TD in the bowl game. did.
Navy: The Midshipmen stopped Oklahoma State with a two-point conversion with six seconds left to beat the Sooners 21-20 in the Armed Forces Bowl. The win improves Navy to 10-3 and gives the Midshipmen their first 10-win season since 2019, when they went 11-2.
Army won the AAC, but Navy could claim military school bragging rights with a 31-13 win over the Black Knights and a 34-7 win over Air Force.
Syracuse QB Kyle McCord: Who could have predicted before the season that Kyle McCord would set the ACC passing yards record in 2024? The former Ohio State QB finished the season with 4,779 yards, throwing for 453 yards and five touchdowns in the Orange’s 52-35 Holiday Bowl win over Washington State.
McCord completed 391-of-592 passes with 34 touchdowns and 12 interceptions this season, including five in October’s nightmarish loss to Pitt. McCord finished the season with the most completions, pass attempts and yards of any quarterback since he threw 3,170 in 12 games in his only season as a starter for the Buckeyes in 2023. I will finish it.
UW: The Huskies defeated North Carolina 27-14 in the Fenway Bowl on Saturday, finishing the season with a 9-4 record. This season has been remarkable for one of the few independent teams in college football. The nine wins tied a program record, and only three college teams have finished the season with that many wins.
This success is also due to UConn not having a winning season since 2010, when Randy Edsall was in the final season of his first stint with the team.
loser
Colorado: The Buffaloes’ Alamo Bowl ejections for Travis Hunter and Shedule Sanders were just a fantasy. In a matchup between Big 12 teams, Colorado State dominated BYU, with the Cougars winning 36-14. The Buffaloes finished the game with just 2 yards rushing as Sanders struggled against BYU’s defensive line and the Colorado run game couldn’t do anything. The loss dropped Colorado to 9-4 on the season, while BYU finished at 11-2.
Pitt Coach Pat Narduzzi: Do you think it’s easier to score a TD from 1 yard out or 3 yards out? GameAbove Sports Bowl: Teams go into overtime in 6 innings, 48-46 In the loss to Toledo, Narduzzi chose the latter option.
In case you need a refresher, college football’s overtime rules mean that any game that goes beyond two overtimes is a duel for a two-point conversion from the 3-yard line.
After Toledo made a 33-yard field goal on second overtime, Pitt got all the way to the 1-yard line, where Gavin Bartholomew was stopped on third down for no gain. Rather than go for the win from a yard out, Narduzzi forced Ben Sauls to kick a 19-yard field goal to tie the game and force a third overtime. After four overtimes, Pitt lost six straight games and finished the season with 7 wins and 6 losses.
Tennessee: Well, December 21st was the worst, worst night for the volunteers. Tennessee lost to the Buckeyes 42-17 in the College Football Playoff and quickly lost to Ohio State 21-0. Ohio State’s defense overwhelmed Tennessee’s offense, and the Vols’ biggest offensive threat was QB Niko Iamareaba’s foot after star running back Dylan Sampson suffered a lower-body injury.
If Tennessee wants to return to the CFP in 2025, it will need to address the inconsistency on offense that plagued the second half of the season.
Oklahoma State: The Sooners ended their first season in the SEC with their second losing season in three years under coach Brent Venables. Oklahoma hadn’t lost a game since 1998, when it lost three straight years under coach John Blake.
Offense is a problem in 2024, and the Sooners hope the arrival of Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterback John Matthia will solve that. However, the schedule is still tough. OU will play Tennessee, South Carolina and Alabama next season, with Ole Miss, Missouri and LSU also remaining.
Tulane: It was a brutal end to the season for the Green Wave. Tulane lost at home to Memphis on Thanksgiving night, thus losing its chance to host the AAC title game and advance to the College Football Playoff. The Green Wave then suffered a blowout loss to Army, losing in the conference title game. Starting QB Darian Mensah then transferred to Duke.
Tulane then lost to Florida 33-8 in the Gasparilla Bowl. And now, RB Maki Hughes has entered the transfer portal. This season, he recorded 1,401 yards and 15 rushing TDs.
North Carolina: Bill Belichick has some work to do. The Tar Heels finished the season with a record of 6 wins and 7 losses, losing to UW for the third straight loss. Yes, UNC was without star running back Omarion Hampton, but the Tar Heels had just 206 total yards and were 0-of-9 on third downs. North Carolina State’s only offensive TD of the game came with less than seven minutes remaining when UConn led by 20 points.
