American Athletic Conference Bowl Grades
American Athletic Conference Bowl Grade: B
American Athletic Conference Straight Up: 4-3
American Athletic Conference Against The Spread: 4-3
Tulane came back to beat USC. That’s it. The Cotton Bowl was the showcase for the soon-to-be-gutted conference, and one of the members that’s sticking around game through.
UCF and Cincinnati can be somewhat forgiven for their respective blowout losses to the ACC – neither one was close to having its normal starting 22 – but SMU should’ve been able to slip by BYU and didn’t.
There weren’t any Power Five wins other than what the Green Wave did, but East Carolina and Memphis took care of business, and 2022 Houston went 2022 Houston and made things harder than it needed to in its 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
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
The only reason what this isn’t a big, screaming F is because of the situation. Cincinnati lost head coach Luke Fickell, Scott Satterfield wasn’t in charge yet, and just about everyone who was anyone wasn’t playing. Yeah, but Louisville was missing a bulk of its guys, too. The Bearcats gave it a go, but they just didn’t have the players in the ugly loss.
East Carolina Bowl Grade: A
TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl
Prediction: East Carolina 37, Coastal Carolina 26
Line: East Carolina -8, o/u: 62
Final Score: East Carolina 53, Coastal Carolina 29
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
Who had more fun winning a bowl than East Carolina? Well, maybe Georgia had a good time, but the Pirates played like they wanted to do something great. They ripped apart a bad Coastal Carolina defense without a problem. Holton Ahlers threw five touchdown passes to close out his 14th year as the starting quarterback, the O got rolling after getting down 14-10, and the +3 turnover margin made up for the 11 penalties for 130 yards.
Houston Bowl Grade: B-
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl
Prediction: Houston 41, Louisiana 27
Line: Houston -6.5, o/u: 56.5
Final Score: Houston 23, Louisiana 16
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
At the end of the day – a very, very long day – Houston won, it covered, and it closed out its run in the American Athletic Conference on a high note. Now it’s off to the Big 12, but it’s going to have to be a whole lot better than it was against a mediocre Ragin’ Cajun team. It took a touchdown pass with ten seconds to play to pull this off, but to give a little bit of credit, the D didn’t allow a point in the second half. Houston shouldn’t have been down 16-6 in the first place, but … a win is a win is a win.
Memphis Bowl Grade: A
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl
Prediction: Memphis 34, Utah State 23
Line: Memphis -7, o/u: 61.5
Final Score: Memphis 38, Utah State 10
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
It took a quarter, and then it all kicked in from there. Memphis had a nice no-drama bowl walk in the park going up 24-3 in the first half and cruised from there. Utah State was a wee bit dangerous, but there weren’t any problems. The Tigers were +2 in turnover margin, only got flagged five times, and was great on third downs. It was about as clean a mid-level bowl win as it gets.
Tulane Bowl Grade: A
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
Prediction: USC 34, Tulane 20
Line: USC -2.5, o/u: 63
Final Score: Tulane 46, USC 45
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
The only reason this isn’t an A+ is because 1) USC was missing a few key players, 2) it was a retooled Trojan offensive line that Tulane still couldn’t quite figure out, and 3) it took a set of miracles to pull this off. WHATEVER. Tulane won a thrilling game that will be remembered forever thanks to a ground game that rolled for over 300 yards and a wild finish with 16 points in the final 4:07.
SMU Bowl Grade: B
New Mexico Bowl
Prediction: SMU 35, BYU 30
Line: SMU -4, o/u: 64
Final Score: BYU 24, SMU 23
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
This was supposed to be a close game, and it was until BYU went on a 17 point scoring run for a 14-point lead that held into the fourth quarter. SMU rolled for a long, tough drive for a touchdown with eight seconds left, but missed on the two point try. The team could’ve been sharper, but the defense was good, the offense perked up when needed, and it turned out to be an even game that just so happened to go the other way.
UCF Bowl Grade: C
Military Bowl
Prediction: Duke 30, UCF 20
Line: Duke -3, o/u: 62.5
Final Score: Duke 30, UCF 13
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
Giving UCF a break here – it wasn’t even close to being its normal self with way too many opt-outs and transfers missing. It’s not like Duke blew the doors off the bowl – it only outgained the Knights by 24 yards. but there wasn’t anything working after tying it at seven in the first quarter.
2022-2023 Team, Conference Bowl Grades
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Final Rankings: CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP | Coaches
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