Pac-12 Bowl Grades
Pac-12 Bowl Grade: C
Pac-12 Straight Up: 3-4
Pac-12 Against The Spread: 2-5
Yes, Oregon State was fantastic against whatever that was against Florida, Oregon survived against North Carolina, and Washington pulled off a nice win against Texas.
However, the misses were way too galling.
Utah couldn’t hang with Penn State in the Rose, Washington State didn’t make the trip to lose to Fresno State, and UCLA and USC both completely collapsed in games they should’ve put away easily.
Oregon Bowl Grade: B
San Diego County Credit Union Holiday Bowl
Prediction: Oregon 41, North Carolina 30
Line: Oregon -13, o/u: 76
Final Score: Oregon 28, North Carolina 27
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
It wasn’t a perfect game, but considering the opt-outs and missing pieces, the team held up well. I hung around when there were issues in the third quarter and the D held the high-powered North Carolina offense to field goals in the fourth. And then Bo Nix went Bo Nix for the game-winning touchdown drive. So why not an A? Considering the missing parts, Oregon should’ve won a whole lot easier than this.
Oregon State Bowl Grade: A
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl
Prediction: Oregon State 31, Florida 24
Line: Oregon State -8.5, o/u: 52.5
Final Score: Oregon State 30, Florida 3
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
Those were SEC players in Florida uniforms on the other side of the field. It’s not Oregon State’s fault that the other side didn’t bring its game to Vegas. It took a little while to put this out of reach, but the Beavers never let this get interesting, going up 30-0 going before the SEC side came up with a sad field goal in the final seconds.
UCLA Bowl Grade: D+
Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl
Prediction: UCLA 34, Pitt 20
Line: UCLA -8.5, o/u: 53.5
Final Score: Pitt 37, UCLA 35
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
Oh UCLA. Pitt was missing way too many key starters, it shouldn’t have been able to win even it was fully loaded, and yet UCLA couldn’t pull this off. The five turnovers didn’t help. It was up by two touchdowns with 20 minutes to play, but was outscored 26-7 the rest of the way, couldn’t come up with one last stop even after seemingly pulling the win out of the fire, and … ugh.
USC Bowl Grade: B-
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
Really, USC, you lost to the Group of Five team? It was a brutal loss, but give the Trojans a whole lot of credit for playing all-out in this. It had to change up the offensive line, the defense was still a disaster against the run, and with just over four minutes to play it was cruising to a double-digit win. Tulane just pulled off a mini-miracle.
Utah Bowl Grade: C
Rose Bowl
Prediction: Utah 30, Penn State 27
Line: Utah -2.5, o/u: 52
Final Score: Penn State 35, Utah 21
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
Yeah, the offense lost starting QB Cameron Rising, but he was just 8-of-21 before he went out. The running game wasn’t able to take over, the defense didn’t pick up the slack, and the team that was so confident against USC and did such a strong job overall didn’t own the lines like it needed to.
Washington Bowl Grade: A
Alamo Bowl
Prediction: Texas 40, Washington 38
Line: Texas -3, o/u: 66.5
Final Score: Washington 27, Texas 20
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
Considering it’s been a while since the program got to do the bowl thing, this was terrific. The Huskies went deep in the heart of Texas and came up with one of its best defensive performances of the year. Michael Penix Jr. and the passing game didn’t go off, but the team was more physical, got up 27-10 deep into the fourth, and came up with the 11th win of the season to build off of going into 2023.
Washington State Bowl Grade: D-
Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl
Prediction: Washington State 24, Fresno State 20
Line: Fresno State -4, o/u: 53
Final Score: Fresno State 29, Washington State 6
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means
Not to conference shame, but Washington State is supposed to be the Pac-12 team and it didn’t look like it belonged on the same field as the Mountain West champ. Fresno State ran at will, the defense stopped everything, and Wazzu was never in this, being outgained 501 to 182.
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