Head Coach Rankings: Bowl Season Top 50
50. Matt Campbell, Iowa State
Cheez-It Bowl
Clemson 20, Iowa State 13
Everyone knew Clemson’s offense wasn’t going to do much. Everyone knew Clemson’s defense was good. Iowa State, though, couldn’t get into the end zone until the fourth quarter, there wasn’t any ground game, and the disappointing season ended with a thud to a Tiger team undergoing an overhaul.
49. James Franklin, Penn State
Outback Bowl
Arkansas 24, Penn State 10
Where was the offense? Where was the defense against the run? Where were the running backs? Arkansas might have played well, but where was the control over the game? It was there for the taking, and Franklin and the coaching staff couldn’t make anything happen in the second half.
48. Luke Fickell, Cincinnati
Goodyear Cotton Bow1
Alabama 27, Cincinnati 6
Cincinnati was in the College Football Playoff – we’re working on a curve here. No, the Bearcats didn’t have a prayer, and no, the talent overall wasn’t there to deal with a rested Bama team, but just being there is all that matters. There wasn’t anything the coaching staff could’ve done to deal with THAT.
47. Ricky Rahne, Old Dominion
Myrtle Beach Bowl
Tulsa 30, Old Dominion 17
Old Dominion was in a bowl game. Start with that, and everything else is gravy. The team didn’t have the offense or the pop to pull this off, but it stayed in the game until late despite coming up with just 247 yards of total offense.
46. Jeff Traylor, UTSA
Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl
San Diego State 38, UTSA 24
The Roadrunners couldn’t stop San Diego State from passing? That’s a twist. They were in the game late in a good battle, but the offense couldn’t do anything in the fourth quarter and the Aztecs took over and dominated with their style. UTSA couldn’t play its type of game.
45. Dana Dimel, UTEP
PUBG New Mexico Bowl
Fresno State 31, UTEP 24
Fresno State might have been going through some things, but it was still far more talented and far more explosive than UTEP. Dimel’s Miner team hung around, all three fourth down play calls worked, and it was a good fight after a great season.
44. Josh Heupel, Tennessee
TransPerfect Music City Bowl
Purdue 48, Tennessee 45 OT
There’s no getting down on Heupel for anything about the loss. It was a back-and-forth fight to close out a great first year, and it came down to a matter of inches – and momentum – for this to be slightly different. However, Purdue was missing its top wide receiver and top pass rusher, and it still pulled off the win.
43. Herm Edwards, Arizona State
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl
Wisconsin 20, Arizona State 13
Edwards had a bit of a tough hand to play. He was missing his top running backs and just enough to matter against one of the nation’s best defenses. However, his own D shut out the Badgers in the second half and kept the game from getting out of hand.
42. Thomas Hammock, Northern Illinois
Tailgreeter Cure Bowl
Coastal Carolina 47, Northern Illinois 41
There’s no complaining about the loss or the job Hammock and his guys did. The running game rumbled against the Chanticleers, the O rallied back late, and it took a questionable decision by the officials to keep the Huskies from having a shot at winning. This was a “someone had to lose” game.
41. Dave Clawson, Wake Forest
TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
Wake Forest 38, Rutgers 10
The Demon Deacons might have had the easiest bowl draw of the bunch, but don’t assume it was all that easy to pivot from preparing for Texas A&M, to the letdown of thinking the bowl game wasn’t going to happen, to getting ready for a Big Ten team, even if it was Rutgers. Wake Forest played a clean game against a team that needed a whole lot of mistakes to make it competitive.
Bowl Season Coaching Rankings
1-10 | 11-20 | 21-30 | 31-40 | 41-50 | 51-60 | 61-70 | 71-76