Bowl Grades For Every Team, Conference: How Did Everyone Do?

Bowl Season Grades – how did all the teams and conferences perform in the 2022-2023 bowl campaign?

What grade did each college football team and conference earn this 2022-2023 bowl season? Which leagues and teams did the best job?


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This was the weirdest bowl season ever, and it’s one going to get more interesting going forward with the transfer portal playing a bigger role, NIL money being a factor, and with the expanded College Football Playoff coming in the 2024 season.

What programs showed up for their bowl games and which ones mailed it in?

We assign a grade for each team based on relative performance. Winning the game is all that really matters, but did the team play up to its capabilities, or did it have to push a bit too hard against an inferior opponent? Did the losing team come up with a strong fight, or did it get embarrassed?

These were the final exams. How did everyone do?

2022-2023 Team, Conference Bowl Grades
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USAInd
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players | Ranking all the Bowl Games
Final Rankings:
CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP | Coaches
Top 150 National Champions of All-Time

ACC Bowl Grades

ACC Bowl Grade: B

ACC Straight Up: 5-4
ACC Against The Spread: 6-3

It took down the games it was supposed, to, and it was competitive in some of the bigger ones, but it didn’t do enough in the one it needed to have – the Orange.

Pitt’s wild comeback in the Tony the Tiger Sun over UCLA – a 37-35 win – was the high point, but Clemson got rolled by Tennessee in the Orange, Florida State was meh in its Cheez-It win over Oklahoma, and North Carolina couldn’t come though against Oregon in the Holiday.

Give the league credit for some splash, though. Duke roasted UCF in the Military, Wake Forest got an SEC win over Missouri in the Gasparilla, and Louisville hit the layup against a depleted Cincinnati in the Fenway.

Clemson Bowl Grade: C-

Capital One Orange Bowl
Prediction: Clemson 34, Tennessee 30
Line: Clemson -6, o/u: 61
Final Score: Tennessee 31, Clemson 14
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means

For all the talk about transfers and opt-outs and how Clemson does things, this was a bad, bad performance. Tennessee was missing a slew of key parts – more than Clemson – and it didn’t matter much. The Tiger defense was fine and the offense cranked up yards with QB Cade Klubnik the unquestioned starter, but the results weren’t there. With the way Klubnik played, call this loss a step back to take a big leap forward.


Duke Bowl Grade: A

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

So how’s that for a bowl game to close out the season with a ninth win? To be fair, UCF was totally gutted and didn’t play like its normal self, but the Blue Devils showed up with a terrific, tight game with no turnovers, one penalty, and a stunningly easy win.


Florida State Bowl Grade: B

Cheez-It Bowl
Prediction: Florida State 34, Oklahoma 20
Line: Florida State -10.5, o/u: 66
Final Score: Florida State 35, Oklahoma 32
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means

It’s not like it was a bad game for the Seminoles – they won – but that wasn’t your normal Oklahoma team on the other side. It should’ve been a whole lot easier to get the win. However, the win accomplished two key things: 1) It jacked up the fan base in a big way for 2023, and 2) Jordan Travis – and his 418-yard day – is going to be a major factor next season. It’s a bowl win, and Florida State showed it’s on the upswing.


Louisville Bowl Grade: A

Wasabi Fenway Bowl
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 

Louisville lost its head coach, it didn’t have a slew of key stars, and it was hardly going to be its normal self out there, but Cincinnati had even more problems. The Cardinal did exactly what they were supposed to, the running game was great, and the defense was fantastic. It was one of the more dominant non-big bowl wins of the season.


North Carolina 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

The offense didn’t quite work as well as it should’ve, but it was still a good performance in a fun back-and-forth game. The defense couldn’t come up with the stop late in a blast of a fourth quarter, and the O settled for field goals, but that was a good Oregon team on the other side. Let’s put it this way – the Tar Heels were supposed to be blown out, and they easily covered.


NC State Bowl Grade: C

Maryland vs NC State
Prediction: NC State 27, Maryland 20
Line: NC State -2, o/u: 45.5
Final Score: Maryland 16, NC State 12
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means

The Wolfpack should’ve been able to pull this off. It was a wildly frustrating game, but the defense did its part to hold the high-powered Terps to just 16 points. However, a slew of Maryland’s top receivers were gone – this wasn’t the same O from the regular season. NC State did nothing on the ground, the offense only managed four field goals, and the team could never create that one big breakthrough moment.


Pitt Bowl Grade: A+

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

Wow, wow, wow, wow, WOW. Pitt had no business being in this game. It was missing way too many key guys, UCLA had enough of its normal starters around to be good, and no one would’ve blinked if the team packed it in after a demoralizing pick-six for a 28-14 Bruin lead in the third. But the Panthers kept fighting, kept chipping away, and … it was over. UCLA scored with 40 seconds to go to survive and … nope. PK Ben Sauls became a legend,  and Pitt pulled off one of the guttiest wins of the bowl season.


Syracuse Bowl Grade: B-

Pinstripe Bowl
Prediction: Minnesota 27, Syracuse 13
Line: Minnesota -10, o/u: 44.5
Final Score: Minnesota 28, Syracuse 20
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means

This was never supposed to be remotely close. The Orange were never really in it, but they managed to make this a bit interesting – and screw everyone with the wrong side of the spread – late, and they weren’t awful considering how badly they were undermanned. The run defense held up phenomenally well – and the team outgained the Gophers 477 yards to 215 – but one pick six turned into the killer. All things considered, it was a good effort.


Wake Forest Bowl Grade: A

Union Home Gasparilla Bowl
Predictions: Wake Forest 30, Missouri 27
Line: Wake Forest -2.5, o/u: 58.5
Final Score: Wake Forest 27, Missouri 17
What Happened, Player of the Game, Fun Stats, What it Means

It was a solid, even performance to keep hanging around before pulling away in the second half. Wake Forest got up 14-3, Missouri fought back, and then it was all ACC the rest of the way. Sam Hartman threw two touchdown passes – 13 unanswered points – the defense was terrific when it had to be, and it turned into a strong bowl win over an SEC team. Mizzou blinked, and Wake Forest didn’t.

2022-2023 Team, Conference Bowl Grades
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USAInd
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt
Top 100 Bowl Players | Ranking all the Bowl Games
Final Rankings:
CFN 1-131 | CFN Season | AP | Coaches
Top 150 National Champions of All-Time

NEXT: American Athletic Bowl Grades

Bowl Grades For Every Team, Conference: How Did Everyone Do This Bowl Season?

What grade did each team and conference earn this bowl season? Which leagues and teams did the best job?

What grade did each team and conference earn this 2020-2021 bowl season? Which leagues and teams did the best job?


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Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

We still have one relatively important game to go, but until then – and with this updated after the College Football Playoff National Championship – how did every team do this bowl season compared to expectations?

Which teams showed up, which teams didn’t, and how did all of the conferences do?

We assign a grade for each team based on relative performance. Winning the game is all that really matters, but did the team play up to its capabilities, or did it have to push a bit too hard against an inferior opponent? Did the losing team come up with a strong fight, or did it get embarrassed?

They’re the final exams, and here’s how they all did.

2020-2021 Team, Conference Bowl Grades
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USAInd
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt

ACC Bowl Grades

ACC Bowl Grade: C-

ACC Straight Up: 0-6
ACC Against The Spread: 1-5

Okay, here’s why the ACC catches a huge grade break despite going 0-for-the-bowl season and getting blasted in two College Football Playoff semifinals – that’s sort of what was supposed to happen.

Clemson is the outlier. It was favored to beat Ohio State, but the team that showed up in New Orleans was not the Ohio State of the regular season. Notre Dame was supposed to get housed by Bama. Miami gets a break because it fought back after losing D’Eriq King, North Carolina was great despite missing a slew of stars, NC State lost a 50/50 game, and Wake Forest was a double-digit dog to Wisconsin.

Clemson Bowl Grade: C-

AllState Sugar Bowl

Line: Clemson -7.5, o/u: 65.5
Prediction: Clemson 38, Ohio State 27
Final Score: Ohio State 49, Clemson 28
5 Thoughts Reaction, Analysis: Sugar Bowl

It’s hard to get too mad at a team that ran into a buzzsaw. Lost in how good Ohio State was how good Clemson looked and played at the start, up 14-7 after the first ten minutes with the offense running like normal. There wasn’t any hope against the deep passes, the Buckeyes looked and played a half-click quicker, and it was simply one of those games when one amazing team was on and the other couldn’t do anything about it.


Miami Bowl Grade: B

Cheez-It Bowl

Line: Oklahoma State -1, o/u: 62.5
Prediction: Miami 36, Oklahoma State 30
Final Score: Oklahoma State 37, Miami 34
10 Things To Know from the Cheez-It Bowl

The Hurricanes don’t get extra credit for coming back after getting down 21-0 in the first quarter and looking and playing totally unprepared, but they get extra credit for battling back when they could’ve easily have phoned it in. The game appeared to be over, D’Eriq King suffered a knee injury, and yet Miami pushed back to only lose by three. It was a loss, but it was a good one to build on.


North Carolina Bowl Grade: B

Capital One Orange Bowl

Line: Texas A&M -7.5, o/u: 66.5
Prediction: Texas A&M 34, North Carolina 20
Final Score: Texas A&M 41, North Carolina 27
5 Thoughts Reaction, Analysis: Orange Bowl

No, the Tar Heels didn’t win, and they didn’t cover, but they were missing their top two running backs, their top receiver, and they managed to make this a fight deep into the fourth quarter. The defense might have melted down late, but it was a strong performance by a hamstrung team that made it a fight without any excuses.


NC State Bowl Grade: B-

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl

Line: Kentucky -3, o/u: 50.5
Prediction: NC State 27, Kentucky 23
Final Score: Kentucky 23, NC State 21
5 Thoughts Reaction, Analysis: Gator Bowl

Kentucky is a rough team to play against with its style and tempo, but the Wolfpack didn’t do themselves any favors. They couldn’t stop the run, couldn’t do anything on the offensive front, turned it over three times, got caught up in the battle of penalties, and never lead. However, even with all of the problems, they were RIGHT THERE with a shot in the final five minutes.


Notre Dame Bowl Grade: C

Rose Bowl Game Presented By Capital One

Line: Alabama -19.5, o/u: 65.5
Prediction: Alabama 44, Notre Dame 23
Final Score: Alabama 31, Notre Dame 14
5 Thoughts Reaction, Analysis: Rose Bowl

The expectations were low for the Irish, and they played exactly as everyone thought they would. It’s not their fault that Alabama is so amazing, but it’s the College Football Playoff – it shouldn’t have been that easy for the Tide. At no time did it seem like the Irish had any real possibility to make this a game. Even after a fantastic long scoring march pulled them within seven in the first half, Bama squashed the fun by scoring with ease. Notre Dame did cover, but the game was basically over at halftime.


Wake Forest Bowl Grade: C

Duke’s Mayo Bowl

Line: Wisconsin -10, o/u: 51.5
Prediction: Wisconsin 34, Wake Forest 20
Final Score: Wisconsin 42, Wake Forest 28
10 Things To Know from the Duke’s Mayo Bowl

This was a rough matchup for the Demon Deacons. Wisconsin had the exact wrong style, and yet the Wake Forest offense was able to look amazing in the beginning on the way to a 14-0 lead, ended up with over 500 yards of total offense, and … besides the four interceptions thrown for 176 yards, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

2020-2021 Team, Conference Bowl Grades
ACC | American | Big Ten | Big 12 | C-USAInd
MAC | Mountain West | Pac-12 | SEC | Sun Belt

NEXT: American Athletic Bowl Grades