The College Football season has finally come to a close, with no more games until the next season (2016-2017). In this post, I will mainly talk about the New Year's Six, which are the six big bowl games of the postseason.
The Chick-fil-A Bowl was the first of the New Year's Six bowls, a matchup between the 9th-ranked Florida State Seminoles and the 18th-ranked Houston Cougars, the highest-ranked Group of 5 team. The Group of 5 is a bunch of conferences that do not produce many powerhouse football teams. The other 5 conferences known for powerhouse football schools make up the Power 5, consisting of the Atlantic Coast Conference (which Florida State is in), the Big 12 Conference (teams from Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas etc.), the Big Ten Conference (most of this conference's teams are in the Midwest), the Pacific-12 Conference (the conference UCLA and USC are in), and the Southeastern Conference (teams from Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, etc.). The Group of 5 conferences are the American Athletic Conference (which Houston is in), Conference USA (around the area that SEC schools are located), the Mid-American Conference (more Midwest teams), the Mountain West Conference (every non-Pac-12 school west of Oklahoma, includes Hawaii), and the Sun Belt Conference (the least watched conference out of them all, almost never has a legitimately good team).
Anyways, Houston shocked Florida State 38-24 behind their high-powered offense. The Cougars were led by quarterback Greg Ward Jr., who will return to Houston for next season and possibly be amongst the top candidates for the Heisman Trophy. Ward had 238 yards passing along with a touchdown and an interception. He also led the team with 67 yards rushing. Houston finished the season ranked #8 in the AP with a 13-1 record, losing only to Connecticut because of an injury to Greg Ward Jr. As for Florida State, quarterback Sean Maguire threw for 392 yards, but cost the 'Noles with 4 interceptions. FSU finished 14th in the AP with a 10-3 record.
Later on New Year's Eve, the College Football Playoff began. Top-ranked Clemson and 4th-ranked Oklahoma squared off in the Orange Bowl. Clemson trailed 17-16 at halftime, but pulled away with a 37-17 victory over the Sooners. Oklahoma was outscored 21-0 in the second half. They were led by quarterback Baker Mayfield, who had 311 passing yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. Clemson was led by quarterback Deshaun Watson, who had 187 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception. Oklahoma finished the season at #5, with an 11-2 record.
After the Orange Bowl finished, the Cotton Bowl (the other Playoff semifinal) began. It was a matchup between #2 Alabama Crimson Tide and #3 Michigan State Spartans. Instead of being a close MSU win as predicted, Alabama completely shut down Michigan State 38-0 to go for their 4th national title over seven seasons. The Crimson Tide were led by quarterback Jake Coker, who threw for 286 yards and 2 touchdowns. Michigan State senior quarterback Connor Cook struggled in his final college game, tossing 2 interceptions and a total of 219 passing yards. Michigan State finished the season ranked #6 (one spot below their preseason ranking) with a 12-2 record.
On New Year's Day, #7 Ohio State and #8 Notre Dame squared off in the Fiesta Bowl. The Buckeyes of Ohio State built an early 28-7 lead before Notre Dame scored to cut the lead to 28-14 at the half. OSU pulled away with a 44-28 win. The Buckeyes were led by quarterback J.T. Barrett, who had 211 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception. Ohio State finished at #4 with a 12-1 record. Notre Dame was led by quarterback DeShone Kizer, who had 284 passing yards with 2 touchdowns and an interception. Notre Dame finished 11th with a 10-3 record.
The granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl, was also played on New Year's. This was a matchup between #5 Iowa ad #6 Stanford. However, this game was nowhere near close. Heisman runner-up Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey caught a pass and ran 75 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the game. Quarterback Kevin Hogan ran for an 8-yard touchdown and then Quentin Meeks picked off Iowa QB C.J. Beathard and took the ball back 66 yards for a touchdown. Stanford had a 21-0 lead, but they were far from finished. Not even a minute into the second quarter, Iowa punted only to see Christian McCaffrey return to punt back 63 yards to the end zone. Stanford led 35-0 at halftime. Iowa tried to come back, but still lost 45-16. Christian McCaffrey broke the Rose Bowl record for all-purpose yards (368). He was also the first player in Rose Bowl history to have at least 100 yards receiving (105) and rushing (172). Iowa finished 9th with a 12-2 record while Stanford leaped to #3 with a 12-2 record as well.
The Sugar Bowl was another blowout. Number 12 Ole Miss crushed #16 Oklahoma State 48-20. The Rebels were led by quarterback Chad Kelly, who threw for 302 yards with 4 touchdowns and 1 interception, which was on the first drive of the game. Since the interception, Ole Miss rolled to a 34-6 halftime lead. Oklahoma State finished the season all the way down at #20 with a 10-3 record, with a 3-game losing streak to end the season. Ole Miss joined the top 10, sitting at #10 with a 10-3 record.
The national championship game, Alabama vs. Clemson, was tied at the half (14-14). The rest of the game was a close one, but Alabama clinched their fourth national championship in the past seven seasons, defeating previously-unbeaten Clemson 45-40. Clemson had more offensive consistency, but couldn't pull away with the championship. Deshaun Watson threw for 405 yards with 4 touchdowns and an interception as Jake Coker threw 335 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. Heisman-winning Alabama running back Derrick Henry (He will go into the NFL draft later this year) ran for 158 yards and 3 touchdowns. Alabama finished atop the top 25 with a 14-1 record while Clemson sat at second, sharing the same record as Alabama.
So here is the final AP top 25:
1. Alabama (14-1) (Southeastern Conference)
2. Clemson (14-1) (Atlantic Coast Conference)
3. Stanford (12-2) (Pacific-12 Conference)
4. Ohio State (12-1) (Big Ten Conference)
5. Oklahoma (11-2) (Big 12 Conference)
6. Michigan State (12-2) (Big Ten Conference)
7. TCU (11-2) (Big 12 Conference)
8. Houston (13-1) (American Athletic Conference)
9. Iowa (12-2) (Big Ten Conference)
10. Ole Miss (10-3) (Southeastern Conference)
11. Notre Dame (10-3) (Independent, not part of any conference)
12. Michigan (10-3) (Big Ten Conference)
13. Baylor (10-3) (Big 12 Conference)
14. Florida State (10-3) (Atlantic Coast Conference)
15. North Carolina (11-3) (Atlantic Coast Conference)
16. LSU (9-3) (Southeastern Conference)
17. Utah (10-3) (Pacific-12 Conference)
18. Navy (11-2) (American Athletic Conference)
19. Oregon (9-4) (Pacific-12 Conference)
20. Oklahoma State (10-3) (Big 12 Conference)
21. Wisconsin (10-3) (Big Ten Conference)
22. Tennessee (9-4) (Southeastern Conference)
23. Northwestern (10-3) (Big Ten Conference)
24. Western Kentucky (12-2) (Conference USA)
25. Florida (10-4) (Southeastern Conference)
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