College Football Teams with Most Riding on Bowl Season
The college football bowl season now consists of 41 games, three of which help decide the national champion. The rest? Basically, they're postseason exhibitions.
Only since the 2002 season have statistics from bowl games been included in players and teams' overall season statistics, which has enabled bowls to be a place where season and career records are set. But outside of the ones that have had a bearing on the national title, the rest of the bowls are still considered somewhat meaningless.
At least, that's one side of the debate.
Bowl games provide players and teams with one last chance to make an impression before the long offseason, during which there's only a brief period of activity when spring practices are held. Those that fare well in these final contests head into the break with some momentum, while the ones who stumble in bowls face months of uncertainty about the direction they're heading.
Which teams are most in need of having a good performance during bowl season, other than the ones in the playoffs? Follow along as we detail the schools who have the most riding on their upcoming game.
Auburn Tigers
1 of 8
Bowl matchup: Dec. 30 vs. Memphis in Birmingham Bowl
Two years ago at this time, Auburn was in preparation for the final BCS championship game after rolling to a 12-1 record and the SEC title in Gus Malzahn's first season as coach. Since then, the Tigers have gone 14-12, including 6-6 this season, and nearly every grand plan they had for 2015 went horribly wrong.
None of Auburn's expectations for this season included playing one more game in its home state, and certainly not against a non-power conference opponent. But at 6-6 and with mounting questions about Malzahn's future, beating Memphis has become a huge priority.
Linebackers coach Lance Thompson will serve as Auburn's defensive coordinator in the bowl after Will Muschamp left to take over the South Carolina program. The former Florida coach arrived during bowl preparation last winter with a load of hype as the answer to all that ailed the Tigers defense, yet in 12 games they allowed 0.6 more points per game than in 2014.
Baylor Bears
2 of 8
Bowl matchup: Dec. 29 vs. North Carolina in Russell Athletic Bowl
Baylor apologists can throw out any number of excuses to describe the way this season ended, blaming horrible weather conditions for one loss and an unprecedented rash of quarterback injuries for at least one other. But the bottom line is the Bears coasted for the first eight games of the season and then weren't able to succeed against the better opponents on their schedule.
Now comes a difficult matchup against a North Carolina team that's just as potent on offense as Baylor is—the Tar Heels lead FBS in yards per play, at 7.33—and has plenty of its own to prove. UNC very likely would have missed out on the playoffs had it beat Clemson for the ACC title because of a Baylor-like nonconference schedule that included wins over two FCS teams, though the other two games were against power opponents.
The Bears' last non-league power matchup was in last season's Cotton Bowl, a game they led by 20 points in the fourth quarter and then lost to Michigan State. The year before that they were dominated by upstart UCF in the Fiesta Bowl.
BYU Cougars
3 of 8
Bowl matchup: Dec. 19 vs. Utah in Las Vegas Bowl
BYU is one of two FBS teams (along with Georgia Southern) that's currently without a head coach, though outgoing coach Bronco Mendenhall is sticking around to help the Cougars beat their archrivals before moving on full time to his new gig at Virginia. Top target Ken Niumatalolo of Navy turned down the opening on Wednesday.
So unless BYU finds Mendenhall's successor before Saturday, the Las Vegas Bowl could end up being the football version of an online dating profile. It can try to make itself look attractive to potential suitors, though Utah will also have a say in the vetting process.
BYU aspired to be a program like Notre Dame when it chose independence over conference membership in 2011. It's ramped up the schedule quality of late, but that could also be a detractor to many potential coaching candidates. Next season the Cougars will play six of their first seven games against teams from the Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-12, five of which are away from home.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Duke Blue Devils
4 of 8
Bowl matchup: Dec. 26 vs. Indiana in Pinstripe Bowl
Duke is making a fourth consecutive appearance in a bowl game, extending a school record that was previously at one before this streak. The 2012 bowl bid was the program's first since 1995, and though the Blue Devils lost to Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl, that didn't take away from a successful season.
Same goes for in 2013, when after winning the ACC's Coastal Division but falling to eventual national champion Florida State, the Chik-Fil-A Bowl loss to Texas A&M didn't sour a 10-win season.
Falling to Arizona State in last year's Sun Bowl, though, stung a little bit. Another bowl loss would make for four straight, putting the finishing touches on a 2015 season that began so well (6-1) but ended with four losses in the final five games.
LSU Tigers
5 of 8
Bowl matchup: Dec. 29 vs. Texas Tech in Texas Bowl
Did LSU make the right decision in holding on to coach Les Miles after it seemed quite apparent the program was ready to send him packing? That's a debate for another story, at this time we're only concerned with how serious the Tigers will take what, on paper, looks like one of the biggest mismatches of the bowl season.
Sophomore running back Leonard Fournette leads the nation in rushing average, at 158.27 yards per game. He'll be going up against the third-worst run defense in the country, as Texas Tech allowed 271.83 yards per game on the ground along with 42 rushing touchdowns. Texas gained 403 yards with six TDs last time out, including 276 yards and four scores from a freshman (Chris Warren) who'd gained 88 yards prior to that.
As easy as it would be to just hand the ball off to Fournette and freshman Derrius Guice over and over again, LSU might want to also send quarterback Brandon Harris into the offseason with some confidence. The sophomore completed only 53.4 percent of his passes this year, only 47.6 percent during the 1-3 finish in which he was intercepted five times after going without a pick in the Tigers' first seven games.
There's also the matter of dealing with Texas Tech's potent offense, which ranks second in FBS in yards per game (594.5) and scoring (46.6). Ignoring that could prove costly.
After the regular-season finale, LSU athletic director Joe Alleva said "I want to make it very clear and positive that Les Miles is our football coach and will continue to be our football coach," per NOLA.com. A poor performance in the Texas Bowl could make this emphatic statement look foolish.
Nebraska Cornhuskers
6 of 8
Bowl matchup: Dec. 29 vs. UCLA in Foster Farms Bowl
No one outside of the decision-makers at Nebraska really know what the school was hoping for when it fired Bo Pelini last December following a seventh straight season with at least nine wins. It's a safe bet that being one of three 5-7 teams to earn a bowl invitation only because there weren't enough eligible options wasn't part of the immediate goals.
Despite the worst season since 2007, the Cornhuskers still get to cash in on a disappointing year because of the money that comes with a bowl invite.
"Five wins, $1.8 million. That's $360,000 per win," Bleacher Report's Greg Couch wrote.
But going to a bowl with a losing record comes with an additional price if Nebraska loses. An eighth defeat would be the program's most since going 1-9 in 1957.
Mike Riley was a questionable hire to begin with, made more so by the regular-season results. To be the pilot of the worst season in 58 years won't gain him any supporters.
Texas A&M Aggies
7 of 8
Bowl matchup: Dec. 30 vs. Louisville in Music City Bowl
Since losing 19-7 at LSU on Nov. 28, Texas A&M has had one starting quarterback transfer and another reportedly set to do so. And on Wednesday a report on GigEm247.com indicates sophomore wide receiver Speedy Noil is suspended for the bowl game, as well as the 2016 season opener against UCLA.
The well-oiled machine that was Kevin Sumlin's offense in College Station is shedding parts along the highway as it stumbles toward the finish line of another late-season slide.
"It's as if talented players arrive in College Station and immediately throw it into neutral," Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee wrote.
Sophomore Kyle Allen announced his transfer on Dec. 10, while Billy Liucci of TexAgs.com reported Thursday that freshman Kyler Murray is also heading elsewhere. That duo started all 12 games this season, but the passing game failed to top 200 yards in three of the final six games, games the Aggies lost by a combined score of 68-20.
West Virginia Mountaineers
8 of 8
Bowl matchup: Jan. 2 vs. Arizona State in Cactus Bowl
West Virginia got a raw deal from a scheduling standpoint this season, opening Big 12 play against the four best teams in the league with three of those on the road. The Mountaineers lost all four of those games, after looking quite impressive during a 3-0 start.
A four-game win streak against the bottom end of the conference helped turn things around, but then West Virginia finished with a 24-23 loss at a Kansas State team that at one point was 3-6. And throughout it all, coach Dana Holgorsen's future with the program seemed in limbo.
West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons officially announced Holgorsen would return for 2016 a few days after that Kansas State loss, though such a statement also means he'll be heading into that season on the hot seat.
"The school's release was a reminder Holgorsen—who has a 35-28 record at West Virginia—enters 2016 in rocky territory with a fanbase ready to see his program compete for a conference title," ESPN's Brandon Chatmon wrote.
The road will be even bumpier if West Virginia wraps up the last non-championship game of the bowl season with a loss, four weeks to the day of the previous setback.
Holgorsen's first season at West Virginia, in 2011, ended with a 70-33 win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Then the Mountaineers joined the Big 12, have since gone 25-25 overall and 15-21 in league play, while the team they blew out in Holgorsen's debut year is undefeated and in the playoffs.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
