Winners and Losers from College Football's 2019-20 Bowl Season So Far

But with the New Year's Six concluded, it's time to reflect on the best and the worst of the past two weeks in college football.The best includes LSU's unstoppable passing attack, Air Force's equally unstoppable run game, a trio of incredible rushing performances on New Year's Eve, and a pair of MAC teams ending eternal bowl droughts.The worst includes Ohio State's fortune with video reviews, many self-inflicted wounds on offense by both Florida State and Wisconsin, Jim Harbaugh and, yes, of course, Miami getting shut out by a Conference-USA team.No stone was left unturned in this recap of the 2019-20 bowl season thus far.Joe Burrow won the Heisman Trophy in the most lopsided vote in the stiff-armed trophy's history.And then he had the most incredible performance of his career.LSU scored touchdowns on eight of its first nine possessions in the Peach Bowl, and all eight came from Burrow. There were about a dozen possible turning points in the game on which they couldn't capitalize.The video replay officials didn't help their cause, though.On the first day of this bowl season, two teams from the Mid-American Conference ended a bowl drought that began in 1962.Buffalo got its first bowl win in the Bahamas Bowl, easily dispatching of Charlotte 31-9.As he did so often during the regular season, Jaret Patterson led the way for the Bulls, finishing the afternoon with 173 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns. Thus, its bowl drought was technically only 29 seasons.Kent State legitimately spent 58 years trying to win a bowl game before it finally happened in the Frisco Bowl.This was supposed to be Jordan Love's last hurrah at Utah State before he left early to pursue a career as an NFL quarterback, but it was Kent State's QB, Dustin Crum, who put on a show in a 51-41 victory.The dual-threat junior threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 147 yards and a score. A convincing win over Oregon in the Pac-12 title game coupled with a Georgia loss to LSU in the SEC championship tilt might have done the trick.Instead, the Utes were pummeled 37-15 by the Ducks and put forth an even less inspired effort in a 38-10 Alamo Bowl loss to Texas.The senior quarterback-running back tandem of Tyler Huntley and Zack Moss was sensational during the regular season, but the duo was ineffective against the...(checks notes)...stout Texas defense?With the exception of leaving the USC game early with an injury, Moss had rushed for at least 66 yards in 22 consecutive games, and he averaged 121 over his previous eight contests. And the highest single-game mark by any Nittany Lion was Brown's 124 yards in the Nov. 9 loss to Minnesota.Though Penn State rushed well as a team throughout the year, we weren't expecting the Nittany Lions to produce one of the top individual rushing performances of bowl season.Brown pulled it off, though, carrying the ball 16 times for 202 yards and a pair of touchdowns.He only had one carry in the first quarter, but at least it was a 32-yard touchdown. Not only was he great, but he was also clutch, leading the Wildcats on an 18-play, eight-minute, game-winning drive that included a nine-yard completion on 4th-and-7, a two-yard run on 4th-and-1 and a 13-yard touchdown pass with 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.As that game was wrapping up in Charlotte, North Carolina, another rushing quarterback began doing his thing in Memphis.Navy's Malcolm Perry needed 196 yards to become the first quarterback in FBS history with at least 2,000 rushing yards in a single season, and he got there shortly after a 59-yard scamper early in the fourth quarter. Williams stopped and attempted just the fourth pass of his career, connecting with Chance Warren for a 41-yard gain to set up the game-winning chip shot.Last but not least, Xazavian Valladay had a field day in Wyoming's 38-17 Arizona Bowl victory over Georgia State.The sophomore didn't become the featured back for the Cowboys until after both Trey Smith (ankle) and Titus Swen (knee) suffered what ended up being season-ending injuries, but Halladay was a freight train in the second half of the season, averaging 127 rushing yards over Wyoming's final six regular-season games.Fittingly, he was unstoppable in the second half of this game. But he would add a 63-yard reception, a 62-yard run and a 55-yard run on his way to finishing the night with 204 rushing yards, 91 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns, leading all players in the game in all three categories.Rarely do you come away from bowl season feeling like a particular coach was one of the biggest disappointments. And playing from behind literally every time he had the ball, Virginia's quarterback—usually renowned for his running—threw for 323 yards and a career-high four touchdowns.Though Perkins only rushed for 24 yards, his mobility and elusiveness came into focus in a big way in what was arguably the best highlight from any bowl game.On the first snap of the second quarter, Virginia was facing 3rd-and-8 from the Florida 9. Somewhere around 40 percent of those "rushing attempts" were sacks, but the fact remains that Herbert isn't much of a runner.Let's put it this way: If Joe Burrow is "sneaky athletic" for rushing 229 times for 710 yards and 11 touchdowns in the past two seasons, Herbert is more of a "not even pretending to be athletic" pocket passer.In Oregon's 28-27 Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin, though, Herbert ran in all three of the Ducks' offensive touchdowns, including the 30-yard fourth-quarter scamper that proved to be the game-winning score.Aside from those three touchdown runs by Herbert, Wisconsin's defense was every bit as good as advertised, allowing just 204 yards of total offense.Oregon went 75 yards on its opening possession, but it didn't have another drive of 40 or more yards, nor did it have a single gain of more than 16 yards until Herbert's 30-yard run with less than eight minutes remaining.Were it not for Wisconsin's four back-breaking turnovers on offense, it would have comfortably won this game. The fourth was a botched punt that Brady Breeze took to the house for six.The Badgers have now lost four consecutive Rose Bowls dating back to 2010, each one by a single possession.As was the case for UCF at the end of its first undefeated season, Minnesota pretty much had to win its Jan. 1 bowl game against Auburn to validate itself to the throngs of casual fans who never bothered to watch this great team during the regular season.And just like those Knights in 2017-18, the Golden Gophers moved the ball well and beat the SEC's Tigers by a touchdown despite entering the game as substantial underdogs.In this case, Minnesota kind of dominated Auburn.The final score (31-24) was close. That's the same Navy defense that allowed at least 38 points and more than 400 total yards in three of its final six games against Notre Dame, Tulane and Houston.Oklahoma State at least showed up early on in the Texas Bowl, jumping out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter against Texas A&M.; That offense was A.W.O.L. in the final three quarters, though, only adding a touchdown late in the fourth quarter against the Aggies prevent defense.