3 takeaways from first week of college football bowl games

College football bowl games started on Friday and believe it or not, nine games are already in the books. Here are some key takeaways from the first week.

If you include the National Championship Game and the College Football Playoff, there are 43 college football bowl games during the 2021-22 season.

That’s probably too many. But at the same time, is it?

Ok. Just kidding. Of course, we don’t need more games. I’d argue we need less — I’d love to see the 6-6 teams cut out because I believe that if bowl berths were harder to achieve, it would make both the regular season and bowl season a little more exciting.

But still, the first weekend of college football bowl games brought us plenty of excitement. There were down-to-the-wire finishes, records were broken, and even some upsets.

Bowl games get wacky and with nine in the books, we look back at some key things we have learned from the start of college football bowl season.

Bailey Zappe is incredible

After three seasons playing for Houston Baptist, Bailey Zappe transferred to Western Kentucky and absolutely lit up the FBS and Conference USA. And on Saturday against App State in the Boca Raton Bowl, he broke the single-season FBS record for passing yards and touchdowns, besting Joe Burrow’s mark set two years ago.

Zappe completed 70 percent of his passes and threw for 422 yards, as well as six touchdowns. It was the sixth time this season he threw at least five touchdowns in a game and his eighth, yes eighth, 400-yard passing game.

The Hilltoppers also notched a nice win in the process to close their 2021 campaign, while Zappe heads to the NFL draft with a record-breaking season on his resume.