3 takeaways from first week of college football bowl games

Bowl games brought defining wins

What a season it was for Utah State. The Aggies not only defeated San Diego State to win the Mountain West Championship but knocked off Oregon State as a touchdown underdog to win the LA Bowl and finish with an 11-win season.

While the conference title game will be remembered as the best win for Utah State, beating a Pac-12 opponent in a bowl game isn’t far behind.

However, it’s hard to argue against UAB being this weekend’s biggest winner. The Blazers knocked off 13th-ranked BYU and won its second bowl game in program history. Not only was it a season-defining win for UAB, but it was also the highest-ranked win the Blazers have ever had against a team in the Top 25.

Dylan Hopkins was outstanding at quarterback and DeWayne McBride ran for 183 yards and a score in the win. Both of those guys should be back and the Blazers definitely look ready for the jump to up the American Conference.

On top of those wins, Western Kentucky won its eighth game after winning just five in 2020. And despite its head coach moving on to Washington, Fresno State defeated UTEP Saturday to finish with a 10-win season.

All of those achievements mean something and it’s why college football bowl games matter, even if they don’t in the grand scheme of things to the average fan.

Bowl Challenge Cup

After the first weekend of bowl games, the Mountain West is 2-0 and leads the Bowl Challenge Cup standings. C-USA also posted a mark of 3-2 and got solid wins from UAB, MTSU, and Western Kentucky, which all won as underdogs.

However, losses by UTEP and Marshall, which had a lead, dropped its record to 3-2. The Sun Belt is 2-1 and has just one bowl game left to play. The MAC had the worst weekend going 0-3 and the Pac-12 started off 0-1.

The American, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC have yet to start their foray into bowl games.