Bowl season started with North Carolina A&T’s Malik Wilson returning a kickoff for 18 yards and finished with orange and white confetti blanketing Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Sandwiched between those two moments were 40 matchups—notably not 41, but we’ll get to that in a second—that ranged from highly entertaining to borderline unwatchable. There were statement wins and embarrassing losses, draft stock–altering performances and boneheaded coaching decisions, along with tears of joy and of sadness from upperclassmen wrapping their college careers.
Bowls offer a chance to sweeten a season that ended short of the national championship game and head into the offseason with positive momentum.