Teams That Were One Game Away From a Bowl Game and Rice: Final Rankings 100-91

 It's crazy to think that with more and more teams added to college football each year that there would be a shortage of bowl-eligible teams. However, that is the case in 2022 with some weird scenarios that played out. Buffalo needed to win their final game over Akron, New Mexico State got a waiver to make a bowl, but that still left one spot vacant. Had those two situations not happened the way they did, then Auburn and UNLV would be going bowling at 5-7. Appalachian State was not allowed a bowl spot because two of their wins came against FCS schools despite having six wins and James Madison at 8-3 is (and honestly these transition rules are dumb) intelligible as it is their first year in the FBS. 

That leaves Rice, who earned their way to a bowl game thanks to putting the student in student-athletes. The Owls had the highest Academic Progress Report which measures the success of athletes in the classroom. Rice was 6th in the nation, trailing just Northwestern, Alabama, Ole Miss, Clemson, and Columbia (FCS) for Division-I schools.

For those who aren't the Rice Owls, this section of the rankings is the most heartbreaking, as they were just one game away from postseason play. Here is the first group of those who were close, but no cigar.

100. Rice (5-8, 82.2, 75.3)

Prediction and Preseason Rank: 2-10 (120)

LYR: 103

Recap: The Owls made their way to a bowl game on a technicality, but they had several chances to get in the old fashioned way. First they earned two wins over bowl bound teams to get to 5-4, but they faced their toughest stretch against three of Conference USA's top three teams, all resulting in losses. They met a former CUSA opponent in Southern Miss in the Lending Tree Bowl and rallied back from a 17-3 deficit to take a 24-17 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Frank Gore Jr. proved to be too much and the Owls fell 38-24.

99. Ball State (5-7, 115.4, 62.7)

PR: 3-9 (100)

LYR: 76

Recap: Much like the Owls, the Cardinals were in a position to go bowling with plenty of weeks to spare, but they also ran into a gamut of top-tier MAC schools. First they dropped close games to both MAC Championship participants and then needed to win against a fellow 5-6 Miami (OH) squad. Ball State held the lead for most of the game before blowing it late, 18-17. The season ending might not have been the worst news for Mike Neu and company as their leading rusher Carson Steele has entered the transfer portal. Steele ran for over 1,500 yards and scored 15 total touchdowns in 2022.

98. Miami, FL (5-7, 113, 48.7)

PR: 10-2 (28)

LYR: 50

Recap: Wow! How wrong can I and so many others be. The Mario Cristobal era got off to a disaterous start. The bad began when Middle Tennessee State came into Hard Rock Stadium and rocked the Canes. They needed four overtimes to beat a lowly Virginia team and then suffered three beatdowns in their final four games. We'll see if Cristobal can get things turned around or if he'll join the recent trend in South Beach of short lived big named coaches.

97. UTEP (5-7, 99.8, 71.4)

PR: 6-6 (83)

LYR: 67

Recap: The Miners looked to be in good shape at four wins with four to go, but then they spiraled into a two game skid. They bounced back with a win aginst FIU, but needed to upset the CUSA Champs and nearly did before the Roadrunners edged out UTEP 34-31. Dana Dimel is treading on thin ice and if things don't go well in the new look CUSA then he may not last after 2023.

96. UNLV (5-7, 99.8, 64.3)

PR: 3-9 (124)

LYR: 118

Recap: Speaking of not lasting, Marcus Arroyo was a denied wavier away from taking the Rebels to a bowl game and instead found himself without a job. Not even winning the Fremont Cannon from rival Nevada could save his job. Perhaps the six-game losing streak that was capped with a road loss to Hawai'i which ended their realistic bowl hopes was the final straw. Former Missouri head coach Barry Odom will take the reins in 2023.

95. Kent State (5-7, 98.2, 58.3)

PR: 7-5 (93)

LYR: 72

Recap: What a weird finish for the Golden Flashes. To begin the season, they hung around with Georgia for a respectable amount of time then beat eventual MAC East Champs, Ohio, in overtime. They stumbled a bit from there as they were sitting at 3-6, but blew out a red-hot Bowling Green and needed to win in midweek-MACtion against EMU to stay alive. That didn't happen and the Flashes were one game short of their goal. Then head coach Sean Lewis announced that he was taking the offensive coordinator position at Colorado for Deion Sanders. That led to floodgate opening of players entering the transfer portal, which will make Kenni Burns' job a little harder in his first head coaching job. Burns comes over from Minnesota where he's been the running backs coach.

94.Western Michigan (5-7, 97.6, 72.6)

PR: 5-7 (88)

LYR: 43

Recap: Unlike Kent State, the Broncos knew they were going to be without a head coach when they fired Tim Lester after a disappointing finish in the MAC West. WMU couldn't get consistent play and not even back-to-back wins over CMU and Toledo to end the year could save Lester. MAC schools must love their running backs coaches because the Broncos chose Notre Dame's Lance Taylor to replace Lester.

93. Tulsa (5-7, 95.4, 64.7)

PR: 5-7 (95)

LYR: 60

Recap: 5-7 is a great way to get fired these days and Philip Montgomery was no exception. The Golden Hurricane couldn't withstand six losses in seven games in the middle of the season. They finished with back-to-back wins over USF and Houston to salvage their season. Ohio State offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson will take over as the new head coach.

92. Florida Atlantic (5-7, 90.4, 91.1)

PR: 8-4 (87)

LYR: 90

Recap: I really thought Willie Taggart could make things happen this year in Boca Raton. N'Kosi Perry had plenty of skill players to throw to and I even got a chance to see their offensive prowess in person this year. Like that game where they scored 38 points against the Ohio Bobcats, they lost. Then they kept losing close games until they beat FIU to get to five wins with two games left. The Owls were blown out by MTST and then had the worst defeat when WKU went for two in overtime to end their bowl dreams and Taggart's tenure. FAU turns to yet another big name coach as they hired former Texas and Houston head coach Tom Herman.

91. Vanderbilt (5-7, 88.2, 36.7)

PR: 2-10 (109)

LYR: 125

Recap: This would have been the story of the year had Vanderbilt rallied their way into bowl contention, but it was not meant to be. The Commodores found themselves in their usual rut. A strong non-conference record followed by endless SEC beatdowns. At 3-6 the season looked over, but then they stunned a ranked Kentucky and followed it up with a win over Florida.Those victories snapped a 26-game SEC losing streak for Vandy. The mighty in-state rival Volunteers were missing their star quarterback and it was looking like a Cinderella story. That dream lasted a quarter as Tennessee dropped 56 points and held the Dores scoreless to end their season. Still, it has to feel good for Clark Lea to pick up some conference wins and gain some confidence heading into 2023.