What an absolutely incredible season of college football. It was chock full of upsets, incredible games and even better stories and the Border Eight was no stranger to that. This week I will do a review of every team’s season but I will go over it in a bit of a different fashion than I have in the past. Instead of going in virtually the same order I do every week, I am going to review based on how every team did based on their expectations versus how they actually did.
Coming in at the most disappointing team in the Border Eight was Northern Illinois. Where do I begin with this team? The Huskies had a lights out season in 2021; a win over Georgia Tech, a nine-win team, and a MAC title. Many people expected much of the same in 2022, and some even had them as a dark horse for the cotton bowl. This did not happen. The Huskies finished the season with a horrid 3-9 record and placed last in the division. They even managed to close out a horrible season even worse with a 32-point loss at home to one win Akron. They did have a great game against Eastern Michigan 39-10, but outside of that, most of the season was an awful disappointment.
Not much better than them was Northwestern. While Northwestern did not have the biggest preseason expectations, they got a little bit of hype after a week one win over Nebraska 31-28 in Ireland. Evan Hull had an incredible day at running back, they managed to shut down Casey Thompson, and things looked pretty good. Then the wheels completely fell off. They would lose 11 straight games including games to Southern Illinois and Miami of Ohio. They have not won a game on American soil since October 16, 2021.
Next up is Iowa State. Last season, the Cyclones were picked by many to be a dark horse for the College Football Playoff; instead, they finished the season 7-6. This year’s expectations were not high, but it still felt like a letdown. They finished the year 4-8 with a singular conference win over West Virginia. The only high points were finally snapping an 8 year losing streak to rival Iowa, and wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson being selected as a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award. Other than that, it was a bad year.
Nebraska will always Nebraska, right? I, like many Lincoln natives, drank the Kool-Aid of the Huskers and hoped that they would be something good. They sadly were not. The first three games of the season were hard to watch. They kicked off the year with an embarrassing loss to Northwestern, their only conference win from the previous season, and followed it up with a struggle win against FCS North Dakota. Then, September 10 happened. The Huskers paid the Georgia Southern Eagles 1.4 million dollars to come to Lincoln. The Huskers allowed nearly 650 yards and 45 points and lost by three at home. This would lead to the firing of Scott Frost, the man who was supposed to bring Nebraska back to the promised land. Nebraska would win two of their next three under interim coach Mickey Joseph before dropping five straight. The only thing keeping Nebraska from being lower on this list is how they ended the season. Firstly, they beat rival Iowa for the first time in eight years, keeping the Hawkeyes out of the Big 10 title game. Secondly, and frankly more importantly, is the hiring of new head coach, Matt Rhule. Rhule has an incredible resume of fixing programs more broken than Nebraska, and a lot of fans in Lincoln are cautiously optimistic.
Just above them is the Oklahoma Sooners. Oklahoma started off their year well under first year head coach Brent Venables. After a 3-0 start with a blowout win on the road over Nebraska 49-14, it looked like the Sooners would have a solid year. They hit a bit of a bump though the following week as they lost at home to unranked Kansas State for the third time in four years. It did not freak too many people out, as Kansas State had relatively high expectations, so maybe they were just a lot better than people thought. Then the wheels fell off. Oklahoma would get smacked around the following week by TCU 55-24. While TCU ended up being the national runner-up, this looked horrible as the Horned Frogs were coming off a 5-7 season. Oklahoma would end the year an abysmal 6-7 suffering losses to teams like Baylor, who finished 6-7, and West Virginia who did not even make a bowl game.
Coming in just barely above the Sooners is their in-state rival Oklahoma State. While the Cowboys did manage to put together a winning season, 7-6 is a far cry from the 12-2 fiesta bowl championship team that they had last season. It looked like the Cowboys would have another good year as they started out 5-0 and made it up to number 7 in the polls. They would lose an all-time classic to TCU 43-40 to taint their perfect season, however, they did bounce back with a win over Texas 41-34. They were 6-1, controlled their destiny for the Big 12 championship, and were still alive for the playoffs. Then, they took a little road trip to Manhattan, Kansas. The Kansas State Wildcats would absolutely house Oklahoma State 48-0. The Cowboys would finish a mediocre 7-6 with their sole win after Texas coming to 4-8 Iowa State.
Just one state over to the east, the Arkansas Razorbacks definitely did not live up to their hype. Arkansas got up to number 10 in the rankings before taking an L in the Southwest Classic to Texas A&M. After losing the following week to Alabama, they would not see the polls again for the rest of the year. They would go 5-5 before the high point of their season when they would dismantle #14 Ole Miss 42-27 and were up 42-6 at one point. They would close out their year strong as they beat Kansas in the Liberty Bowl 55-53 in one of the most entertaining bowl games of the season to finish 7-6.
Kentucky was not as good as advertised despite starting out 4-0 and having a ranked win, they looked sloppy. Will Levis did not look as explosive as he should have, the defense looked vulnerable, and they just were not winning how they should be. They finally got exposed by Ole Miss in their fifth game as they lost 22-19. They would only win 3 more games on the season and would close out the year with one of the worst performances of bowl season losing to Iowa 21-0.
Breaking into teams that got very close to meeting their expectations, first up is the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. Tulsa finished 5-7 and had a relatively boring season. For the most part, they beat the teams that they were better than and lost to the teams that were better than them. Their lowest point in the season was a 53-21 loss to a Navy team that would close out the year with a 4-8 record. They did finish the year well though as they upset Houston on the road 37-30.
Down in the Sun Belt, Arkansas State finished the season 3-9. While this obviously is not a great record, this is about the level people expected them to be at as they only won 2 games in 2021. The Red Wolves did have quite a few close losses as they had three losses by three points or less, including a one-point loss to the same Southern Miss team that took down Tulane, so there are definitely a few flashes of hope for this team.
Memphis was another team that did about as well as people expected. The Tigers finished the year 7-6 but were close to being a whole lot better. Four of their six losses came by a touchdown or less and the only losses that were by more were their 49-23 defeat at the hands of Mississippi and a ten-point loss to the eventual Cotton Bowl champions in Tulane. They did manage to close out the year with a bowl victory over Utah State 38-10 in the First Responders Bowl and definitely have a lot to build on for next season.
Iowa finished with a respectable 8-5 record, but they lost when it mattered most to them. For starters, Iowa had one of the best defenses in the country, but also had one of the worst offenses in the country. While they only allowed more than 14 points three times, two of which being to college football playoff teams, they did not score more than 27 until late October, and only broke 30 one time. While they had some good wins including a 24-3 over Big 10 west champion Purdue, they also lost to their two biggest rivals. First was losing in a barn burner 10-7 to Iowa State for the first time since 2014. Second was in their season finale at home against then 3-win Nebraska 24-17. This loss kept them out of the Big 10 championship game and was their first loss to Nebraska since 2014. They did manage to end the year on a great note with a huge win over Kentucky in the Music City Bowl 21-0.
Louisville had a very volatile season with a lot of highs and lows. The lowest point of the season came for them in Week 5 when they fell to Boston College 34-33, who would end up finishing the year an abysmal 3-9. However, after that point, they would win six of their next eight games including a blowout win over number 10 Wake Forest 48-21 as well as a beatdown of rival Cincinnati 24-7 in the Fenway Bowl after their head coach, Scott Satterfield, bolted from Louisville to Cincinnati. Louisville definitely has a lot to build on for next season as they hired Jeff Brohm from Purdue and are sitting in a week conference. The Cardinals look to have a bright future.
Illinois started out the year as one of the best Cinderella stories in the country. They raced out to a 7-1 start with some great wins including a blowout win over Wisconsin on the road 34-10 which would lead to the firing of head coach Paul Chryst and proceeded to follow that up with a win over Iowa 9-6, marking their first victory over the Hawkeyes in 14 years. They reached number 14 in the polls, were in the driver’s seat for the Big 10 championship and had a Heisman dark horse running back in Chase Brown. Then Michigan State came to town as a 3-5 team and put the hurt on Illinois 23-15. Illinois would only win one more game on the season over rival Northwestern 41-3 and would finish 8-5. While this absolutely beat out expectations, many wonder what went wrong and what could have been.
Western Kentucky was expected to have a large fall off after losing wide receiver Jerreth Sterns and quarterback Bailey Zappe to the NFL. This did not happen. They kept the same record as the year before, finishing 9-5. Two of their losses came to eventual conference champions in UTSA and Troy, two came to power five teams in Auburn and Indiana and the only other loss was to C-USA runner up North Texas. They also managed to get a few good wins under their belt including a 35-17 road win over rival MTSU and a blowout over 10-win South Alabama 44-23 in the New Orleans bowl.
MTSU has been nothing short of mediocre as of recent and at the beginning of the season it looked like it was going to be much of the same. In their first game of the season, they lost 44-7 to FBS newcomer James Madison. They would win their next two, but they would not be very impressive wins as they were over Colorado State and Tennessee State. Then, September 24 happened. MTSU was set to play number 25 Miami and were a 26.5-point underdog. Not only did they walk out of there with $1.5 million, but they also walked out with a W after pulling off one of the biggest upsets of the season 45-31 over the hurricanes. They would drop their next three games but would finish the year winning five of their last six, including yet another upset over San Diego State on Christmas Eve in the Hawaii Bowl.
Vanderbilt was supposed to be the punching bag of the SEC. That is how it is. That is how it has always been. Despite the expectations, they kicked off the season well. They went on the road and curb stomped Hawaii 63-10 in Week 0 and won two of their next three games to start out 3-1. Sadly, their next three opponents would all be in the top ten and would kill their momentum as they would lose five straight games. At this point, all three teams that they had beaten turned out to be awful and at 3-6, it looked like it would be just another garbage year for the Commadores. Vanderbilt would go on the road as a 17-point underdogs and take on number 24 Kentucky. Thanks to a last second touchdown, the Commadores would snap their three-year SEC losing streak and win 24-21. They would follow that up with yet another upset against Florida 31-24. Even though they would finish 5-7, 2 conference wins and a nearly .500 record was a lot better than most people expected.
Earning the bronze medal in beaten expectations, to the disappointment of many Mizzou fans goes to the Kansas Jayhawks. If you know anything about college football, Kansas is a joke. Horrible year in and year out with no expectations. Despite the laughs, the jokes, the ridicule, the Jayhawks did not care. They raced out to a 5-0 start, with three of those wins as underdogs and would manage to reach number 19 in the polls. While they would lose three games after that, they would knock off number 18 Oklahoma State in dominating fashion 37-16 to gain bowl eligibility for the first time since 2008. Even though they would lose their final four and seven of their last eight, a bowl appearance and a top 25 ranking made for an incredible season for the Jayhawks will soon not forget.
While Kansas had a surprising season, their instate rivals may have had an even more surprising year. Kansas State was a dark horse to many to make the Big 12 championship, but they blew their expectations out of the water. After a 2-1 start and a loss to Tulane at home, it looked like it would just be same old mediocre Kansas State. Instead, they flipped the script. The following week, they went on the road and upset number 6 Oklahoma. This would put them at number 25 in the rankings and they never looked back. They would finish the regular season 9-3 with the high point being them blowing out number 9 Oklahoma State 48-0. This would get them a spot in the Big 12 Championship game and set a rematch against TCU who was ranked number 3 in the country and was sitting at a perfect 12-0. The cards were stacked against the Wildcats and many people picked Kansas State to come up short, but once again, most people were wrong. In one of the biggest upsets of the year, Kansas State would hand TCU their first loss 31-28 and become the Big 12 champions. This would put them in the Cotton Bowl against Alabama, and while they got blown out 45-10, a Big 12 title and a 10-win season is definitely a successful season.
Without question the biggest surprise of the year in the Border Eight was the Tennessee Volunteers. After a 7-6 season, and a lot of great returning players, Tennessee had a good bit of hype behind them. They began the year unranked but were just outside the top 25. They would sprint out to a 5-0 start with three top 25 wins. This would put them at number 6 before a date with number 3 Alabama. Tennessee had not beaten Alabama since 2006 and Saban had never lost to Tennessee. This year though, the Vols changed everything. These two juggernauts went shot for shot with each other for 60 minutes and at the last second, Tennessee kicked a knuckleball of a field goal, made it through the uprights, and won 52-49. Tennessee would win their next two games by a combined score of 109-30 before a date with Georgia in what was supposed to be the best game in years. This did not happen. Georgia controlled this game in every aspect and Tennessee lost 27-13. At an 8-1 record, they were still ranked in the top 5 and if things went their way, they might have a shot to make the playoffs. South Carolina had other plans. Despite being more than a three-touchdown favorite on the road, South Carolina absolutely put them through the ringer and dismantled them 63-38. Despite the bad loss, Tennessee made the Orange Bowl, beat Clemson 31-14 and finished the year with an absolutely incredible 11-2 record. If it were not for divisions, they would have made the SEC championship as they were the second best in the conference.
Tennessee (11-2) (2-0)
Kansas State (10-4) (4-0)
Western Kentucky (9-5) (1-0)
Illinois (8-5) (3-0)
Iowa (8-5) (2-3)
Louisville (8-5) (0-1)
MTSU (8-5) (0-1)
Memphis (7-6) (2-0)
Kentucky (7-6) (2-3)
Oklahoma State (7-6) (1-3)
Arkansas (7-6) (1-0)
Oklahoma (6-7) (4-1)
Kansas (6-7) (2-3)
Vanderbilt (5-7) (2-1)
Tulsa (5-7) (1-1)
Nebraska (4-8) (1-3)
Iowa State (4-8) (1-4)
Arkansas State (3-9) (0-1)
Northern Illinois (3-9) (0-3)
Northwestern (1-11) (1-2)