The year is done. All assignments have been completed, for better or worse. Sorry, but there is no opportunity for extra credit.
Now that the dust has cleared on Ohio State’s national championship, it’s time to hand out report cards in the form of season grades for every team in the Bowl Subdivision. An annual tradition, the grades consider overall performance compared to preseason expectations, with added weight given to how a team performs in key games against rivals and other high-profile opponents.
Remember that grades are given on a scale relative to these expectations. That helps explain the difference between Marshall and Mississippi, for example.
While both teams went 10-3, the Thundering Herd earn an A grade for winning the Sun Belt, the program’s first conference championship since 2014. The Rebels drew a B+ for bad losses to Kentucky and Florida that cost them a College Football Playoff berth.
Similarly, Vanderbilt gets an A- for going 7-6 while the same record earned a dismal C- for Southern California.
Four teams drew the elite A+ grade, led by Indiana. The Hoosiers had the most successful regular season in program history under new coach Curt Cignetti. Four teams landed on a D-, including Arizona and Purdue. And three teams were handed the dreaded F, led by Florida State.
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Ohio State earned an A, not an A+, despite Monday night’s victory over Notre Dame. That’s because of the Buckeyes’ regular-season loss against Michigan, which drops them a peg despite the most remarkable postseason run in FBS history.
As with every great professor or talent evaluator — say, like a member of the playoff selection committee — the grades ignore the names and focuses only on results. That’s led to some poor report cards for some of the biggest programs in the country.
Dinged by losses to the Commodores and Oklahoma, Alabama gets a C after going 9-4 under first-year coach Kalen DeBoer. Michigan’s 8-5 gets a C+, lifted by wins against Ohio State and the Crimson Tide to end the year. Oklahoma is given a C+ after landing with a thud as new members of the SEC.