It’s the most wonderful time of the year for college football fans that have been looking forward to this year’s highly anticipated bowl season, and while the playoff doesn’t start for another week there were five bowl games this past weekend that more than lived up to the hype. Some of those games will be somewhat forgotten as the bowl season progresses so it makes sense to take the time now to look back at the individuals that stood out the most this past weekend. Here is a look at the four best performances from the first five bowl games of the season.
Kenneth Dixon, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
Running Back
Louisiana Tech’s senior running back scored four touchdowns in a 47-28 win over Arkansas State in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl to break Keenan Reynolds’ FBS record for most career touchdowns with 87 and while Reynolds will still have the opportunity to answer back in his bowl game it doesn’t take away from Dixon’s incredible performance at all. Dixon had 201 rushing yards and two rushing scores on 21 attempts along with six catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns in the win to cap off an impressive career at the college level.
Jeff Driskel, Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
Quarterback
Dixon led the way for the Bulldogs, but it wouldn’t make sense not to at least mention the incredible performance Driskel recorded in the win. He completed 68.4% of his passes while throwing for 458 yards and three touchdowns. The senior quarterback threw for 4,033 yards and 27 touchdowns compared to eight interceptions this season to cap off an impressive turnaround after he was cast away from Florida. He finished the season in style with one of his best performances overall. It’ll be interesting to see how his NFL grade changes now that scouts were able to see him as a pocket passer at Louisiana Tech. He was frustrated with his role at Florida and seemed to be hampered by pieces he was surrounded with in a mundane offense. At Louisiana Tech, he got the chance to shine and that’s exactly what he did on the biggest stage of his young career in the bowl game over the weekend.
Marcus Cox, Appalachian State Mountaineers
Running Back
Appalachian State’s star running back capped off his junior season in style as he ran for 162 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries in a 31-29 win over Ohio in the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl. Cox capped off an impressive year in which he averaged 5.9 yards per carry while running for 1,423 yards and nine touchdowns as the biggest game breaker in that matchup. Zach Matics certainly deserves credit for delivering the game-winning field goal as time expired but overall it was Cox who stood out the most for Appalachian State in their bowl game win.
Tevin Carter, Utah Utes
Cornerback
Everybody will remember BYU’s furious comeback attempt falling just short but looking back now, it’s important to remember one play that made the difference. The senior defensive back capped off his college career in style with two interceptions including one returned for a touchdown in Utah’s 35-28 win over BYU in the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl. Utah led 35-0 before allowing BYU to climb back in to the game but the Utes would hold on for the win and it’s easy to call Carter’s pick-six the difference in the game now.
Looking forward, Carter isn’t exactly a highly sought after player as of right now, but we’ll see if things change in the lead up to the 2016 NFL Draft. As of right now, the top cornerbacks are slated to be Florida’s Vernon Hargreaves, Virginia Tech’s Kendall Fuller, Florida State’s Jalen Ramsey, LSU’s Tre’Davious White and Iowa’s Desmond King.
