2022 College Football Advanced Stats Recap: Championship Week
Conference Champs have been crowned!!
The 2022 College Football regular season has officially come to an end with the conclusion of conference championship week. Another wild ride has returned back to the station. I said it before but it really felt like this season went by in the blink of an eye, but also September seems like ages ago. Its a weird feeling that only really comes when you had an extremely fun year. For one more time, let’s recap a week of College Football!
Pac-12 Championship
All USC needed to do was win and they were into the CFB Playoff. Unfortunately, Caleb Williams was hampered early with an injury, and the offense couldn’t keep up with the Utah offense. USC’s defense is very dependent on generating turnovers, and only one turnover worth 3 EPA wasn’t going to cut it. For Utah, Cameron Rising finished with 81.4 QBR, 310 yards and 3 total TD’s in his final Pac-12 championship game. Converted QB turned RB Ja’Quinden Jackson led the way for an efficient Utes rushing attack, rushing for 105 yards and 2 TDs. It will be Utah representing the Pac-12 in the Rose bowl, while USC misses out on the playoff and settles with a Cotton Bowl appearance.
Conference USA Championship
The Roadrunners handle their business against North Texas to claim back to back Conference USA championships. The guy I want to focus on is UTSA QB Frank Harris, who finished with 390 total yards, 5 total TD’s, and an 81.5 QBR. Frank Harris has been the most important player to walk through UTSA’s program over the past couple seasons. He was able to propel the Roadrunners into back to back 10+ seasons and conference championships, and made UTSA a more household name. Regardless of what happens next, one thing is for certain: Frank Harris is a UTSA legend.
Big 12 Championship
Heading into this game, it seemed like TCU was in the playoff barring some massive meltdown against Kansas State. At one point it looked like that was coming to life, but TCU once again battled back to send the game into overtime. Unfortunately for the Horned Frogs, they couldn’t get it done and the Kansas State Wildcats took home the Big 12 Championship. HC Chris Klieman lost his starting QB, Adrian Martinez, late into the season, but they continued business as usual with back up QB Will Howard. The Wildcats will take on Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. For TCU, their loss did not drop them out of the CFB Playoff, and they will face Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl in one of the CFB Playoff semifinals.
American Athletic Championship
The Tulane Green Wave win their first AAC Championship and are heading to their first NY6 Bowl after beating down the Citronauts in their final AAC contest. UCF just could not stop the Tulane offense as evidenced by their 11.6 Yards per play allowed. Green Wave QB Michael Pratt passed for 394 yards and 4 TDs while electric RB Tyjae Spears rushed for 199 yards and another TD against the Citronaut defense. The Green Wave will head to the Cotton Bowl to take on USC, while UCF will take the jump into the power 5 when they join the Big 12 in the summer.
SEC Championship
Not really a whole lot to cover on the SEC Championship as Georiga straight dominates LSU to win the title and head into the playoff to take on Ohio State. It wasn’t supposed to happen this quickly for LSU, but winning the SEC West in year one of the Brian Kelly era has to be an extreme bright spot regardless of this scoreline. As much as we laughed at the Brian Kelly fake southern accent, we also need to acknowledge when Brian Kelly gets fully settled in, LSU is going to be a dangerous team going into the future.
Michigan - Purdue
Michigan continues its dominance by rolling Purdue in the B1G championship. Jim Harbaugh squashed any Spoiler-maker talk to advanced to the CFB playoff as the two seed. Wolverine QB JJ McCarthy didn’t have to toss it a bunch, but 3 total TDs and a 89.1 QBR will get it done. Without star RB, Blake Corum they have had to turn to RB Donovan Edwards, who ran for 185 yards and 1 TD. With Corum out for the year with his knee injury, it will be on Edwards to carry the load for this Wolverines team as they head to their second straight playoff appearance.
ACC Championship
To wrap it up, we head to the ACC where Clemson flexed their dominance by handling Drake Maye and the UNC Tarheels. For much of the season, Clemson fans and outsiders wondered when Dabo would pull the plug on DJ Uiagalelei and put in former 5 star freshman Cade Klubnik. Uiagalelei was benched a couple times this year, but Klubnik really just handed the ball off and didn’t have a ton on his plate. This game however, DJ was benched after the first two series and it became the Klubnik show. He finished with 309 total yards and 2 TD’s en route to a 94.1 QBR performance. Fans will be wonder what the season could have been had Dabo turned to Klubnik earlier, but for now it appears Clemson has their next QB. Clemson will head to the Orange Bowl to take on Tennessee, while the Tarheels will be feeling disappointed dropping their final three games after starting 9-1.
Conference Championship QB Performances
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