Georgia Southern gets interception in the red zone (0:21)Georgia Southern’s Tracy Hill Jr. grabs an interception to prevent Appalachian State from scoring a touchdown. (0:21)
JLab Birmingham Bowl: Georgia Southern 29, Appalachian State 10
Isleta New Mexico Bowl: North Texas 49, San Diego State 47
Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl: Fresno State 18, Miami (OH) 3
Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl: Penn State 22, Clemson 10
Go Bowling Military Bowl: East Carolina 23, Pitt 17
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl: UTSA 57, Florida International 20
GameAbove Sports Bowl: Northwestern 34, Central Michigan 7
New Orleans Bowl: Western Kentucky 27, Southern Miss 16
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Washington State 34, Utah State 21
Myrtle Beach Bowl: Western Michigan 41, Kennesaw State 6
StaffDNA Cure Bowl: Old Dominion 24, South Florida 10
IS4S Salute to Veterans Bowl: Jacksonville State 17, Troy 13
Cricket Celebration Bowl: South Carolina State 40, Prairie View A&M 38
The 2025 bowl season is in full swing, and ESPN’s college football experts are here to highlight the best performances.
We’ll pick MVPs from each of the 36 bowl games from Dec. 13 to Jan. 2. These are our experts’ picks and won’t necessarily align with the official bowl MVP.
It was hardly a game of offensive fireworks, but in Delaware’s first season as an FBS program, the Blue Hens won a bowl thanks in large part to the explosiveness of Silver. His 61-yard run in the first half opened the scoring, and he finished with 116 yards on 14 carries. Silver’s success on the ground helped make up for a lackluster passing performance from a team that had led Conference USA in yards through the air. It was Silver’s second 100-yard game of the season. — David Hale
Neither team had its regular QB1, but while USF’s reserves tossed four picks in the game, ODU’s Henicle did all he needed to win without making any critical miscues. Henicle finished with 127 passing yards, 107 more on the ground and a pair of touchdowns. — Hale
Smith turned in one of the great Celebration Bowl performances to help South Carolina State overcome a 21-0 halftime deficit and beat Prairie View A&M 40-38 in quadruple overtime. Smith finished with nine receptions for 152 yards and a pair of scores to go along with five carries for 28 yards and another touchdown. His 10-yard receiving touchdown with two minutes left in regulation forced overtime as part of the Bulldogs’ 35-point second half. — Bonagura
After a back-and-forth first half defined primarily by App State turnovers, Georgia Southern seized control in the third quarter. The Eagles scored a pair of touchdowns to go up 26-7 and eventually won 29-10, and it started with a 58-yard run from Arnold. He gained 163 yards from scrimmage — his fifth game with at least 130 — and in the first-ever bowl matchup in the Deeper Than Hate rivalry, the Eagles put things away with the smallest amount of drama possible. You could give co-MVP status to Eagles defender Dorrian Smith: App State quarterbacks threw four interceptions in Georgia Southern territory, and he reeled in two of them. — Bill Connelly
After falling behind to LSU 14-0 to start the game, Houston responded emphatically in a 38-35 win. A lot of that had to do with the play of Weigman, who finished 27-of-36 with 236 yards passing and 4 touchdown passes. He also added 56 yards rushing on 13 carries. Three of Weigman’s touchdown passes came in the first half, as the Cougars roared back to lead at the half. His favorite target was Tanner Koziol, who made nine catches for 76 yards and a score, while Amare Thomas had two touchdown catches. — Kyle Bonagura
Virginia quarterback Morris didn’t deliver eye-popping numbers, nor did the Cavaliers’ offense leave much of an impression, but in key moments, Morris delivered. He finished 25-of-38 for 198 yards, but was 10-of-10 on third downs, as Virginia erased a halftime deficit to win 13-7. At his fourth school in his career, Morris helped Virginia to a school-record 11 wins this season and an appearance in the ACC title game. After allowing a touchdown on the first drive of the game, Virginia’s defense smothered Missouri the rest of the way. — Bonagura
In a high-scoring affair that featured a combined 1,150 total yards of offense, Hawkins and the Mean Green run game got the job done and secured the first 12-win season in program history. Hawkins rushed for 198 yards and accounted for three touchdowns, Ashton Gray chipped in 152 yards and two more scores, and the No. 1 scoring offense in college football lit up a top-five scoring defense for 618 total yards, with a season-high 368 yards on the ground. Hawkins, the American Conference Rookie of the Year, finished his true freshman season with 1,804 yards from scrimmage and a school-record 29 touchdowns. — Max Olson
In his Fresno State finale, the senior wideout sparked the Bulldogs’ offense with a career-high 143 receiving yards on seven catches. Freeman delivered his first 100-yard performance in his three seasons with the program and did most of his damage on explosive 47- and 51-yard plays, outrunning the RedHawks for 109 yards after the catch. His quarterback, E.J. Warner, hit 16 of 23 passes for 214 yards in a game that the Bulldogs’ offense dominated in time of possession. First-year coach Matt Entz got this program back to its winning standard with its fourth season of nine-plus wins in the past five years. — Olson
Freshman Bachmeier outdueled Georgia Tech’s Haynes King, going 27-of-38 for 325 yards and 1 touchdown, including bulling into the end zone on a 2-point conversion run that started a comeback from an 11-point deficit with 11:13 left in the fourth quarter. It was a dramatic ending to a season in which Bachmeier was thrust into the starting QB role after starter Jake Retzlaff’s sudden departure for Tulane. Bachmeier became the first true freshman to start a season opener for the Cougars, and he closed the year with a 12-win season. — Dave Wilson
Nwawuihe, a freshman who was recruited to play quarterback for the Black Knights, got 12 carries Saturday and made them count, rushing for 171 yards and two touchdowns. Nwawuihe had a 43-yard touchdown run, the first of his career, to give Army the lead in the second quarter. Then, he opened the second half with a run up the middle in which he forced at least four missed tackles and ran for a 70-yard score. Not bad for a guy who had nine career carries for 25 yards entering the day. Army ran all over the Huskies with 368 rushing yards and 4 TDs on 6.6 yards per rush. Coach Jeff Monken’s squad lost five games by one-score margins this season but finished on a high note at Fenway Park with a 25-point victory over UConn, which went 9-4. — Olson
With points at a premium, Pena scored the first touchdown — a 73-yard reception early in the fourth quarter that helped Penn State finish the season with a bowl win after the in-season firing of coach James Franklin. Penn State won four straight to close the season, and the crowd at the end chanted interim coach Terry Smith’s name in appreciation. Pena had the biggest offensive highlight of the game, becoming the first Penn State player with five receptions, 100-plus yards receiving and a receiving touchdown in a bowl game since DaeSean Hamilton in the 2017 Fiesta Bowl against Washington. “We went out the right way,” Pena told ESPN Radio after the game. — Andrea Adelson
Smith had 4 catches for 156 yards and 2 touchdowns, and his 72-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter gave the Pirates the lead for good. It was Smith’s second game this season with 150 yards and two touchdowns. No other East Carolina player had done that even once in the previous two seasons. That 72-yard touchdown catch was the longest scrimmage touchdown Pitt allowed this season. It was also his eighth reception of 40 or more yards this season — third most of any Group of 5 player. His 156 receiving yards are the most for an American player in a bowl game since USF’s Randall St. Felix had 165 in 2018 against Marshall in the Gasparilla Bowl. — Adelson
With 1,000-yard rusher Robert Henry Jr. on the sidelines, second-year UTSA running back Henderson emerged as the offensive spark to the highest-scoring bowl performance to date in 2025 and the Roadrunners’ third bowl victory in as many years. All told, Henderson tallied 59 rushing yards on 14 carries (4.2 yards per attempt) in UTSA’s 57-20 win over Florida International, setting a program bowl game record with three total touchdowns. Henderson delivered a pair of rushing scores that bookended the Roadrunners’ 38-0 scoring run across the second and third quarters. But Henderson’s biggest moment came (technically) in the passing game when he turned a forward, reverse pitch into a 40-yard touchdown with 4:15 remaining before halftime. Per ESPN Research, those scores made Henderson the first player to record a rushing and a receiving touchdown in a game this bowl season, and it was his playmaking that helped vault UTSA to a fifth consecutive season of seven-plus wins under coach Jeff Traylor. — Eli Lederman
Smith finished with six tackles, four tackles for loss and two sacks as the Golden Gophers toppled New Mexico in overtime 20-17 on Jalen Smith’s game-ending diving touchdown grab. Smith became the first Minnesota defender to record at least four tackles for loss and two sacks in a game since William VanDeSteeg in 2006 against Michigan State, according to ESPN Research. His biggest play came in the fourth quarter, when he snuffed out New Mexico’s fake punt attempt near midfield for a big loss. Smith and linebacker Maverick Baranowski, who had a game-high 17 tackles and a sack, led the way in keeping New Mexico from scoring an offensive touchdown. — Jake Trotter
Central Michigan turned the ball over on three consecutive snaps in the second quarter, clearing the way for Northwestern to rout the Chippewas 34-7. Turner ignited the turnover barrage with a diving, one-handed interception at the Central Michigan 29-yard line. The Wildcats scored three plays later to take a 7-0 lead. Northwestern then capitalized off back-to-back fumble recoveries to go up three touchdowns at halftime — the Wildcats’ largest lead in a bowl after one half in program history, according to ESPN Research. Turner, an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection this year, then put the game away in the third quarter, scooping up another Central Michigan fumble near midfield before racing in for the touchdown. — Trotter