After the chaos of the 2022 season, some teams’ seasons were forgotten. Here are five more storylines you may not remember.
UTSA repeating as C-USA champions
The 2021 UTSA Roadrunners came from nowhere to start the season 11-0 and win their first conference championship in program history. But after finishing 12-2, they expected to fall back to average. Instead, they proved the haters wrong and went back to back. This time finishing 11-3, UTSA had another shocking year. They had an impressive ten-game win streak after starting 1-2, proving their resiliency. This small school in Texas, which was without a football team before 2011, has the most wins in the state over the past two years by a three-game margin. Coach Jeff Traylor has already turned UTSA into a C-USA power despite only being in San Antonio for three seasons. The Alamodome doesn’t feel too big for UTSA anymore and now is full of Roadrunner fans. His work is tremendously impressive and should be discussed more. Next year let’s see what he can do in the AAC.
BYU falling off
Remember when BYU was a sleeper NY6 or even a playoff team coming into 2022? They won eleven games in 2020, then ten in 2021 with a more difficult schedule. As an independent, BYU has more schedule freedom than the average team. This unique schedule includes them testing themselves by playing five other power five teams Oregon; taking on Notre Dame at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. However, coming into the season BYU’s biggest game was their second one. Playing defending Big 12 Champion and #9 Baylor who handed BYU their worst loss of 2021. The Cougars won 26-20 and moved up to #12. They were 2-0 and could pick up another ranked win in Eugene. However, they lost convincingly against an Oregon team playing their best football. The Cougars bounced back to 4-1 and moved to #16 before losing to Notre Dame. Then they lost their next three and had a losing record nine games into the season. The Cougars finished on a high note, winning their last four which contained the New Mexico Bowl against SMU. BYU could have had their third ten-win season in a row, but a midseason collapse ended their hopes, but also the media coverage of the season.
JMU’s amazing first FBS year
FCS power James Madison came into the FBS and the Dukes were bewildering. It only took them five games to enter the top twenty-five, and one season to go 8-3 and win the Sun Belt east. In addition, they dominated #23 Coastal Carolina 47-7 to close out their season. If not for an FCS to FBS transitional postseason ban, a canceled game against Virginia, and a rough stretch in the middle, the Dukes easily could have finished with a ten-win season. JMU finished with both a top fifteen scoring offense (37.0 ppg) and a top twenty-five scoring defense (20.9 ppg). Sixth-year Quarterback Todd Centeio threw twenty-five touchdowns to only five picks and had over 3,000 yards of total offense. Some teams could only dream of winning their division and over 70% of their games. James Madison took one year to do that. Imagine how good they can be in a few years.
https://twitter.com/JMUSportsNews/status/1596601491871395841
Northern Illinois falling off
Like how UTSA came out of nowhere to win the C-USA in 2021, Northern Illinois did the same in the MAC. Except the Huskies didn’t have seven wins the year before. Instead, they were 0-6 in a MAC-only schedule. Well, the Huskies won nine more games which included beating Georgia Tech in Atlanta and the MAC Championship over Kent State. It was the sixth MAC Championship for the Huskies and they had a good chance to be the first repeat MAC champion since NIU did it themselves in 2021. Seventeen starters were returning, including quarterback Rocky Lombardi. But everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for NIU. Their schedule was tougher: playing two SEC teams within the first four weeks of the season. Injuries also hurt the Huskies, forcing four quarterbacks to start. Lastly was the record in close games. In 2021, NIU went 7-3 in one-possession games. In 2022, that number fell to 2-5. So with all these factors, Northern Illinois lost six more games and quietly fell back to a disappointing 3-9.
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https://twitter.com/NIU_Football/status/1562856654890160129
Brent Key’s midseason takeover of Georgia Tech
Geoff Collins was a disaster at Georgia Tech and got the axe after a 1-3 start in the 2022 season. He went a career 10-28 and was on a nine-game losing streak against FBS competition. After his exit and interim coach Brent Key was hired, nobody expected the Yellow Jackets to do much. That was until they traveled to Pittsburgh and handed #24 a loss in Key’s first week. He followed that up by beating a nine-win Duke team. Later in the year, they took down #13 in North Carolina in Chapel Hill and sent them out on a four-game losing streak. Key finished 4-4, but with Collins’ rough start, Georgia Tech only finished 5-7 and missed a bowl for the fourth year in a row. In the offseason, the Yellow Jackets stuck with Key after being rumored to be getting Willie Fritz from Tulane. The former player has brought life back to Atlanta and Georgia Tech is already rebuilding for the future.
https://twitter.com/MichaelBraunGA/status/1594146758778814464
