With everybody's focus on the 12-team College Football Playoff, the bowl games took a back seat this year, but that doesn't mean the rest of the postseason disappointed.

There were plenty of exciting moments, several multiple-overtime games and a lot of teams that looked like they wanted to be there (and a few that didn't).

We've already told you the biggest winners and losers from the early wave of bowl games here, and this is from the matchups between December 26 and January 4. There were many exciting showdowns.

If you want the biggest winner of bowl season, it had to be the Big Ten flexing against the SEC with four wins in four games (counting the CFP win by Ohio State over Tennessee).

Without question, the Big Ten is the top conference in college football this season, but we got a little more granular with so many individual games from which to choose.

Let's take a look at the top headlines from the late wave of games.

Winner: Michigan's Maize-and-Blue Skeleton Crew Upsetting Alabama

In college football, you shouldn't be "grandfathered into" anything. So, can we all please stop with the Alabama playoff pity party after Michigan stunned with an upset in Tuesday's ReliaQuest Bowl.

The Crimson Tide didn't belong just because they've been dominant in recent years. With Nick Saban gone, this 2024 rendition was far from the powerhouse we've come to know.

The hard fact is this was a disappointing season for the Tide in coach Kalen DeBoer's first foray into SEC football, and it was low-lighted by a 19-13 loss to a maize-and-blue skeleton crew despite being a 16.5-point favorite.

There's no shame in losing to the defending national champions. But the Wolverines were a 7-5 team that was missing All-American cornerback Will Johnson, All-American defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, elite tight end Colston Loveland, Nos. 1 and 2 running backs Kalel Mullings and Donovan Edwards and edge-rusher Josiah Stewart.

All of those guys sat out to prepare for the draft, and starting quarterback Davis Warren was injured during the game, too.

Still, a Michigan roster depleted of stars jumped out to a 16-point lead thanks to a disastrous start from Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, who was sacked for an 11-yard loss on fourth down on the initial drive and then lost two fumbles sandwiched around an interception on the next three drives as the Wolverines built a shocking advantage.

Bama stormed back, but it didn't have enough in the tank to pull out a win. The loss by the Tide ended a 16-year streak of double-digit win seasons. Third-string running back, freshman Jordan Marshall, had 100 rushing yards and is a great building block moving forward.

DeBoer is about to find out what it's like in that Alabama pressure cooker, but on the flipside, Michigan coach Sherrone Moore can use this as a building block for the future in Ann Arbor.

Loser: Citrus Bowl Coaches' Middle School Antics (But, Boy, was it Fun)

Two of the biggest hot-head coaches in college football took their teams to the Citrus Bowl, and they became the biggest spectacle in a terrific game between two great teams.

Illinois upset South Carolina 21-17 in a rugged SEC-Big Ten showdown, but that competitive donnybrook took a back seat for a while when Bret Bielema and Shane Beamer stole the spotlight with what could have been a fight of their own.

Who are we kidding? "Loser?" It was must-see TV.

After Beamer whined about officials to the sideline reporter and was obviously heated and even more animated than usual throughout the game, things got real heated late in the third quarter between the two coaches.

Bielema walked to the South Carolina sideline to check on his injured Illinois player, and as he was walking back, he looked toward Beamer and spread his arms in the substitution signal, essentially taunting.

This was in reference to some gamesmanship earlier where Beamer had gone ballistic on officials for allowing the Illini to take forever to substitute players. When he saw Bielema's mocking, he started yelling and then charging at the Illinois coach before being pulled back.

On the next play, South Carolina subbed, and Illinois took the entire play clock to sub its guys, forcing Beamer to call a timeout. Bielema smirked. It was glorious television.

Bielema's taunting, and Beamer going ballistic became the biggest story of a New Year's Eve full of bowls. The passion is what makes college football fun, but the great game became a footnote.

Of all the incredible reactions, this won the internet. The postgame handshake was anticlimactic, but still fun.

Winner: USC's Colossal Comeback

Maybe the Lincoln Riley era at USC isn't left-for-dead yet.

Despite a barrage of transfers, a losing conference record in their first Big Ten season and a .500 mark heading into a Las Vegas Bowl battle against Texas A&M, the Trojans woke up with a second-half points barrage to spark some excitement heading into the offseason.

A Jayden Maiava 7-yard touchdown pass to Kyle Ford with eight seconds left stunned the Aggies, giving USC a 35-31 win.

Just a couple of quarters earlier, it seemed like coach Mike Elko's team was going to run away with an easy victory. A&M held a 24-7 lead, and a deep and talented defensive line was making things difficult on Maiava.

Riley made some adjustments, though, and the Trojans entered an uncertain offseason on a high note. Back at the beginning of the season, another second-half comeback win over LSU got everybody's hopes up.

Even though the season didn't go as planned, the Trojans have some pieces to fall in place. And if they make the right portal additions, a 2025 jump isn't out of the question.

Despite three interceptions, Maiava threw for 295 yards and four touchdowns. Freshman running back Bryan Jackson had 66 yards and his first score, too, and the Trojans took advantage of some penalties and mistakes by the Aggies to win the game.

Loser: Miami, With Cam Ward Sitting Out 2nd Half

Social media was abuzz with the Cam Ward saga during Miami's Pop-Tarts Bowl loss to Iowa State.

In the first half of the Hurricanes' eventual 42-41 loss to Iowa State, the Ward-led Miami offense couldn't be stopped as it piled up 190 passing yards and a trio of scoring tosses that helped the transfer set the Division I career record for touchdown passes.

With Miami ahead by three at the break and the record in-hand, though, Ward hung up his collegiate cleats, giving way to sophomore Emory Williams. Offensive stagnation followed as the one-dimensional 'Canes watched Williams complete just 5-of-14 passes for 26 yards and a score.

The drought was just enough for Rocco Becht and the Cyclones to whittle down the lead and score on fourth-and-goal from the 1 on a Becht sneak with 56 seconds remaining, kick the extra point and grab a one-point win.

On one side of social media, some thought it selfish of Ward to get the personal record and sit rather than finish one last ride with his teammates. On the other, it was a meaningless bowl game, Ward is a sure-fire early first-round pick who needed to preserve his stock, and giving Williams a chance to gear up to compete next year was the flipside of the argument.

Regardless, Miami took home another bowl loss, its sixth consecutive and 12th out of the past 13. The Hurricanes have just one bowl win since 2006.

Winner: McCord Magic

With all the hullabaloo surrounding Arizona State, Indiana and BYU, Syracuse's turnaround under first-year coach Fran Brown got somewhat lost in the shuffle.

But what the Orange accomplished with the former Georgia assistant coach at the helm by flipping the roster and ultimately winning 10 games is pretty remarkable. Brown's team capped it off on December 27 with a Holiday Bowl win over Washington State.

They entered as big favorites over the Cougars and capitalized behind one-year wonder Kyle McCord, who left an embattled starting tenure at Ohio State, headed to upstate New York and revitalized his career.

Whether the 52-35 victory over Wazzu was McCord's swan song with the Orange or a tantalizing peek at what 2025 could hold, it was a fitting end to a spectacular season.

He completed 24-of-34 passes for 453 yards and five touchdowns against a Cougars defense that yielded little. It was a shootout, and McCord and crew were more than up to the challenge.

He eclipsed former Clemson signal-caller Deshaun Watson's single-season ACC passing record with 4,593 yards this year, and he needed just 13 games to do what Watson did in 15.

Now, the attention will hone in on whether McCord gets a fifth season from the NCAA that he has applied for. He could head to the NFL regardless and may, but the possibility he could be leading the Orange in a season's worth of showcase games in 2025 would be big.

Loser: Colorado Stars' Last Ride Together

For all the opt-outs, ups and downs of bowl season, if you're a fan of college football, you had to commend coach Deion Sanders' Colorado Buffaloes trotting onto the field together for one last stampede.

Sanders took the field with sons, star quarterback Shedeur and defensive back Shiloh, and Heisman Trophy-winning junior defensive back/wide receiver Travis Hunter played, too, in December 28's prime-time showdown with BYU in the Alamo Bowl.

Unfortunately for the Buffaloes, that's where all the good vibes ended.

BYU cooked Colorado from the opening kickoff, roaring out to a 20-point shutout halftime lead on its way to a lopsided win.

The Cougars exposed the one-dimensional offense of the Buffaloes, and while this was a monumental step forward with a nine-win campaign, the bowl game blowout showed the CU program still has a long way to go.

Coach Kalani Sitake's team shook off a disappointing close to the season that saw BYU go from what looked like a near-lock for the Big 12 championship game to a pair of losses and falling completely out of the contest.

It took out those frustrations on Colorado, and obviously, the Cougars took offense to the massive hype train that surrounds Coach Prime, Heisman Hunter and Co. wherever they go.

The strides CU made this year and all the individual accolades are commendable, but this wasn't the finish they'd hoped for.

Winner: Dylan Edwards Seizing the Spotlight

After a couple of seasons with at least 1,200 rushing yards, it was clear the Kansas State Wildcats were DJ Giddens' team. He was the centerpiece of an offense that was, at times, spectacular, if inconsistent.

But with Giddens preserving his health for the NFL draft and the Wildcats up against a tougher-than-expected Rutgers Scarlet Knights team that looked suddenly offensive-minded in the Rate Bowl, coach Chris Klieman needed a bell cow.

He may have found his every-down back for 2025 in the process in Dylan Edwards' explosive outburst.

Everybody knew the former 4-star prospect who originally committed to Colorado after a decorated high school career in Kansas was a big-play possibility. But even at 5'9", 167 pounds, the sophomore showed in a 44-41 win over Rutgers on December 26 that he can carry the load.

"I told him, 'This is going to be your game. It's time to shine,' and obviously he did," Wildcats quarterback Avery Johnson told The Wichita Eagle's Kellis Robinett. "I'm not taking credit for him shining or anything. He was doing his thing. But I can't say I'm surprised by what he did tonight."

Edwards ran 18 times for 196 yards and scored twice in a comeback win that saw K-State outscore Rutgers 27-14 after the break. He also caught a couple of passes for 27 yards and scored another time through the air. It set the table for a big 2025.

Loser: Venables' Seat Temperature

Much like USC's foray into the Big Ten, Oklahoma's first season in the SEC didn't go well. As a matter of fact, for the proud Sooners program, it was unacceptable.

A 21-20 Armed Forces Bowl loss to Navy in a game where OU went roaring out to a 14-point advantage isn't going to make the powers-that-be or the fans in Norman any happier, either.

Coach Brent Venables will enter 2025 firmly in win-now-or-else mode with more than a little sizzle on his backside. There are reasons for excitement about the future, but the present isn't pretty.

Venables elected to go for two and the win after Michael Hawkins Jr. hit Jake Roberts for a 10-yard touchdown with six seconds left to pull the Sooners within the final margin. But a scrambling mess of a play where Hawkins' attempt fell harmlessly to the ground summed up a 6-7 season.

After roaring out to a two-touchdown lead, OU's offense was nonexistent. The defense also had some gaffes. The Sooners allowed a Blake Horvath 95-yard touchdown jaunt, then a Horvath-led, 12-play, 66-yard scoring drive to demoralize the Sooners late.

While the duo of offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle and quarterback John Mateer leaving Washington State for Oklahoma brings with them some excitement, there's a sense of desperation, too.

The Venables era has had more than enough time to get off the ground. The time is now to win, or a different direction may be warranted.

Winner: Diego Mania One More Time

If you don't love watching Diego Pavia play college football, you don't love college football.

The Vanderbilt senior who is going to suit up for the Commodores for one more season after transferring from New Mexico State after a JUCO career, and he has helped take coach Clark Lea's program to unexpected heights.

They capped a winning season with a 35-27 Birmingham Bowl win over a Georgia Tech team that ended the regular season giving Georgia all it could handle. The final score seemed a lot closer than it was after the Yellow Jackets rallied late.

When the game mattered, coach Brent Key's team had no answer for Pavia. Join the club, huh? Teams like Alabama and Texas had troubles with that throughout the season, too.

Pavia was responsible for five touchdowns, completing 13-of-21 passes for 160 yards and a trio of scores through the air while running 17 times for 84 yards and two more scores.

After the win, Pavia relayed his high hopes for Vandy's 2025 run.

"We want to be a national championship-winning team. I feel like we have the pieces to do it," Pavia told Saturday Down South's Paul Harvey. "We're missing maybe one or two more guys, and once we have those pieces, we're ready to go as long as everyone stays healthy."

That may seem like a long shot, but Pavia is certainly must-watch TV, regardless.

Loser: Duke and Virginia Tech Cap a Forgettable ACC Postseason

Yes, SMU and Clemson were two-and-through in the College Football Playoff, but that was only the tip of the iceberg that sunk the ACC ship in the postseason.

A conference that was the beneficiary of essentially the final "at-large" bid in the 12-team playoff did whatever the opposite of "flexing" is when it came to bowls. All in all, when Duke and Virginia Tech closed out the forgettable finale with losses to Ole Miss and Minnesota, respectively, it dropped the conference to 2-10.

The only wins were Louisville's narrow, one-point victory over Washington and Syracuse's blowout win over Washington State. Everything else was a colossal failure.

In the Blue Devils' case, they had to play without quarterback Maalik Murphy, who left Durham for Oregon State. Without him, they were no match for the Rebels in a 52-20 loss. Then on Friday, the Hokies couldn't figure out Minnesota in a 24-10 setback.

It was the story of the season.

Disappointment started back on December 18 when California lost to UNLV. Then, the Mustangs and Tigers lost by double digits in the first round of the playoffs.

Pittsburgh laid potentially the biggest egg in a 48-46, six-overtime loss to Toledo in the GameAbove Sports Bowl, Vanderbilt whipped Georgia Tech by eight, Iowa State rallied to beat Miami 42-41, UConn embarrassed North Carolina, Nebraska got by Boston College and East Carolina beat instate big brother, North Carolina State.

Yes, it was ugly, and the ugliness never relented.

Winner: Offensive Firepower in a LSU Texas Bowl Win

The LSU Tigers are one of the heaviest hitters in the transfer portal already as they look to take a huge offseason step toward the 2025 campaign, but another boost was their 44-31 win over Baylor in the Texas Bowl.

Defense, however, was optional.

It was a consolation-prize win for coach Brian Kelly's program, which saw a midseason spiral drop it to a 9-4 record, largely due to its inability to stop opposing quarterbacks. That reared its head again against the Bears, but it didn't matter.

LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier celebrated his decision to return to the Bayou with a 304-yard, three-touchdown performance to take home the game's MVP honors. Chris Hilton Jr. caught four passes for 113 yards and a touchdown, and Aaron Anderson added eight grabs for 91 yards.

On the flipside, though Baylor lost, it's been a nice, little rebound season for coach Dave Aranda, who started the year firmly on the hot seat. Despite the loss, the Bears finished with an 8-5 record and found something on offense when they inserted Sawyer Robertson.

He enjoyed one of his best career games against the embattled Bayou Bengals, completing 30 of 51 for a career-high 445 yards and two touchdowns. It wasn't enough to keep a six-game Baylor winning streak going, but it was still impressive.

The teams combined for 925 yards and 75 points in a shootout.

Loser: North Carolina's Bridge to Belichick

Everybody who watches college football is at least intrigued to find out how the Bill Belichick experiment is going to work out at North Carolina.

The legendary former NFL coach who is, arguably, the most decorated man to ever roam a sideline is trying his hand at the college game at 72 years old, replacing Mack Brown after yet another struggle of a season.

Belichick is going to employ a general manager, demanded major enhancements to the Tar Heels' Name, Image and Likeness collectives and is taking a pro approach to college football. Whatever it takes would probably be an upgrade to what we saw this season in Chapel Hill.

North Carolina's losing season was capped on December 28 by a Fenway Bowl loss to UConn in a game that wasn't ever really competitive. The Huskies won 27-14 in a football matchup between two basketball powerhouses.

Belichick didn't travel with the Heels to the city (Boston) where he became a legend, and he probably would have cringed at what he saw. UNC was without 11 starters, and running back Caleb Hood rotated with freshman Michael Merdinger at quarterback following an injury to starter Jacolby Criswell.

Things got ugly. Now, it's going to be interesting to see if this is rock-bottom before a transformation of a program that desperately needs a talent infusion and a reason to be excited.

It didn't come at Fenway Park.

Winner: Mizzou's Music City Rally

Missouri looked cooked as the third quarter was winding down in the December 30 Music City Bowl against an Iowa team that was bullish behind a resurgent offense.

However, the Tigers were just getting started, down 10 points with their striped backs against the wall.

First, Joshua Manning closed the gap to three points with the only bright spot rushing for the team all day, and the Tigers got two booming field goals from Blake Craig (one from 51 yards and the game-winner from 56) in the fourth quarter to come from behind and beat the Hawkeyes, 27-24.

Mizzou's defense flexed in the fourth quarter after struggling to stop the Iowa rushing duo of Kamari Moulton and Jaziun Patterson, who split carries with Kaleb Johnson preparing for the draft, shutting down the Hawkeyes to allow for the comeback.

In his final game at Mizzou, Brady Cook ended his career on a high note, throwing for 287 yards and a pair of touchdowns and rushing for 54 more. With Luther Burden III sitting and Theo Wease Jr. injured in the game, Marquis Johnson picked up the slack in the second half, finishing with 122 receiving yards and a score.

Now, coach Eli Drinkwitz's program will head into the Beau Pribula era on the heels of a 10-win season. He definitely kept the program trending in the right direction.

Loser: Pat Narduzzi's Debilitated Decision

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables may be on the hot seat, but at least he tried to flex a talent advantage against a lower-level team with a two-point conversion in his bowl game.

Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi should take notes after getting eviscerated for his conservative play-calling in an embarrassing Panthers loss to Toledo in the GameAbove Sports Bowl on December 26.

What do you have to lose if you're the Panthers? You're already playing with your third-string quarterback, you've dropped six consecutive games after a 6-0 start and you're in a neck-and-neck tussle with a MAC team.

Yet, rather than go for the win from the 1-yard line in the second overtime of an eventual 48-46, six-overtime loss to the Rockets, Narduzzi elected to kick a game-tying field goal. Why, especially considering the game goes directly to two-point conversion plays afterward?

"...If you don't get it, you lose the game. I don't want it to end like that, I want our kids to make plays, always put it in the kids' hands," Narduzzi said, per Sports Now Group Pittsburgh's Karl Ludwig. "For the coach to make a decision to lose the game or win the game, I'm not for it. I think the overtime's a great system and that's kind of the ways it goes."

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Christopher Carter wrote at length about Narduzzi's poor decisions. Then, he reportedly didn't shake Toledo coach Jason Candle's hand after the game, causing another backlash.

Winner: Bailey Leading Louisville's Gutsy Effort

A perfect candidate to a "Where have they gone?" college football question would be Louisville senior quarterback Harrison Bailey, who resurfaced again on New Year's Eve after a college career that didn't quite go as expected.

Back in the 2020 recruiting class, the Marietta, Georgia, native was a star recruit, the nation's third-ranked pro-style passer and a crown jewel for then-coach Jeremy Pruitt's Tennessee recruiting class.

After getting buried on the depth chart under Josh Heupel, Bailey left Knoxville for UNLV, where he couldn't hold down a starting job, either. As a senior, he finished his career at Louisville, and with Tyler Shough sitting for the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, Bailey finally got his chance to end his college career in style.

He did so in a 35-34 win where his performance was overshadowed because of an incredible back-and-forth finale. He completed 16-of-25 passes for 164 yards and three touchdowns to build a two-touchdown lead.

Demond Williams Jr.'s incredible heroics led Washington back, but the Huskies' potential game-winning two-point conversion was batted down by Antonio Watts, and an onsides kick that hung in the air forever was batted out of bounds

Williams' frantic comeback should make Huskies fans excited about the future, but Bailey's performance was a feel-good story you won't read enough about this bowl season.