Ranking the Pac-12 bowl performances: Oregon's Rose Bowl perfection tops in conference

8. Washington vs. Oklahoma State, Cactus Bowl:

AK: The only flat out bad performance. The Huskies took a half to show up, and probably would have won if they'd played even average-level football early on.

JF: Washington started out flat yet again and against an Oklahoma State team was actually pretty solid, that was a big no no. They looked like the same Husky team that showed up when they played most of the better teams in the Pac-12 with a tough defense that could slow down good opponents, but only so much when they were getting little to no offensive support.

7. Arizona vs. Boise State, Fiesta Bowl:

AK: Boise State is the 72 Dolphins in Glendale. It's unfathomable how well they play there. Anu Solomon had a horrid performance.

JF: To be honest, I didn't think either of these teams really belonged in a bowl game of this magnitude. I thought that Boise State was grossly overrated though and that Arizona would get by them by at least double digits, so I was pretty disappointed when they looked still hungover from not showing up in the Pac-12 Championship Game and then gave themselves a hole that they couldn't dig themselves out of.

6. ASU vs. Duke, Sun Bowl:

AK: This was a fun game! Another typical Arizona State game where the Sun Devils played great for 20 minutes and then nearly blow it.

JF: I will give Arizona State credit as I thought that they were the most likely candidate in the conference to not show up in their bowl game after fading down the stretch and ending up in a not so ideal location, but that doesn't mean that they were particularly impressive.

5. USC vs. Nebraska, Holiday Bowl:

AK: The Trojans played well for three quarters before once again running out of steam in the fourth. But to their credit, they held on this time!

JF: I didn't like this performance. I thought that the Trojans could roll a struggling opponent just a couple of hours from their campus, but their defense gave up 42 points and they nearly lost.

4. UCLA vs. Kansas State, Alamo Bowl:

AK: The Bruins came out and issued a patented asswhomping in that first half. Then they came out and played possum, again. Oh you frustrating Bruins.

JF: This was pretty much vintage Bruins. Just when you thought they were going to wrap up the season by fulfilling their potential and bashing a good opponent, they nearly blew the game. I don't know what to think of these guys.

3. Utah vs. Colorado State, Vegas Bowl:

AK: The Utes came out and kicked ass and then lost both of their coordinators. Just another wild and crazy season in Utah.

JK: This is where we start to separate the middling from the good. The Utes dominated one of the nation's best mid-majors this season in impressive fashion. A very nice way to cap off a very nice bounce back season for Kyle Whittingham and the gang.

2. Stanford vs. Maryland, Fosters Farms Bowl:

AK: Hey, there's that Stanford team that whipped through fools all season long!

JF: Sure beating up on Maryland isn't like beating up on Ohio State or anything, but this game confirmed to me that Stanford was a lot closer to being an 11-12-win team this season than it might have seemed.

1. Oregon vs. Florida State, Rose Bowl

AK: Come on, was there going to be any other performance on the top of this list?

JF: I am simply blown away with how Oregon continues to play at such an unfathomably high level for so long and lose players to injury without missing a step. They got some help from some horribly sloppy and unimaginative play by the Seminoles, but, they still made a Florida State team that has nearly 10 players that could go in the first two rounds of the draft look like a run of the mill Pac-12 opponent that they would dismiss on any given Saturday afternoon.