The first College Football Playoff was well worth the wait, providing us with two exciting semifinal matchups benefitting two teams that would’ve been left out of the national championship if the BCS still reigned supreme.

Granted, SEC fans were likely left disappointed by Alabama’s loss to Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, but the game itself was a back-and-forth thriller with stakes unmatched in the history of college football. Oregon’s rout of Florida State was less competitive but equally exciting, featuring 79 combined points and two future NFL quarterbacks.

But what about the other for New Year’s Six bowls — the bowls that essentially equate to the BCS bowls of the last 16 years? The stakes might not have been as high, but the games were certainly just as exciting.

Saturday Down South ranked the first collection of non-playoff New Year’s Six bowls. Here’s how we evaluated the games:

4. Peach Bowl: TCU 42, Ole Miss 3

One could argue that, if you remove the stakes and look at every bowl game this season as an exhibition, Ole Miss suffered the worst loss of the bowl season in the Peach Bowl. The Rebels turned the ball over on the third play of the game and allowed 42 points with more than 25 minutes still remaining in the second half. The Horned Frogs led Ole Miss in every significant statistical category, and the game was more or less decided before the end of the first quarter. It was clear TCU played with a chip on its shoulder upon being left out of the four-team playoff field, and Ole Miss was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time in facing one of the most explosive and athletic teams in the nation.

3. Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech 49, Mississippi State 34

Mississippi State put up more of a fight in an Orange Bowl loss to Georgia Tech than its in-state counterparts from Oxford, but the SEC’s other New Year’s Six bowl was also somewhat of a dud. The Bulldogs trailed by just one point at half thanks to a miraculous Hail Mary heading into halftime, but that score only served as a mask hiding the one-sided nature of the game. The Yellow Jackets ran for 468 yards and six touchdowns at 7.4 yards per carry, and they controlled the game for most of the night against an MSU defense that appeared helpless without defensive coordinator Geoff Collins.

2. Fiesta Bowl: Boise State 38, Arizona 30

Although the SEC’s two New Year’s Six bowls lacked the drama many had hoped for, the other two non-playoff New Year’s Six games featured thrilling comebacks and nail-biting finishes that left us craving more. One of the two improbable comeback efforts fell just short, while the other led to one of the greatest wins of the bowl season. The Fiesta Bowl featured the comeback that fell just short, as Arizona rallied from an early 28-7 deficit to trail by just eight points with less than a minute remaining. Wildcats quarterback Anu Solomon drove Arizona into the red zone, but took a sack in the final seconds as Boise State held on to earn its biggest bowl win since the 2007 Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma.

1. Cotton Bowl: Michigan State 42, Baylor 41

Unlike Arizona, Michigan State was able to finish off its incredible comeback, overcoming a 20-point fourth quarter deficit by scoring 21 unanswered points to steal a victory from the Baylor Bears. Spartans quarterback Connor Cook led three late scoring drives spanning 22 plays and 212 yards, and his 10-yard touchdown pass to Keith Mumphery with 17 seconds left sealed a victory for Michigan State. The comebacks by Arizona and especially by Michigan State epitomized what the New Year’s Six games are all about, and the significance of those victories gives us something to look forward to next year when bowl season begins.