As the college football world regains its breath a day after the drama of the national semi-final games, we saw four Bowl games, including one more between ranked opponents. Here’s what you need to know:
Armed Forces Bowl
Houston capped a 35-34 win with a stunning comeback that included three touchdowns in the final 3:41 of the game, and two onside kick recoveries in a row and a successful two-point conversion – because they had momentum, said interim head coach David Gibbs – to win in regulation.
All of that came after Pittsburgh stormed to a 34-14 lead when kicker Chris Blewitt connected for three points from 29 yards away. That was 6:26 to go in the game, and it looked salted away from the Panthers, whose running back workhorse James Conner had run for 90 yards and two touchdowns.
Houston’s quarterback Greg Ward found receiver Deontay Greenberry for two of those final three scores, and the sure-handed wide-out also hauled in the successful two-point conversion to finish the comeback – the largest comeback in FBS football this year, and the largest ever in a non-overtime Bowl game.
Taxslayer Bowl
After the Big Ten had gained so much momentum and traction with brilliant Bowl game performances – Ohio State, Wisconsin and Michigan State all scored huge style points for the beleaguered conference on New Year’s Day – Iowa had a chance to further their league’s cause with a strong showing against SEC opponents, Tennessee.
Instead, the Hawkeyes let the Volunteers jump all over them. They were singing Rocky Top early and often in Jacksonville, as Tennessee raced out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, and a 35-7 lead by half time. The game was as good as over then, though Iowa made the final score line – 45-28 – a little more respectable by scoring the game’s final two touchdowns. Don’t let that fool you, though: the Hawkeyes were bad. Worse, they were sloppy.
It was a big day for Tennessee. The victory gives the program it’s first winning season since 2009, and the school was playing in it’s first Bowl game since they faced Wisconsin in the 2009 Outback Bowl, and the future is bright in Knoxville.
Taxslayer Bowl MVP Joshua Dobbs threw for one touchdown and ran for two more, in and around running back Jalen Hurd’s 122-yard day. Everything that Tennessee tried, worked, including a trick play in the first quarter that saw Dobbs lateral to Marlin Lane, a departing senior, who tossed a touchdown pass to receiver Vic Wharton.
Alamo Bowl
In what will likely be UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley’s final college start, the Bruins jumped out to a big lead – they were 31-6 up at the half – then withstood a furious comeback by Kansas State and ended the evening with a 40-35 win.
Hundley was nothing short of spectacular: 12-24 for 136 yards and a touchdown through the air, plus 11 rushes for 96 yards and two touchdowns.
Hundley has been the centrepiece of a UCLA resurgence of late, though the Bruins will now have to find another special quarterback as they face the prospect of a USC team free of the scholarship restriction shackles, and there are persistent rumours that their coach, Jim Mora, will be heavily targeted by NFL teams.
The game looked over at the half, but Kansas State scored the first 25 points in the second half, and suddenly UCLA’s lead was just 34-28 when QB Jake Waters ran in a touchdown from a yard out. The Bruins came right back with Paul Perkins ripping off a 67-yard run, and K-State had one more touchdown – a 29-yarder to receiver Tyler Lockett – before a failed onside kick by the Wildcats iced the game for UCLA.
A little controversy brewed on the field post-game, with Mora and his K-State counterpart, Bill Snyder, greeting each other frostily at first, before engaging in an animated conversation, apparently regarding contact with Hundley when he took the game’s final kneel-down. Mora later tweeted that he would “defend the safety of my players ... forever.”
Cactus Bowl
Without a doubt, the highlight of the late-starting game in Tempe, Arizona, was the game by Oklahoma State defensive tackle James Castleman. The big guy scored the opening touchdown of the game, and bettered that one late by embarking on a 48-yard catch and run. Oh, and he managed four tackles on defense, too. Not a bad night out, and easily one of the best performances of Bowl season.
Oklahoma State’s worst season in recent memory – they lost five straight, and only just snuck their way into the postseason after beating in-state rival Oklahoma in overtime in their final regular season game – will at least end on a good note, with the Cowboys triumphing over Washington 30-22. OSU were up 24-0 at half time, but, as has been the case seemingly every game this Bowl season, the comeback was on. The Huskies had a chance late to tie the game, but a pass from QB Cyler Miles was picked off, thus ending proceedings.
The upside for the Cowboys seems bright, with freshman quarterback Mason Rudolph playing a solid game (299 passing yards and two touchdowns) for Mike Gundy’s squad, and next year will be an interesting one for Washington, whose coach Chris Petersen arrived from Boise State this year, and would surely have watched his old team charge to Fiesta Bowl glory on New Year’s Eve. The Huskies finished Petersen’s first season 8-6.
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