As Hurricanes navigate CFP, echoes from past tend to inspire
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Miami defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr. doesn’t say much. He just plays. That’s part of the reason Bain giving a short, impromptu and unexpected halftime speech to teammates during of Miami’s win over Ohio State in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Cotton Bowl last...
Wake Forest QB torches Mississippi State in eventful Duke’s Mayo Bowl
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Robby Ashford threw for 303 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 50 yards and two scores, Koredell Bartley scored on a 100-yard kickoff return, and Wake Forest beat Mississippi State, 43-29, in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Friday night, earning coach Jake Dickert a mayonnaise bath....
SMU fends off Arizona comeback to win Holiday Bowl
SAN DIEGO — Kevin Jennings threw for 278 yards, highlighted by an 80-yard completion on a razzle-dazzle play on the second play from scrimmage, and SMU beat No. 21 Arizona, 24-19, in the Holiday Bowl on Friday night. Jennings completed 21-of-32 passes and set up two touchdown runs by T.J....
Ole Miss breakthrough QB Trinidad Chambliss ready for Miami
NEW ORLEANS — Mississippi’s scintillating breakthrough quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and his Rebels teammates have been saying for weeks that they have the chemistry, talent and confidence to carry on in the College Football Playoff without former coach Lane Kiffin. Unlikely as that may have sounded after Kiffin left for rival...
Brad Jackson throws 3 TDs for Texas State in Armed Forces Bowl
FORT WORTH, Texas — Quarterback Brad Jackson threw for 173 yards and three touchdowns, plus ran in another score on the ground for Texas State in a 41-10 win over Rice in the Armed Forces Bowl on Friday. Lincoln Pare rushed for 106 yards on 11 carries for one touchdown...
Blake Horvath leads No. 22 Navy to 35-13 victory over short-handed Cincinnati in Liberty Bowl
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Blake Horvath threw a pair of touchdown passes and rushed for a score to lead No. 22 Navy to its 11th victory of the season, 35-13 over short-handed Cincinnati in the Liberty Bowl on Friday. Horvath scored on a 2-yard run and had scoring passes of 30...
ACC’s improved nonconference showing could help its case for more March Madness bids
DURHAM, N.C. — It wasn’t long after sixth-ranked Duke finally fought off a pesky Georgia Tech team that coach Jon Scheyer pointed to the lesson emerging from the Blue Devils’ ACC opener. “I think for our guys … they’re learning very quickly that from this point forward, you’ve got to...
Kotelnicki returns to Kansas as associate head coach after stint as Penn State offensive coordinator
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Andy Kotelnicki will return to Kansas as associate head coach after not being retained as offensive coordinator at Penn State, Jayhawks coach Lance Leipold announced Friday. Kotelnicki and Leipold have worked together a combined 11 years at Kansas, Buffalo and Division III UW-Whitewater. Kotelnicki was Kansas’ offensive...
Oregon-Indiana headed for a rematch, Ole Miss to play Miami as college football’s final four is set
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — When Indiana met Oregon in October, the game served as the best test yet of whether the Hoosiers were a one-year wonder or a program that was here to stay. They met that challenge with a double-digit win that snapped Oregon’s 18-game home winning streak. Next...
Trinidad Chamblis lifts Mississippi past Georgia in wild Sugar Bowl, into CFP semifinals
NEW ORLEANS — Trinidad Chambliss passed for 362 yards and two touchdowns, and Lucas Carneiro kicked his third field goal of the game with 6 seconds left to put No. 6 Mississippi in front for good in a 39-34 victory over third-ranked Georgia in a College Football Playoff in the...
Alabama can’t stage another CFP comeback in Rose Bowl rout
PASADENA, Calif. — Alabama rallied from a 17-point deficit once in the College Football Playoff, but there would not be a repeat performance against No. 1 Indiana in a quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl on Thursday. The Crimson Tide (11-4; No. 11 AP, No. 9 CFP) tried everything possible to...
Top-seeded Indiana routs Alabama for 1st Rose Bowl victory, roars into CFP semifinals
PASADENA, Calif. — Fernando Mendoza literally jumped for joy when the Heisman Trophy winner learned he was not the offensive MVP of Indiana’s dominant victory over Alabama in the Rose Bowl. The quarterback and his teammates ran across the celebration stage to mob 311-pound center Pat Coogan, who was visibly...
Big 12 commish says ‘everything is on the table’ when it comes to playoff reboot
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — While fans trickled into the Orange Bowl stadium for a quarterfinal where tickets were going for as little as $39, the commissioner of the Big 12 said “everything is on the table” when it comes to rebooting the College Football Playoff, including potentially moving more games...
Texas 2-step in CFP has Miami within a win of playing for national title at home
ARLINGTON, Texas — When Miami left Texas after an overtime loss to SMU at the start of November, the Hurricanes were at their lowest point of the season. There was a very dim forecast for getting into the College Football Playoff. By New Year’s Day, after a Texas two-step in...
Oregon advances to semifinals, where it looks for offense and defense to click on same day
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The first thing Oregon quarterback Dante Moore did after winning the Orange Bowl was salute the thousands of fans who made the cross-country trip to South Florida. If the Ducks’ defense keeps playing like this, those fans might be back in Miami before long. Matayo Uiagalelei...
Miami beats defending national champ Ohio State in CFP quarterfinal at Cotton Bowl
ARLINGTON, Texas — Keionte Scott returned an interception 72 yards for a touchdown, Carson Beck threw a scoring pass and No. 10 Miami shocked defending champion Ohio State 24-14 on Wednesday night at the Cotton Bowl in the first College Football Playoff quarterfinal. The Hurricanes (12-2, CFP No. 10 seed)...
Devon Dampier leads No. 15 Utah past Nebraska in Las Vegas Bowl
LAS VEGAS — Devon Dampier threw for 310 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 148 yards and three scores, and No. 15 Utah won the Las Vegas Bowl in Morgan Scalley’s first game as coach, beating Nebraska 44-22 on Wednesday in the Las Vegas Bowl. Scalley was expected to...
Arch Manning uses arm and legs to lead No. 14 Texas to Citrus Bowl win over No. 18 Michigan
ORLANDO, Fla. — Arch Manning made big plays with his arm and his legs Wednesday in the Citrus Bowl, throwing two touchdown passes and putting it away with a 60-yard scoring run in a 41-27 victory that ended a rough month for No. 14 Michigan. Manning was an easy choice...
Iowa holds off Vanderbilt’s comeback bid for victory in the ReliaQuest Bowl
TAMPA, Fla. — Mark Gronowski threw two touchdowns and rushed for another to lead Iowa to a 34-27 win over No. 13 Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Wednesday. Gronowski was 16 of 22 passing for 212 yards, throwing touchdowns passes of 10 and 21 yards to Reece Vander Zee...
Ken Seals, Jeremy Payne rally TCU past No. 16 USC for overtime victory in Alamo Bowl
SAN ANTONIO — Ken Seals had to bide time on the bench until his final college game to make his first start for his beloved TCU Horned Frogs, but it was truly worth the wait. Seals directed two scoring drives in the final five minutes of regulation and threw the...
Illinois beats Tennessee in the Music City Bowl to keep Big Ten undefeated this bowl season
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — David Olano kicked a 29-yard field goal as time expired, and Illinois beat Tennessee, 30-28, on Tuesday night in the Music City Bowl. Illinois (9-4) posted the first back-to-back nine-win seasons in program history along with winning the first game between these programs. Olano’s winning kick was...
No. 3 Georgia eager to make better Sugar Bowl memories; No. 6 Ole Miss eyes payback
NEW ORLEANS — For the Georgia Bulldogs and coach Kirby Smart, last year’s Sugar Bowl brought a heavy dose of sadness that had more to do with life — and the loss of it — than football. As fate would have it, the third-ranked Bulldogs (12-1, No. 3 seed CFP)...
Role reversals: Alabama returns to the Rose Bowl as a CFP underdog to face powerhouse Indiana
LOS ANGELES — Nick Saban coached his final game for Alabama just two years ago in the Rose Bowl. Although the sport didn’t know it at the time, an era ended for the 21st century’s most dominant program to date when Jalen Milroe got stopped on fourth down in overtime...
Louisiana Tech rallies to beat Coastal Carolina 23-14 in Independence Bowl
SHREVEPORT, La. — Trey Kukuk followed his fourth-quarter touchdown pass with a big run to set up Andrew Burnette’s go-ahead plunge in a 17-point fourth quarter, and Louisiana Tech rallied to beat Coastal Carolina, 23-14, on Tuesday to win the Independence Bowl. Louisiana Tech (8-5) trailed 14-6 heading to the...
Mirror images Texas Tech, Oregon set to face off in Orange Bowl in CFP quarterfinals
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The formula for getting to this season’s Orange Bowl apparently went like this: Score a ton of points, allow very few points, have a big play on basically every possession, excel on third downs offensively, be stingy on third downs defensively. That was Texas Tech’s path....
