Texas defeats Oregon State in Alamo Bowl
SAN ANTONIO David Ash threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, the last a 36-yard strike to Marquise Goodwin with 2:24 left, to give Texas a 31-27 comeback victory over No. 15 Oregon State in the Alamo Bowl on Saturday night.
The Longhorns (9-4) never led before Goodwin scored his second touchdown on a deep post pattern, just a down after Texas converted a fourth-and-1 play to keep its chances alive.
Storm Woods ran for 118 yards and scored two touchdowns for Oregon State (9-4). The Beavers left stunned after looking as though they would wrap up their first 10-win season since 2006.
The victory was a dose of much-needed good news for Texas after coming into the game under a cloud of questions following the suspensions of backup quarterback Chase McCoy and injured linebacker Jordan Hicks.
Brown announced the suspensions Friday but wouldn't reveal which players were sent home. A person with knowledge of the suspensions told The Associated Press the players were McCoy and Hicks, speaking on condition of anonymity because Texas wasn't releasing the names.
Brown addressed the suspensions during a previously schedule news conference and referred to a local TV report that police were investigating two unidentified Texas players in an alleged sexual assault at a San Antonio hotel. Police released a heavily redacted incident report that only identifies the suspects as two students, one 20 and the other 21. Authorities are still investigating and no charges have been filed.
Oregon State quarterback Cody Vaz was 15 of 28 for 194 yards.
PINSTRIPE BOWL
SYRACUSE 38, WEST VIRGINIA 14
NEW YORK - Prince-Tyson Gulley ran for a career-best 208 yards and had three touchdowns, Syracuse scored twice on safeties and the Orange bid a snow-covered farewell to the Big East with a victory over West Virginia in the Pinstripe Bowl.
Syracuse (8-5) will enter the Atlantic Coast Conference on a roll after finishing this season with six wins in its last seven games, capped by its second postseason victory at Yankee Stadium in the last three years.
In a bowl game played in a baseball stadium with weather better suited for a playoff game in Green Bay, the team that plays in a dome ended up being better equipped to handle the elements.
The Orange leaned on their running game to plow through former Big East rival West Virginia (7-6) and the snow. Jerome Smith added 157 yards rushing, and Syracuse finished with a season-high 369 yards.
Geno Smith connected with Stedman Bailey for two touchdown passes, but the Mountaineers' quarterback also was sacked in the end zone in the first half and called for intentional grounding in the end zone in the second half as he tried to avoid another sack.
Smith, who was an early Heisman Trophy front-runner as the Mountaineers got off to a 5-0 start this season, was 16 for 26 for 197 yards in the final game of his record-breaking career.
Syracuse's Ryan Nassib threw two touchdown passes and an interception.
FIGHT HUNGER BOWL
ARIZONA STATE 62, NAVY 28
SAN FRANCISCO - Taylor Kelly threw four touchdown passes and ran for a fifth score to help Arizona State rout Navy in the Fight Hunger Bowl for the Sun Devils' first bowl win in seven years.
Offensive MVP Marion Grice ran for 159 yards and two touchdowns for the Sun Devils (8-5), who used their fast-paced spread offense to score touchdowns on their first nine possessions.
That helped provided a bright end to a successful first season at Arizona State for coach Todd Graham, who helped the Sun Devils win their most games since 2007 and win a bowl for the first time since the 2005 Insight Bowl against Rutgers. The Sun Devils also capped their season by beating rival Arizona and winning a bowl, a feat they had accomplished just once in the past 33 seasons.
The Midshipmen (8-5) have lost five of their last six bowl games. Among the few highlights for Navy were Keenan Reynolds' 3-yard TD pass to Matt Aiken in the first half and a 95-yard kickoff return for a score by Gee Gee Greene in the third quarter.
ARMED FORCES BOWL
RICE 33, AIR FORCE 14
FORT WORTH, Texas - Freshman Driphus Jackson threw for 264 yards in relief injured starter Taylor McHargue, including two touchdown passes to Jordan Taylor, and Rice beat Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Jackson's first series after taking over for McHargue ended with a bad pitch for a fumble near the goal line only 2 seconds before halftime, when the Owls (7-6) trailed 14-7.
But Jackson made up for it after halftime, when Rice scored 26 straight points. Taylor caught nine passes for 153 yards, with a 16-yard TD pass from McHargue in the first quarter. McHargue left because of an apparent head injury after a helmet-to-helmet collision with about 5 minutes left in the first half.
Air Force (6-7), which scored on consecutive drives in the second quarter with backup quarterback Kale Pearson in the game, was held to a season-low 214 total yards.