Wyoming: 2023 Arizona Bowl Champions

 

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — John Hoyland kicked a 24-yard field goal as time expired and Wyoming sent coach Craig Bohl into retirement a winner with a 16-15 win over Toledo in the Arizona Bowl on Saturday.

Bohl is retiring after 42 years of coaching — the last 10 in Laramie — and defensive coordinator Jay Sawvel will take over next season.

Toledo (11-3) shut down Wyoming's offense most of the afternoon before the Cowboys started to find an offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter.

Playing in a third straight bowl game for the first time, the Cowboys (9-4) trailed 15-6 after giving up a safety and a field goal in the third quarter.

Evan Svoboda scored on a 1-yard touchdown sneak after Andrew Peasley was injured in the fourth quarter to pull Wyoming within two.

Peasley returned to throw a 26-yard pass after the Cowboys forced a punt, but went down again without being hit. Svoboda then moved the Cowboys quickly down the field — with the help of an unnecessary roughness penalty on Ronald Delancy III — and Hoyland split the uprights to finish off Wyoming's best season since going 10-2 in 1996.

Both teams were able to move the ball in the first half. Neither was able to reach the end zone until Jacquez Stuart raced through a big hole and dodged a tackle along the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown that put the Rockets up 10-6.

Before that, Hoyland kicked two field goals, including a 52-yarder that hit the crossbar and trundled over. Toledo's Luke Pawlak also hit one from 33 yards out.

THE TAKEAWAYS

Toledo: The Rockets appeared to be in control before unraveling in the fourth quarter to lose for the second time during a three-year bowl streak.

Wyoming: The Cowboys nearly fell flat in their return trip to Tucson after losing 30-27 in overtime to Ohio last year. Wyoming pulled it out by using three quarterbacks in the fourth quarter.

UP NEXT

Toledo: The Rockets lost two of their best players when RB Peny Boone and QB Dequan Finn opted to transfer. QB Tucker Gleason is a sophomore and most of his receivers still have eligibility left.

Wyoming: RB Harrison Waylee is a junior, so he could return, but Peasley is out of eligibility. Most of the Cowboys' defense should be back.

Georgia: 2023 Orange Bowl Champions

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Georgia football dropped a boulder on the remnants of Florida State’s team in Hard Rock Stadium Saturday.

The Seminoles did not at all resemble the bunch that went 13-0 and were left out of the College Football Playoff. Its roster was decimated by players that pulled out of playing after being crushed to not be able to play for a national title.

Georgia took advantage in a 63-3 shellacking of the No. 5 Seminoles in the Orange Bowl.

Coming off an SEC championship game loss to Alabama that knocked it out of the playoff, the Bulldogs rolled to a 42-3 halftime lead behind 383 yards of total offense and finished the season 13-1.

Here are three things we learned about the Bulldogs after its second win in this bowl game in the last three seasons:

Georgia footballs shows no mercy in the Orange Bowl

Georgia’s offense played without two projected NFL first-round draft picks in tight end Brock Bowers and offensive tackle Amarius Mims.

The Bulldogs still had way too much firepower for a Florida State missing eight defensive starters to opt outs and injuries. That included three new names that came to light on gameday: defensive linemen Joshua Farmer and Braden Fiske and linebacker Tatum Bethune. The Seminoles had 14 starters out in all.

Georgia set a program record for most points in half in a bowl game with 42 and the 39-point first halftime lead was its largest ever in a bowl.

Kendall Milton rushed for 104 yards and two touchdowns on 9 carries, all in a first half as Georgia rolled up 180 rushing yards on 16 carries. Milton went left then cut back and went right and into the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown run and later added a 5-yard score. Daijun Edwards 15-yard  touchdown run made it 21-7.

Georgia scored touchdowns on nine straight possessions after turning it over on downs on the first time it had the ball. That includes with Gunner Stockton at quarterback for the last three of those.

Carson Beck was 13 of 19 for 203 yards and touchdowns of 12 yards to Arian Smith on a screen and 2 to Dominic Lovett. Beck was lifted at halftime.

Dillon Bell laid out to make a diving catch for 35 yards and then made another spectacular catch for 40 yards later in the half.

Georgia football defense clamps down on Seminoles

Jordan Travis, Florida State’s star quarterback who was lost for the season and missed the final two games before the Orange Bowl, went to the locker room using crutches and in a walking boot with the Seminoles managing just a field goal in the first half.

Brock Glenn, the true freshman third stringer, was 7 of 22 for 122 yards and an interception. He got the start when backup Tate Rodemaker opted out before Christmas.

Georgia was missing starting inside linebacker Smael Mondon who was held out due to nagging injuries.

Cornerback Daniel Harris, who posted on social media he was going in transfer portal but hasn’t, got in the game on the second defensive series.

He was in coverage on a well-placed deep ball to Kentron Poitier for a 55-yard gain early in the second quarter. That was two yards shy of the longest pass play given up by Georgia this season.

Mykel Willaims and CJ Allen combined for a 1-yard loss on a Glenn run and the Seminoles settled for a short field goal.

Allen, a freshman linebacker, had a team-high 6 tackles. Williams forced a fumble and recovered late in the second quarter.

Playmaker Ladd McConkey scores on 'touchdown run'

Running back Kenny McIntosh threw a touchdown pass in the 2021 Orange Bowl and Ladd McConkey looked like he would throw on a throw behind the line of scrimmage.

Instead the wide receiver weaved his way from in front of the Florida State sideline all the way on the other side down the Georgia sideline for what went as a  27-yard touchdown run. He broke a tackle at the 20-yard line.

McConkey put his arms across his chest and broke out a big smile in the end zone.

Coach Kirby Smart was smiling broadly on the sideline as well.

It was the fourth rushing touchdown of McConkey’s career.

The redshirt junior had two touches in the game. His other was a 22-yard catch.

Maryland: 2023 Music City Bowl Champions

 NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Auburn football came into the Music City Bowl with momentum.

The Tigers are a little more than a week removed from signing 18 scholarship recruits in the Class of 2024, a haul that currently ranks No. 7 in the country and is good for a team score from 247Sports of 282.19, the second-best mark in program history in the modern recruiting era.

But that off-field energy didn't translate to on-field production, as the Tigers fell behind early against Maryland (8-5) in Nissan Stadium on Saturday and could never recover from the 21-point hole they put themselves in, losing 31-13, to end coach Hugh Freeze's first year on the Plains with three straight losses.

Auburn (6-7) has finished with a record under .500 for three consecutive seasons, which is the first time that's happened since it went a combined 11-20-2 from 1975-77.

By the numbers: A horrific 1Q for Auburn football

By the end of the first frame, the Terrapins were on pace for more than 1,000 yards of offense.

Maryland totaled 226 yards in the first quarter to Auburn's 42, and coach Mike Locksley's team averaged 11.9 yards per play on 19 snaps. Quarterback Payton Thorne completed just two of his seven throws during the game's first 15 minutes, and Auburn's third-leading rusher was punter Oscar Chapman, who picked up 10 yards and a first down and a fake.

New-look secondary struggles

Much of Maryland's early flurry of production came through the air, as both of its QBs — starter Billy Edwards Jr. and reserve Cam Edge — were a combined 9-for-16 at halftime for 201 yards and two touchdowns. The Terrapins hit Auburn with six completions of fifteen or more yards in the first couple of quarters, including a 61-yard screen on the opening possession to set them up for their first score.

Edwards and Edge, playing in place of the opted-out Taulia Tagovailoa, sliced up an Auburn secondary that was severely shorthanded, as starting cornerbacks DJ James and Nehemiah Pritchett both opted out of the game. Jaylin Simpson, who Freeze said Dec. 16 was nursing a hamstring injury, didn't play, either.

Rivaldo Fairweather caps impressive season

Tight end Rivaldo Fairweather finished with five catches for 45 yards, giving him a season total of 48 catches and 394 yards. The former is a new single-season record for an Auburn TE, and the latter places him 19 yards short of John Samuel Shenker's record (413).

Ole Miss: 2023 Peach Bowl Champions

The Ole Miss Rebels are Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl champions, and they have secured 11 wins in a single season for the first time in school history after taking down the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday.

During the trophy presentation after the game, it would be easy to reflect on a historic season and breathe a sigh of relief following an emotional game. That happened, sure, but Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has other things in mind, and he made sure to let those in attendance at Mercedes-Benz Stadium know it.

"This is pretty cool, and we're just getting started," Kiffin said. "This was a big-time game on a big-time stage against a great opponent and great program. It took everybody today. I thought our players played amazing. Our coaches did a great job, and, by far, our fans showed up today."

With so much talent off of this year's roster returning for 2024 (and adding one of the top transfer portal classes in the country), it's hard not to be optimistic about the future in Oxford. This season was wildly successful for the Rebels, but if anything, it should serve as a springboard into next year.

While the Southeastern Conference is expanding to 16 teams in 2024 with the addition of the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners, the College Football Playoff is also set to expand to 12 teams, a field that would have included Ole Miss this year, had this format already been in place.

Kiffin and his staff called a masterful game on Saturday, and they knew they had to pull out some stops to take down a stout Penn State team led by a formidable defense. The head coach, however, didn't take the credit. Instead, he gave it to his assistants and players.

"That's not me," Kiffin said. "That's our coaching staff putting together a great game plan, making some clutch calls, but it always comes down to the players. We trust our players. We're very aggressive how we call games in all areas, and our players showed up today, and our players made the plays.

"To do something that's never been done before, to get to 11 wins in such a great program with so many great players who have come before us and played here, for this group to come together for one common theme of being great, I'm just honored and blessed to coach these guys."

This year marked history for Ole Miss, but if Lane Kiffin has anything to say about it, the history will continue in 2024 and beyond, and this Peach Bowl win could be the catalyst that starts it all.