Buffalo: 2019 Bahamas Bowl Champions

The Buffalo Bulls picked up their first bowl win in program history Friday with a 31-9 victory over the Charlotte 49ers in the 2019 Bahamas Bowl, the first game of college football's 2019-20 bowl season.

Buffalo fell short in its first three postseason appearances, including a 42-32 loss to the Troy Trojans in last year's Dollar General Bowl. UB bounced back from a 2-4 start this season by winning five of its last six regular-season games, and it capped the turnaround by beating the Niners.

Charlotte was playing in the program's first bowl game. Like the Bulls, the 49ers opened the campaign in lackluster form en route to a 2-5 record, but they stormed back to win five straight games to become bowl eligible. It's the team's first winning season since joining the FBS level in 2015.

             

Notable Game Stats

QB Kyle Vantrease (UB): 8-of-17 passing, 77 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; rushing TD

QB Chris Reynolds (UNCC): 15-of-24 passing, 203 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT

RB Jaret Patterson (UB): 173 rushing yards, 2 TD

RB Benny LeMay (UNCC): 45 rushing yards

WR Antonio Nunn (UB): 53 receiving yards, 1 TD

WR Victor Tucker (UNCC): 61 receiving yards, 1 TD

DL Malcolm Koonce (UB): 5 tackles, 2 sacks

LB James Patterson (UB): 3 tackles, 1 INT

DB Marquavis Gibbs (UNCC): 9 tackles, 1 INT

         

Lance Leipold Could Generate Interest From Power 5 Schools

Leipold, who became the Bulls' head coach in 2015, may not be a household name, but those within the college football community are keenly aware of his accomplishments.

ESPN ranked him as the 78th-best coach in the 150-year history of college football last week, in large part because of his success at the Division III level. He led the Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks, his alma mater, to a 109-6 record and six national championships in eight years beginning in 2007.

"I'm very humbled and flattered to be mentioned in that company," Leipold said of the ranking. "It is truly the work of the student-athletes, assistant coaches and staff members that I have been blessed to work with that makes something like this occur."

It took the 55-year-old former quarterback a couple of years to right the ship in Buffalo. The Bulls posted a 7-17 record over his first two seasons in charge.

Since then, UB has gone 24-15 with a pair of bowl appearances and now a postseason win. Last year marked the first 10-win season in program history.

The fact Buffalo managed to remain competitive in 2019 despite a long list of departures, led by quarterback Tyree Jackson, wide receiver Anthony Johnson and linebacker Khalil Hodge, is a testament to the foundation Leipold has built in Western New York.

Athletic directors around the country are surely taking notice too. As soon as the coaching carousel starts spinning again following bowl season, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Leipold's name pop up in the rumor mill in connection to some Power 5 jobs.

His championship pedigree from Wisconsin-Whitewater and his recent success at Buffalo suggests he'd be a strong choice to help rebuild a high-profile program.

               

Charlotte Program Moving in Right Direction Despite Loss

Building a football program from scratch is an uphill battle. That's the challenge Charlotte has faced since 2013, when it joined the FCS ranks before getting elevated to FBS two years later as part of Conference USA.

Since the 49ers don't have the history or tradition associated with most teams around the country, they've had to get creative in order to attract recruits and become competitive.

First-year head coach Will Healy and director of football relations Carter Crutchfield worked to create Club Lit—a dance floor inside the locker room to reward wins.

"That was one of the goals when we got here, is it's all about branding," Crutchfield told ESPN's David M. Hale. "People only know what you tell them. You're in the city of Charlotte, we have so much to sell, but we had to find an identity. Club Lit really turned into a viral thing."

It's unique, and it's the type of gimmick that can help swing the decision of an undecided recruit in their favor. That's crucial when you can't point to a truckload of trophies in a case outside the locker room.

The sample size is small, but Healy guided the Niners to a seven-win season after they posted no better than a 5-6 mark over its first six years and they're just two years removed from a 1-11 campaign.

Charlotte will lose a couple of key seniors in LeMay, its leading rusher, and defensive end Alex Highsmith, who entered bowl season tied for second in the country with 14 sacks.

That said, there's a lot of talent set to return for 2020, including quarterback Chris Reynolds, his top two targets in Victor Tucker and Cameron Dollar and linebacker Markees Watts.

It sets the stage for the 49ers to take another step forward next year.

           

What's Next?

Buffalo is set to open the 2020 campaign with a road trip to face the Big 12's Kansas State Wildcats at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Sept. 5.

Charlotte will also begin next season Sept. 5 by visiting the SEC's Tennessee Volunteers at Neyland Stadium.

Michigan State: 2018-19 Big Ten Men's Basketball Champions

CHICAGO -- Michigan State coach Tom Izzo had one simple question for his team. He got the answer he wanted, and the sixth-ranked Spartans picked up their sixth Big Ten Tournament championship.

Now, they'll try to bring home the biggest prize of all.

Matt McQuaid scored a career-high 27 points, Cassius Winston converted the go-ahead layup in the closing minute, and the Spartans rallied to beat No. 10 Michigan 65-60 in the Big Ten final on Sunday.

Top-seeded Michigan State (28-6) scored the game's final 10 points to capture its first championship since 2016. No other program has won the conference tournament as many times as Michigan State, and this one was particularly sweet.

After all, the Spartans prevented a championship three-peat by Michigan (28-6) and beat their rivals for the third time this season.

"I asked them all today, `What do you want to do?" Izzo said. "Pregame meal, `What do you want to do? You want to play for the (NCAA) Tournament or you want to play the game?' That sounds like a stupid question, but if you knew where my guys were at as far as physically, it was a good question to ask. Once they said `We want to play the game,' I said, `You just gave me a license for 40 minutes of hell, so you better get going because I'm not letting up."

"They responded and I think they enjoyed it," he continued. "So did I."

McQuaid nailed a personal-best seven 3-pointers. Winston, the Big Ten Player of the Year, had 14 points and 11 assists as Michigan State won for the 10th time in 11 games.

"It's always big," McQuaid said. "Michigan's a really good team. Beating them three times ... it's hard to do."

Both teams were awarded No. 2 seeds in the NCAA Tournament and will play Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa. Michigan State faces Bradley in the East Region, while Michigan goes against Montana in the West. The Wolverines beat Montana last year on the way to the national championship game.

Ignas Brazdeikas led Michigan with 19 points. Jordan Poole scored 13. Jon Teske had 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Zavier Simpson added 10 assists.

But the third-seeded Wolverines fell again to Michigan State after blowing their chance to win the league by losing to their rivals twice in the final four regular-season games.

"You lose three times in a season to your rival, it's gonna hurt" Isaiah Livers said. "But we'll use it as motivation for the NCAA Tournament. I'm glad we don't have a week or two weeks to sit there and think about that last game. We can get right back to playing."

Michigan led by 13 early in the second half, but Michigan State went on a 13-4 run to tie it at 48 with just over seven minutes remaining.

The Wolverines were up 60-55 after Livers hit a 3 with 2:29 left, but they didn't score again. McQuaid answered with one of his own to start the game-ending run and Xavier Tillman made a tying layup for Michigan State.

After Simpson missed a 3 for Michigan, Winston drove to his left for a layup -- which Teske thought he blocked -- to put the Spartans on top 62-60 with 28 seconds left.

Brazdeikas then missed a pull-up jumper that got tipped by Aaron Henry with 14 seconds to play. Teske and Tillman went up for the rebound, the ball got knocked out of bounds and the referees gave possession to Michigan State after a review as Michigan coach John Beilein screamed on the sideline.

Henry made a free throw and missed the second, making it a three-point game. Poole then appeared to get bumped by Winston -- Michigan State had a foul to give -- just before he launched a long 3 off the dribble, but there was no call.

The Spartans' Kenny Goins hit two free throws to make it 65-60 with two seconds left.

AHRENS INJURED

Michigan State forward Kyle Ahrens was relieved X-rays showed his left ankle wasn't broken after he was taken from the court on a stretcher in the first half, though the extent of the injury was not clear.

He expects to have an MRI once the softball-sized swelling goes down.

Ahrens landed awkwardly when he collided in midair with Goins going for a defensive rebound with 4:34 left in the first half.

He clutched his lower left leg as he screamed in pain. Medical personnel placed an air cast on his leg and teammates gave him hugs before he was wheeled away, pounding his chest as he was taken to the back. He returned to the sideline on crutches in the second half.

BIG PICTURE

Michigan: The Wolverines have their sights set on another big NCAA run after losing to Villanova in the championship game last year.

Michigan State: The Spartans head to the tournament with high hopes, though their rotation figures to be a little thinner after Ahrens went down.

UP NEXT

Michigan: NCAA Tournament.

Michigan State: NCAA Tournament.

Tulane: 2018 Cure Bowl Champions

ORLANDO, Fla. -- From a 2-5 start to Cure Bowl champions.

Tulane (7-6) capped a turnaround season under coach Willie Fritz with a 41-24 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday, the Green Wave's first postseason win in 16 years.

Darius Bradwell rushed for a career-best 150 yards and two touchdowns and graduate transfer Justin McMillan improved to 5-1 as the team's starting quarterback by tossing a first-quarter TD pass to Terren Encalade and running for a late score in the 29th meeting in an intrastate rivalry that dates to 1911.

"Every game this season was kind of fourth-and-inches. Every one was tough," Fritz, completing his third year at the American Athletic Conference school, said. "Starting 2-5 and to come back and win this game is very special."

Bradwell scored on runs of 15 and 4 yards while setting bowl records for rushing attempts (35) and yards for Tulane (7-6), which won a bowl game for the first time since the 2002 Hawaii Bowl.

"We kept feeding him and he did a nice job getting vertical," Fritz said. "He's a hard guy to arm tackle at about 235 pounds."

The Green Wave also got a rushing TD from Amare Jones and outgained the Ragin' Cajuns 337 yards to 84 on the ground to improve to 23-6 all-time against the Rajun' Cajuns.

Lousiana-Lafayette coach Bill Napier said he didn't want the result to leave a "blackeye" on what the Sun Belt Conference runner-up accomplished in its first season under him.

"When our football team doesn't perform as well as we can it's 100 percent my responsibility," Napier said. "We're going to have the integrity to look in the mirror and adjust the things and fix the things we need to do."

The Ragin' Cajuns (7-7), coming off a loss to Appalachian State in the Sun Belt championship game, rallied from a 24-7 deficit to pull within three points on Jarrod Jackson's 15-yard TD reception with just over 10 minutes remaining.

McMillan put the game away, leading a 75-yard drive Bradwell finished with his second TD and later scoring himself on a 16-yard run that put Tulane up 41-24.

Andre Nunez completed 8 of 17 passes for 136 yards and one TD, however Louisiana-Lafayette's productive running tandem of Trey Ragas and Elijah Mitchell were not a factor after falling behind early.

"Very inefficient, in particular after the opening drive," which resulted in the Ragin' Cajuns taking a 7-0 lead on Raymond Calais' 38-yard touchdown run," Napier said.

"Today's outcome was a direct reflection who blocked better, who tackled better, who caught the ball better," Napier added. "There's nothing secret about what happened out there today."

Tulane won four of five down the stretch in the regular season to not only qualify for its first bowl berth in five years, but also finish with a winning record (5-3 AAC West Division) in league play for the first time since 2014.

McMillan was one of the keys, providing consistent quarterback play while throwing for more than 1,100 yards and accounting for 13 touchdowns -- nine passing and four rushing.

The graduate transfer from LSU, where he appeared on only two games from 2015-17, was 11 of 18 passing with one interception Saturday. He finished with 217 yards total offense -- 145 passing and 72 rushing.

THE TAKEAWAY

Louisiana-Lafayette: Ragas rushed for nearly 1,200 yards and Mitchell fell just shy of 1,000 this season, however neither was a factor after the Ragin' Cajuns fell behind by double-digits. Ragas was limited to 40 yards on 10 carries, and Mitchell had 26 yards on six attempts and scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter.

"You can't start slow in a big game like this and expect to overcome things like that," tight end Matt Barnes said. "We showed some fight and had opportunities to win the game."

Tulane: The Green Wave rushed for 483 yards and finished with a Cure Bowl-record and season-best 28 first downs. Bradwell topped 100 yards for the third time, finishing the season with 1,134 yards and 11 rushing TDs.

UP NEXT

Louisiana-Lafayette: Nunez is a senior, however Ragas, Mitchell and Calas are all underclassmen for the Ragin' Cajuns, who moving forward have a solid foundation to build on Napier, who inherited a team that went 5-7 last season.

Tulane: McMillan has a year of eligibility remaining, as do Bradwell and Corey Dauphine, who combined for 1,928 yards and 18 TDs rushing. The Green Wave have never made bowl appearances in consecutive seasons, but will enter 2019 with heightened expectations after their strong finish.