Florida International: 2018 Bahamas Bowl Champions

NASSAU, Bahamas -- FIU fumbled away the opening kickoff, gave up a touchdown 23 seconds into the game and found itself trailing by double digits by the end of the first quarter.

They needed a comeback.

And Anthony Jones might know more about comebacks than anyone on the FIU roster.

Jones -- one of two FIU players who were victims of a drive-by shooting in September -- rushed for three touchdowns, including the clincher with 41 seconds remaining as the Panthers topped Toledo 35-32 on Friday in the Bahamas Bowl. Jones tied a school record with the three scores, and FIU (9-4) set a school record with its ninth win of the season.

"I'm extremely happy for my teammates, these seniors, all my coaches, the support staff at FIU, they were all behind me the whole time," Jones said. "I've been extremely blessed by the man above."

Jones and offensive lineman Mershawn Miller were shot in the city of Opa-locka, Florida -- just north of downtown Miami -- on the afternoon of Sept. 6. The alleged gunman is in custody and is facing two counts of attempted first-degree murder. Miller was hit in the arm; Jones was shot in the back and the bullet exited just under his eye. He lost about 20 pounds in the days afterward, during which he was fed by tube.

"This is a gift from God," FIU coach Butch Davis said.

Eli Peters had three touchdown passes and threw for 264 yards for Toledo (7-6), which fell in a bowl game for the third consecutive year. Jon'Vea Johnson had two of those TD grabs, and Diontae Johnson had six catches for 98 yards and a score for the Rockets.

It was FIU's second bowl victory. The other came in 2010 -- also against Toledo.

"It's been an up and down year," Toledo coach Jason Candle said. "It has had its highlights, and its moments where we weren't so good. Consistency is everything in college football. ... You have to be really consistent, really good at what you do for the long haul and there were times this year that we didn't handle that so well."

Jones scored on runs of 6, 30 and 18 yards for the Panthers. Sterling Palmer caught a touchdown pass and Maurice Alexander rushed for another score for FIU.

Christian Alexander completed 17 of 26 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown for FIU. The Panthers got a huge fourth-down conversion on a pass hauled in by Tony Gaiter IV with 2:40 remaining, the biggest play in a drive where Jones capped the win with his final TD run -- the 18-yarder that sealed the win.

FIU played without starting quarterback James Morgan, who has an arm injury. Morgan completed 65 percent of his passes for 2,727 yards and 26 touchdowns in the regular season. FIU also didn't have running back Shawndarrius Phillips, who was left home after a domestic battery charge stemming from a June case became known this month.

And yet, the Panthers had more than enough.

They got on the board when Jones got his first rushing score of the day early in the second quarter, took a 14-10 lead into the half and grabbed the lead for good on Jones' 30-yard run with 3:47 left in the third quarter.

"We just played as a team today, man," Jones said. "Our coaches did a great job preparing us for this bowl game. Hats off to Toledo, but we did a great job today. We made history today."

BIG PICTURE

Toledo: The Rockets scored with two seconds remaining in the game on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Peters to Jon'Vea Johnson, a play where the clock originally ran down to zero before some time was added. The Rockets then tried an onside kick, which FIU linebacker Sage Lewis recovered.

FIU: Jones became the sixth player to rush for three touchdowns in a game for FIU, and the first since Kedrick Rhodes did it in a loss to Louisiana in 2011.

ROCKET OFFENSE

Toledo finished the year with 525 points, the second most in school history. The Rockets scored 549 points in 2011, and this season's total was 16 better than the 509 they posted last season.

UP NEXT

Toledo: Opens next season on Aug. 31, 2019 at Kentucky.

FIU: Opens next season on Aug. 31, 2019 at Tulane.

Florida State: 2017 Independence Bowl Champions

SHREVEPORT, La. -- Freshman James Blackman was throwing the touchdown passes. Another freshman, Cam Akers, was gaining big chunks of yards on the ground.

Florida State might still be a little melancholy after a season that started with national championship hopes ended on Wednesday with an Independence Bowl win. But the performances from young players like Blackman and Akers in the 42-13 victory over Southern Mississippi are a solid hint that the Seminoles could be a powerhouse again in a hurry.

Blackman threw for 233 yards and an Independence Bowl-record four touchdowns, including three to junior receiver Auden Tate. Akers led the Seminoles with 94 yards rushing and also caught a 14-yard touchdown pass.

Blackman started the season's final 12 games after sophomore starting quarterback Deondre Francois suffered a season-ending knee injury in the opener. He's had some ups and downs since the promotion, but saved the best for last against Southern Miss.

"It's pretty impressive, he had to grow up really fast," Florida State interim coach Odell Haggins. "He had to take the diapers off and go to work."

Florida State (7-6) ended the season on a four-game winning streak and avoided its first losing season since 1976. Now new coach Willie Taggart takes over and appears to have plenty of talent on the roster to work with going forward.

Southern Miss took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter after a 63-yard touchdown drive that was aided by two 15-yard Florida State penalties, one for unsportsmanlike conduct and the other for roughing the kicker.

But the Golden Eagles couldn't keep the momentum, mainly because of their own mistakes, including four defensive offside penalties on Florida State's opening drive.

"If you can get a little momentum going, you've got a chance to get this thing into the third quarter or the fourth quarter and we'll see what happens," Southern Miss coach Jay Hopson said. "But give (Florida State) credit, they deserved to win. They made plays, but I thought we fought hard. Just a tough loss today."

Blackman matched an Independence Bowl record with three touchdown passes in the first half to help Florida State take a 23-6 lead.

The Seminoles pushed the advantage to 33-6 late in the third quarter before Southern Miss finally responded with a touchdown. By then, the game was essentially out of reach.

Southern Miss (8-5) was led by Ito Smith, who ran for 92 yards. Kwadra Griggs completed 13 of 25 passes for just 86 yards and a touchdown.

AKERS GETS 1,000

Akers finished his freshman season with 1,024 yards rushing after running for 94 yards on just 13 carries against Southern Miss. The 5-foot-11, 213-pounder broke Dalvin Cook's program record for the most yards rushing by a freshman in a season. Cook had 1,008 yards in 2014.

THE TAKEAWAY

Florida State: The Seminoles earned a good ending to an otherwise dreary season. Florida State was simply more talented than Southern Miss at just about every position and it showed.


Southern Miss: The Golden Eagles were able to grab an early lead, but couldn't keep the momentum. Southern Miss is a program that relishes its opportunities against Power Five opponents, but the talent gap was too much for the Golden Eagles to overcome on Wednesday.

UP NEXT

Florida State: The Seminoles get a fresh start with Taggart. Florida State still has a talented roster and there's ample reason to believe it could be a quick turnaround for the storied program.

Southern Miss: The Golden Eagles should be in pretty good shape next season, though they'll have to replace star running back Ito Smith and the entire starting secondary.

 

UCLA: 2015 Alamo Bowl Champions

SAN ANTONIO -- Even with a 31-6 halftime lead, UCLA coach Jim Mora knew the Bruins had a lot of work to do to finish off Kansas State in the Valero Alamo Bowl.

"We're playing the 11th-ranked team in the country, and it's not going to be easy," Mora said. "You know they're going to fight back. If they don't fight back, they don't deserve to be No. 11."

The No. 14 Bruins held on, beating the Wildcats 40-35 on Friday night.

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder bristled at the thought that TV broadcasters might say the same thing about his Wildcats that they did about Florida State in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual.

"We had a TV announcer indicate in another ballgame that a football team had quit, and that's the last thing in the world anybody wants to hear on national TV, I assure you," Snyder said. "I reminded our youngsters of it, that we weren't about to let somebody say that about us. And they didn't."

Kansas State (9-4) scored 22 of the first 25 points in the second half, cutting it to 34-28 on quarterback Jake Waters' 1-yard run with 4:54 left.

Paul Perkins countered for UCLA (10-3) with a 67-yard run with 2:20 to go.

"That hole was huge. Anybody could have run through it," said Perkins, who ran for 194 yards on 20 carries. "And on the kick, I just wanted to secure the ball and get us out of here with the win."

The Wildcats weren't finished.

Waters threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett with 1:21 left, but Perkins recovered the onside kick for UCLA and the Bruins ran out the clock.

"Our players didn't give in," Snyder said. "Fought back. It wasn't enough."

Mora and Snyder had an awkward exchange on the field after the game. Apparently upset that Kansas State took a timeout and hit Bruins quarterback Brett Hundley as he kneeled to down the ball on the final play, Mora quickly turned away from Snyder after barely shaking hands, then went back and got into an animated chat.

It has been a week of big comebacks at bowl games. Michigan State trailed Baylor by 20 in the fourth quarter at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and won 42-41. Earlier Friday, Houston scored 29 points in the fourth quarter to beat Pittsburgh 35-34 in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl.

Waters was 31-of-48 for 338 yards but was sacked seven times -- twice by Butkus Award winnerEric Kendricks -- and threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.

Lockett had 13 catches for 164 yards for Kansas State.

Hundley ran for 96 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries, and passed for 136 yards. Mora has said Hundley is forgoing his senior season to enter the NFL draft.

UCLA raced to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter, with Hundley scoring on runs of 10 and 28 yards. The Bruins outgained Kansas State 218-4 and had a 9-1 edge in first downs in the quarter.

In the second quarter, Perkins had a 32-yard touchdown run and Hundley threw a 7-yard scoring pass to Devin Lucien. The Bruins sacked Waters five times in the half.

"By my count, we left 28 points on the field in the first half," Snyder said. "That's our fault."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.