Brigham Young: 2016 Poinsettia Bowl Champions

SAN DIEGO -- Jamaal Williams and the BYU Cougars are a good fit in San Diego bowl games.

Once a staple of the Holiday Bowl, the Cougars won their second Poinsettia Bowl on a rainy Wednesday night thanks mostly to Williams.

The senior gained 210 yards on 26 carries and scored once, and Tanner Mangum ran for a touchdown and threw for another to lead BYU to a 24-21 victory over Wyoming.

It was the sixth 100-yard game for Williams this year and the second time he gained more than 200. He ran for a career-best 286 against Toledo.

With BYU (9-4) leading 17-7, Williams gave the Cougars some breathing room when he broke a 36-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter. That TD was set up by Dayan Lake's interception of Josh Allen. The interception came one play after BYU's Micah Hannemann was ejected for targeting after a helmet-to-helmet hit on the sliding Allen.

Williams is BYU's career leader with 3,901 yards rushing. He also scored a touchdown in the Cougars' 23-6 Poinsettia Bowl victory against San Diego State in 2012.

"It felt like almost the same because I scored in both of them," Williams said. "It just brings back a whole bunch of memories, and in the same end zone, too. It just brought back a whole bunch of memories of my freshman year, but I was still in the game."

He praised his blockers, particularly wide receiver Jonah Trinnaman, for springing him on his scoring run.

"Honestly it was just great offensive line blocking and the tight ends and Jonah. Jonah is the man," Williams said. "That man had the best block in the world. I wanted to celebrate right there before I even scored."

Williams fell short of the Poinsettia Bowl record of 228 yards by San Diego State's Ronnie Hillman in 2010.

Wyoming, which lost to San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference championship game Dec. 3, finished 8-6.

"It was a play or two here or there," coach Craig Bohl said. "To go from two wins last year to where we are now, it's been a change of culture."

Brian Hill, who ran for 1,767 yards this season, didn't play the first quarter.

"That was my decision and that is all I'm going to say," Bohl said.

Hill scored on a 4-yard run in the third quarter and finished with 93 yards on 26 carries.

Allen brought the Cowboys back with touchdown passes of 9 and 23 yards to Tanner Gentry in the span of 3 1/2 minutes late in the game. The 23-yard scoring pass came with 2:11 left and pulled the Cowboys to 24-21.

Wyoming got the ball back one final time, but Allen tried a pass across his body into double coverage and it was intercepted by Kai Nacua, his sixth pickoff of the season.

This was the renewal of a rivalry that began in 1922 and ended when the Cougars left the Mountain West after the 2010 season.

Mangum ran for a 3-yard score late in the first quarter and then threw a crazy 5-yard touchdown pass that bounced off two Wyoming defenders before Tanner Balderree grabbed it to give BYU a 17-7 lead.

Mangum started in place of Taysom Hill, who strained his left elbow Nov. 26 against Utah State.

Hill scored on a 4-yard run for Wyoming in the third quarter.

LOSING THE HANDLE

With a heavy rain falling in the first quarter, Wyoming punter Ethan Wood fumbled the snap and teammate Dalton Fields recovered at the Cowboys 3.Two plays later, Mangum scored on a 3-yard run. The Cowboys also botched the hold on a field goal attempt in the third quarter.

UP NEXT

While this was the senior season for Williams and Hill, Mangum will be back next year as a junior. For the Cowboys, they hope this breakout seasons sustains them for several seasons.

Boise State: 2015 Poinsettia Bowl Champions

Boise State dominated from start to finish Wednesday at the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego, taking less than a minute to get on the board, and never trailed in a 55-7 hamering of the Northern Illinois Huskies.
The Broncos (9-4) held a 654-33 advantage in total yardage, with the defense allowing the second-fewest yards in school history, and the least since Oct. 19, 1968 against Whitworth, when they allowed 30 yards.
Freshman quarterback Brett Rypien was the game’s offensive MVP after he completed 29-of-39 passes for 377 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. Junior defensive end Kamalei Correa, who is expected to leave for the NFL Draft, was the defensive MVP after he had two sacks and forced a fumble.
The 654 yards of offense were ninth-most in a single game in school history. Sophomore running back Jeremy McNichols scored three touchdowns, rushing for 93 yards and adding 96 yards receiving, both team-highs.

SCORING SUMMARY

BOISE STATE	21	10	10	14	—	55
NORTHERN ILLINOIS	0	7	0	0	—	7

FIRST QUARTER

BSU—Jeremy McNichols 29 run (Tyler Rausa kick), 14:02. Key plays: Quarterback Brett Rypien hit McNichols on a streak down the right side of the field for 39 yards — the first deep ball the Broncos had hit since October. McNichols jogged into the end zone through a mammoth hole on the next play. Drive: 3 plays, 75 yards, :58. Boise State 7, Northern Illinois 0
BSU—McNichols 4 pass from Rypien (Rausa kick), 7:38. Key plays: Wide receiver Thomas Sperbeck broke a tackle attempt for a 23-yard gain on the first play. McNichols added an 11-yard run. The drive was set up by a fumble recovery by linebacker Tyler Gray. Drive: 7 plays, 67 yards, 2:18. Boise State 14, Northern Illinois 0
BSU—McNichols 1 run (Rausa kick), 3:28. Key plays: Rypien dropped a beautiful throw over an underneath defender to tight end Jake Roh for a 23-yard gain. Wide reciever Shane Williams-Rhodes broke a tackle to gain 21 yards on third-and-3 at the NIU 24-yard line. Drive: 7 plays, 53 yards, 2:36. Boise State 21, Norhern Illinois 0

SECOND QUARTER

BSU—Rausa 20 field goal, 9:44. Key plays: Gray stripped wide receiver Aregeros Turner and cornerback Jonathan Moxey recovered on the NIU 15. A holding penalty on first-and-goal at the 5 stalled the drive. Drive: 7 plays, 12 yards, 3:01. Boise State 24, Northern Illinois 0
NIU—Aregeros Turner 96 kickoff return (Christian Hagan kick), 9:32. Boise State 24, Northern Illinois 7
BSU—Chaz Anderson 16 pass from Rypien (Rausa kick), 1:51. Key plays: Defensive end Kamalei Correa stripped quarterback Ryan Graham and Gray crawled to the loose football at the Boise State 40. Williams-Rhodes gained 21 yards on an end-around and McNichols fought and reached to gain a yard on third-and-1. Drive: 8 plays, 60 yards, 3:35. Boise State 31, Northern Illinois 7

THIRD QUARTER

BSU—Rausa 27 field goal, 7:30. Key plays: Williams-Rhodes dominated the drive with a 12-yard catch, a 10-yard run and an 11-yard catch. Drive: 12 plays, 51 yards, 4:49. Boise State 34, Northern Illinois 7
BSU—Alec Dhaenens 18 pass from Rypien (Rausa kick), 3:29. Key plays: Sperbeck and Anderson also had 18-yard catches. Drive: 6 plays, 67 yards, 2:06. Boise State 41, Northern Illinois 7

FOURTH QUARTER

BSU—Kelsey Young 24 run (Rausa kick), 14:52. Key plays: Rypien hit Williams-Rhodes for 13 yards and McNichols for 18. Drive: 5 plays, 61 yards, 2:07. Boise State 48, Northern Illinois 7
BSU—Stuart 1 run (Rausa kick), 9:52. Key plays: Ryan Wolpin bustsed a 49-yard run. Stuart had a 9-yard run. Boise State 55, Northern Illinois 7

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/sports/college/mountain-west/boise-state-university/bronco-beat-blog/article51316405.html#storylink=cpy

Navy: 2014 Poinsettia Bowl Champions

Any blooper reel of the 2014 bowl season will be centered around the fourth quarter of Navy's 17-16 win over San Diego State.

The final 15 minutes of the game featured four turnovers, an incredibly confusing officiating sequence, an odd choice to go for it on fourth down and a missed game-winning field goal that ultimately gave Navy the victory.

Let's start with the missed field goal. After Austin Grebe put Navy up by a point with 1:27 left, San Diego State got into Navy territory after QB Quinn Kaehler hit WR Eric Judge for a 32-yard gain (Judge was ruled to have fumbled on the play – the fifth turnover of the fourth quarter – but the fumble was overturned). Four plays later, an incomplete pass set up a 34-yard field goal attempt for Donny Hageman, who was 3-3 on field goals throughout the game.

But on his fourth attempt, Hageman simply pushed it way right from the left hash. Navy got the ball back with 20 seconds to go and SDSU only had one timeout. The game was over.

Now on to the confusing officiating. On Navy's go-ahead drive, the Midshipmen went for it on fourth-and-one with 3:43 left at the San Diego State 44. The call was a fullback dive to Chris Swain, who rumbled for 13 yards and fumbled after he tumbled to the ground at the 31. While the play was being blown dead, SDSU's Damontae Kazee instinctively picked up the ball. As Navy's Jamir Tillman attempted to tackle him, Tillman grabbed Kazee's facemask.

A flag was thrown and after Swain was ruled to be down by contact before the fumble, the facemask was assessed against SDSU. While Swain's non-fumble was being reviewed, the officials gathered together and it was apparent from the TV cameras that one official was saying the penalty was against Navy.

After the review, which didn't overturn the fumble that the ground clearly caused, Navy was assessed a 15-yard penalty for a facemask foul that happened on a tackle that officially didn't happen. Snce the ball was blown dead on the field and via the review, Kazee's recovery meant nothing. However, the penalty was marked off and instead of having first down at the 31, Navy had a first down two yards behind where the fourth-and-one play took place.

Grebe's field goal happened six plays later.

The Navy drive was set up by a fumble by SDSU's Donnel Pumphrey with just under six minutes left. That turnover was the seventh of the game and the fourth turnover in six fourth quarter possessions. Navy had four fumbles, including two in the final quarter, and SDSU's other turnover of the final period came via an interception.

And while the seven turnovers aren't the highest tally of the young bowl season as the Miami Beach Bowl had nine, at least the Miami Beach Bowl was a pointsapalooza. The Poinsettia Bowl was a slog. SDSU started with the ball inside Navy territory after three of the Midshipmen's fumbles. Two drives turned into field goals.

The third, which ended with 8:45 left in the fourth quarter, ended on downs. With the Aztecs leading 16-14, SDSU coach Rocky Long head-scratchingly eschewed a 29-yard field goal attempt that potentially would have given the team a five-point lead and made Grebe's field goal late in the game a non-entity.

On fourth-and-five from the 12, San Diego State passed the ball instead of kicking the field goal. Kaehler's pass fell incomplete and Navy had the ball back still down two.

With the win, the Midshipmen finish the season 8-5. San Diego State ends 2014 at 7-6.

Utah State: 2013 Poinsettia Bowl Champions

Utah State scored two second half touchdowns and shut down Jordan Lynch and Northern Illinois to score a victory in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego Thursday night. Darrell Garretson had his moments to forget in the victory but tossed a go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter and a two-point conversion attempt to followJoey DeMartino‘s fourth quarter touchdown run to send Utah State to the 21-7 victory. DeMartino rushed for 143 yards to power the Aggies to the win, the second straight bowl victory for the program.

The NIU defense was actually pretty strong in the first half, holding the Aggies to a pair of field goals and fewer than 130 yards of offense, but the halftime adjustments made by Utah State proved to be too much for the Huskies. Utah State’s offense turned the table sin the second half by holding down the Huskies offense and not allowing Lynch to hurt them. Utah State succeeded in forcing Lynch to beat them through the air, and that has generally been a successful strategy for those who have defeated Northern Illinois, including Bowling Green in the MAC Championship Game. Lynch did drive the Huskies down the field in the final minutes of the game, just after Utah State took a 21-7 lead with a little over four minutes to play, and he completed a touchdown throw to Juwan Brescacin, but an onside kick attempt by NIU was recovered by Utah State to allow the Aggies to run the clock out.

Lynch ended his collegiate career with just 39 rushing yards and a touchdown and 216 passing yards and a touchdown. It was not exactly the type of performance Lynch had been accustomed to this season, but it should be a credit to Utah State’s defense to hold him to 39 rushing yards on 18 attempts. What back-to-back losses will do to his draft stock will be best left to break down by the NFL Draft scouts, but his last two performances do leave some room for criticism when discussing where he fits at the next level.

The MAC is now 0-4 in the postseason after seeing both conference championship participants, Northern Illinois and Bowling Green, suffer losses on Thursday. The conference’s last chance to win a bowl game will be placed in the hands of Ball State, a program that has never won a bowl game.

The Mountain West Conference is now 3-2 this postseason. Both losses have come against the Pac 12.