Nevada: 2018 Arizona Bowl Champions

TUCSON, Ariz. -- As Nevada quarterback Ty Gangi worked through his progressions, Reagan Roberson slipped out into the left flat unnoticed.

Gangi flipped the ball out to his tight end and Arkansas State's defense quickly converged. Roberson shed the first would-be tackler like he was brushing off a bug, made a beeline for the corner of the end zone, diving across the line just before two more defenders could stop him.

Following more than three quarters of offensive ineptitude, the Wolf Pack found their offensive rhythm at just the right time, beating Arkansas State 16-13 on Saturday in the Arizona Bowl on Roberson's 11-yard overtime catch-and-run.

"They took some things away and we had to go to the tight end more," said Gangi, who threw for 200 yards and a touchdown on 18-of-34 passing with two interceptions. "I gave him a chance and he made a great play for me, broke a tackle and dove into the end zone for the winner."

Nevada (8-5) looked as if it would never get the chance. The Wolf Pack struggled against Arkansas State's stout defensive front, barely eking out 100 yards of total offense for three quarters.

Nevada stayed in it with a bend-don't-break defense and found a rhythm with a couple of big plays in the fourth quarter. Devonte Lee put the Wolf Pack up 10-7 on a 1-yard run with 1:06 left and, after the Red Wolves tied it with Blake Grupe's last-play field goal, Roberson sent them racing onto the field with his bulldozing touchdown.

"This is right up there at the top as far as guys fighting and believing in each other," Nevada second-year coach Jay Norvell said.

Arkansas State (8-5) needed a little more belief -- at least in the red zone.

The Red Wolves made five trips inside Nevada's 20 and came away with seven points. Arkansas State had two turnovers in the end zone and twice failed to convert on fourth down, including once on a trick play.

Throw in a blocked field goal and another short one badly missed by Grupe, the Red Wolves head into the offseason wondering what if after racking up 499 total yards and coming away with 13 points.

"We've had a struggle with that for a long time," Arkansas State coach Blake Anderson said. "You can blame on whatever you want to, at the end of the day we just didn't get it done."

Arkansas State's Warren Wand ran for 140 yards and Justice Hansen threw for 275 yards, but also had three interceptions -- two in the end zone -- after throwing six during the regular season.

The Red Wolvers' miscues in the red zone allowed Nevada to still be within 7-3 at halftime despite managing 72 total yards.

"We believed in the plan and if you continue to work, good things will happen," Novell said. "Just amazing."

BIG PICTURE

Nevada's offense came to life at just the right time to avoid ending the season with a loss to rival UNLV and a disappointing bowl performance.

Arkansas State will lament its lost offensive opportunities all offseason.

INJURED WOLVES

Arkansas State lost two of its best players by early in the third quarter.

Defensive end Ronheen Bingham, who led the Red Wolves with nine regular-season sacks, had to be helped from the field with a serious left leg injury in the first quarter. On the first play of the third quarter, defensive back Justin Clifton went down with an injury.

"It was tough seeing two of our best defensive players go down," Red Wolves safety B.J. Edmonds said. "We still played well after that, but who knows what could have happened."

SCHOLARSHIP TIME

Nevada receiver Ben Putman had two of the game's biggest plays, catching a pair of 44-yard passes from Gangi -- one on a flea flicker, the other to set up Lee's 1-yard score late in regulation.

A walk-on, Putman finished with four catches and a game-high 144 yards. After the game, Norvell rewarded the junior with a scholarship.

"I didn't know who he was three months ago," Norvell said. "All he does is compete.."

UP NEXT

Arkansas State: Hansen is a senior, so the Red Wolves will need a new QB next season. They also have 14 players on their two-deep roster who are seniors.

Nevada: The Wolf Pack also will be searching for a new QB with Gangi in his final year of eligibility. They also have 14 seniors on the two-deep roster, most of their skill players on offense should be back.

Michigan Wolverines: 2016 Citrus Bowl Champions

Orlando, Fla. — Mark Schlissel, the University of Michigan president, didn’t see it coming.

As he stood on a portable stage inside the Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium, with some 25,000 Michigan fans cheering in the stands and a victorious football team celebrating all around, there was an explosion behind him. And, quite naturally, he flinched.

“This is the first time I’ve been hit in the back of the head by a confetti cannon,” he explained later, laughing as he shook the last of the debris from his hair. “You know, if I was a real pro, I would know to stand a bit more to the right. I was a rookie.”

Understandably so, this being his first bowl trip as the university president. But exactly 18 months after assuming that post, and a year after the hiring of Jim Harbaugh as football coach was announced, Schlissel was beaming Friday after Michigan throttled Florida, 41-7, in the Citrus Bowl to cap a successful season.

“It’s exciting,” said Schlissel, who shared a hug and a few words with Harbaugh as he left the stage. “The kids worked so hard. The community cared so intensely. The alumni continued to support the team in good times and bad. And this is a great culmination of a fantastic year. A 10-win season. First year for the coach. More than anybody expected.”

And more than anything, Friday’s victory helped validate much of what we’ve seen in Harbaugh’s first year at his alma mater, from the tough, physical play on the field to the renewed energy in the stands.

The Wolverines certainly did exceed expectations, coming off a 5-7 season and the firing of Brady Hoke last fall. Friday’s bowl victory was Michigan’s first since the end of the 2011 season, and the third since 2002. And with the 10-3 finish, Harbaugh became the third coach in school history to win 10 games his first season.

That alone doesn’t mean much. (The other two — Hoke and Fielding Yost — don’t have a lot in common.) And Michigan needs no reminders it lost to its chief rivals again this season, dropping a heartbreaker on the final play to eventual Big Ten champ Michigan State and then getting drop-kicked again at home by Ohio State.

“We’re not saying this is the greatest year in the history of Michigan football,” Harbaugh said, doing his best to put it all in perspective. “But this team acquitted itself very well.”

Rudock’s best year

It was Harbaugh himself who had declared on New Year’s Eve this would be the “best year I’ve had in football” if the Wolverines could finish it off with a Jan. 1 victory over the Gators.

Friday, he wasn’t hedging one bit with that resolution.

“I thought long and hard before making that statement,” said Harbaugh, whose extended family was all on the field celebrating after the game. “And I told the team the same thing.”

At the postgame news conference, as Harbaugh was explaining all the reasons, he also turned to his quarterback, Jake Rudock, voted the game’s MVP after a “darn near flawless” performance, and asked him the same thing, “Jake, is this your best year in football?”

Rudock laughed, and replied, “Yeah, it’s hard to argue that.”

Indeed, it was, as Rudock, after losing his starting job at Iowa last January, opted to transfer for his fifth year as a graduate student, landing at Michigan in the spring and winning the No. 1 job in the fall.

By November, Harbaugh was calling him a “godsend” — citing his poise and his meticulous preparation — as the 22-year-old Florida native started rewriting the school record books. And after Friday’s 273-yard, three-touchdown day, Rudock, who says he’ll put off medical school to give the NFL a shot, sits No. 2 on the Wolverines' single-season list with 3,017 passing yards.

“The standard is just to play good, efficient football, and to do things right,” said Jedd Fisch, Michigan’s quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator. “And that’s what he does so well. He does things right, all of the time. It matters to him.”

This game mattered to all of them, though. That was obvious in the run-up, with spirited practices in the 80-degree Florida heat and a businesslike approach to the bowl, in spite of the Disney World surroundings.

And it showed Friday, as Michigan produced what Harbaugh called the team’s “most complete game of the season.”

The Wolverines scored on seven of their first eight possessions, while piling up more points and more yards (503) than the Gators had allowed all season. Michigan outgained Florida, 160-2, in the third quarter, and ended the game by running out the final 5 minutes 11 seconds on the clock.

“They took it to us, beat us up front,” Florida coach Jim McElwain, whose team also won 10 games this season, finished atop the SEC East and came in with the nation’s fourth-ranked defense.

Rushing returns

Yet, a Michigan running game that stalled late in the season looked suddenly rejuvenated, with the line opening holes and the backs — led by De’Veon Smith — exploding through them.

Smith finished with 25 carries for 109 yards, the first 100-yard effort for Michigan since a Sept. 19 romp of BYU, when he topped the century mark but also suffered a high-ankle sprain that nagged him for the next two months.

“De’Veon was a man possessed running the football,” Harbaugh said.

The defense was, too, even without injured star Jabrill Peppers, who sat out with a hand injury. Florida’s offense looked anemic late in the season, thanks to poor quarterback play and a porous line. And it did again Friday after an encouraging start, as Michigan held Florida to 28 yards and one first down after halftime.

In the end, it was simply a punishing performance by the Wolverines, which is exactly what the fans were promised when Harbaugh returned last winter.

“You saw the epitome of what he’s been trying to do since Day 1 when he got here in what was on the field today,” said linebacker Joe Bolden, one of the departing seniors. “It’s what he wants. It’s what you’ll see.”

And now that the Wolverines have found their footing, and know where to stand, joked Schlissel, “We’re thrilled to do this every year.”

john.niyo@detroitnews.com

twitter.com/JohnNiyo

Every Breaking Wave

Every breaking wave on the shore
Tells the next one "there'll be one more"
Every gambler knows that to lose
Is what you're really there for

Summer I was fearless
Now I speak into an answerphone
Like every fallen leaf on the breeze
Winter wouldn't leave it alone, alone

If you go
If you go your way and I go mine
Are we so
Are we so helpless against the tide?
Baby, every dog on the street
Knows that we're in love with defeat
Are we ready to be swept off our feet
And stop chasing every breaking wave?

Every sailor knows that the sea
Is a friend made enemy
Every shipwrecked soul knows what it is
To live without intimacy

I thought I heard the captain's voice
But it's hard to listen while you preach
Like every broken wave on the shore
This is as far as I could reach

If you go
If you go your way and I go mine
Are we so
Are we so helpless against the tide?
Baby, every dog on the street
Knows that we're in love with defeat
Are we ready to be swept off our feet
And stop chasing every breaking wave?

The sea knows where all the rocks
Are drowning is an ocean
You know where my heart is
The same place that yours has been
We know that we fear the wind
And it's all we have before we begin
Before we begin

If you go
If you go your way and I go mine
Are we so
Are we so helpless against the tide?
Baby, every dog on the street
Knows that we're in love with defeat
Are we ready to be swept off our feet
And stop chasing every breaking wave?