2011 Cotton Bowl: Louisiana State 41, Texas A&M 24

LSU drops Texas A&M in Cotton Bowl

Associated Press

Jan. 7, 2011, 11:11PM

Nick de la Torre Chronicle

Texas A&M defensive end Von Miller watches LSU players celebrate a touchdown.

ARLINGTON — With rumors swirling about LSU coach Les Miles’ future, Jordan Jefferson threw three touchdown passes toTerrence Toliver and ran for a score to help the 11th-ranked Tigers rally for a 41-24 victory over No. 18 Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl on Friday night.

Miles is likely a leading candidate for the coaching vacancy at Michigan, where he played and was an assistant coach.

In the days leading up to the Cotton Bowl, Miles said his focus was on his Tigers and that he enjoyed where he was.

But LSU (11-2) has now completed its fourth season with at least 11 wins in Miles’ six years. The Tigers had only two 11-win seasons in their history before that.

Texas A&M (9-4) led 10-0 in the first quarter, including a field goal after Jefferson threw an interception, but had its six-game winning streak snapped.

It was the 50th game between the border-state schools, but the first since the 1995 opener. Texas A&M had won the last five games in a series that likely will not be renewed in the regular season any time soon.

Jefferson was 10 of 19 for 158 yards with scoring passes of 42, 2 and 41 yards to Toliver, who had only two TD catches in the regular season.

LSU went ahead for good when Stevan Ridley had a a 17-yard TD run, jumping over a defender near the line and then sweeping right untouched into the end zone for a 21-17 lead with 4:43 left in the first half.

Ryan Tannehill, who had been 5-0 since taking over as the Aggies starting quarterback, then threw two interceptions in a span of three throws — after 127 consecutive attempts without a pick. The second interception was by Eric Reid, who returned it 34 yards to the 2 to set up Jefferson’s short TD pass to Toliver for a 28-17 halftime lead.

Miles was considered a top candidate for the Michigan job three years ago, during LSU’s national championship season.

In an unusual pregame news conference before the 2007 Southeastern Conference championship game, Miles expressed his intention to stay at LSU and later signed a contract extension through 2012. Michigan eventually hired Rich Rodriguez, who was 15-22 when he was fired this week.

There was no pregame talk from Miles before the Cotton Bowl on Friday, after Stanford coach and former Michigan quarterback Jim Harbaugh agreed to a five-year deal to go to the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers.

Before that, Harbaugh had appeared to be at the top of a short list with Miles and San Diego State coach Brady Hoke, also a former Wolverines assistant, as candidates to return to Ann Arbor and replace Rodriguez.

Regardless of what Miles does, LSU will be back in Cowboys Stadium for its 2011 season opener — against Oregon, which plays Auburn for the BCS national championship on Monday night.

2011 NCAA Division I Football Championship: Eastern Washington 20, Delaware 19

Down by 19 in 3rd quarter, E Wash wins FCS crown

Down by 19 points in the middle of the third quarter, getting shut out by the toughest defense to score against among all FCS teams, Eastern Washington finally had something to cheer about. A touchdown pass meant they wouldn't get shut out.

By JAIME ARON

AP Sports Writer

FRISCO, Texas —

Then Bo Levi Mitchell threw another touchdown pass.

And, with 2:47 left, he did it again. When the Eastern Washington defense polished off one last stand, the guys best known for playing their home games on a flaming-red turf had a new claim to fame as national champions, pulling off a stunning 20-19 victory over Delaware on Friday night.

"This game was typical of our season," coach Beau Baldwin said. "We had so many games like this. These guys never give up."

Mitchell grew up outside Houston and began his college career at nearby SMU. Folks in Cheney, Wash., will always consider him one of their own after this performance; he even wore flaming-red cleats to remind him of his new home.

After gaining only 92 yards midway through the third quarter, Mitchell led TD drives that covered 80, 89 and 69 yards and capped them all with passes. Brandon Kaufman got it started with a 22-yarder, then Nicholas Edwards caught a 9-yarder. Kaufman had the title-winner, an 11-yarder in the back of the end zone.

Mitchell was 29 of 43 for 302 yards, and truly led the way as Eastern Washington (13-2) ran only seven times in the second half. He converted a fourth-and-8 on the second TD march and one of those rare runs came on a fourth-and-1 a few plays before the winning touchdown. It was so important officials reviewed it twice, once to adjust the spot, then again to make sure they'd properly reset the chains before that remeasurement.

Edwards had nine catches for 120 yards. Edwards had six catches for 74 yards.

Delaware (12-3) - with Vice President Joe Biden, an alum, watching five rows behind the team's bench - looked like it was going to run away with its second title in eight year.

Pat Devlin led the Blue Hens to a touchdown on their first drive, then field goals on their next two series. Mixing runs and passes, they had 230 yards by halftime. When they stretched the lead to 19-0, they seemed ready to avenge their 2007 title-game loss with Ravens star Joe Flacco as their quarterback.

Instead, they'll go down as the team that blew it.

Delaware stopped being able to run and got out of synch passing, with Eagles defenders Renard Williams and David Gaylord harassing Devlin.

The final play summed up the meltdown. The Blue Hens gained 9 yards on a fourth-and-10, turning the ball over on downs with 47 seconds left.

Devlin finished 22 of 34 for 220 yards. He also threw just his third interception of the season. It didn't hurt, though, as Mitchell threw his only interception a few snaps later.

Andrew Pierce ran 28 times for 142 yards and a touchdown. David Hayes ran for Delaware's other touchdown.

The Football Championship Subdivision is the highest level of college football with a playoff. Eastern Washington finished the regular season at No. 1 and Delaware was No. 5; however, the Blue Hens had been No. 1 before losing their final game of the regular season.

The game drew 13,027 fans to this suburb north of Dallas. This is the first of a three-year commitment to Frisco after 13 straight years in Chattanooga, Tenn.

NCAA President Mark Emmert attended the game. A former chancellor at LSU, he said before the game that he would resist any urge of heading to Cowboys Stadium to watch the Tigers play Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl.

2011 GoDaddy.com Bowl: Miami (OH) 35, Middle Tennessee State 21

Miami football makes history

RedHawks become first team in Division I football history to post double-digit wins one year after double-digit losses.

By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer

Updated 12:18 AM Friday, January 7, 2011

MOBILE, Ala. — Miami University’s football team, a mixed bag of veterans who have been through hard times and freshmen who helped rejuvenate them, made history Thursday night by completing one of the more dramatic turnarounds in college football history.

The RedHawks defeated the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders 35-21 in the GoDaddy.com Bowl to become the first team in big-school history to post double-digit victories — finishing with a 10-4 record — a year after enduring double-digit losses (1-11).

Miami’s defense came up with a season-high four interceptions, Thomas Merriweather rushed for two touchdowns and redshirt freshman quarterback Austin Boucher passed for two with interim head coach Lance Guidry on the sideline, though it was the now-departed Michael Haywood who guided the RedHawks through their first nine victories, and it will be new head coach Don Treadwell who will guide them next season.

The Blue Raiders finished 6-7 overall.

Middle Tennessee took a 7-0 lead in the first quarter on an 89-yard touchdown drive which took just 2:22 off the clock. Phillip Tanner scored on an 18-yard touchdown run.

The RedHawks answered with 2:29 left in the period on a 3-yard touchdown run by Merriweather after Armand Robinson had turned a short sideline pass from Boucher into a 70-yard gain.

The Blue Raiders took the lead again on the ensuing drive when Dasher broke a 49-yard touchdown run up the middle, but Miami tied it again on another 3-yard run by Merriweather early in the second quarter.

The RedHawks had a chance to take a halftime lead, but an apparent 18-yard touchdown pass from Boucher to Robinson was wiped out by a false start penalty and two plays later Boucher was intercepted at the 2-yard line by MT cornerback T.L. Edwards.

The RedHawks took a 21-14 lead when true freshman Dayonne Nunley intercepted a Dwight Dasher pass and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown, stretching the ball over the goal line as he was tackled, with 13:22 left in the third quarter. It was Nunley’s sixth interception of the season.

Less than a minute later Tanner’s second touchdown, a 54-yard run, tied it again.

The RedHawks regained the lead on a 17-yard TD strike from Boucher to Chris Givens with 54 seconds left in the third quarter.

Evan Harris, like Nunley, came up with his sixth interception of the year and the RedHawks took over at the MT 17 early in the fourth quarter, but Miami failed to take advantage when defensive end Jarrett Crittenton blocked a 32-yard field goal attempt by Trevor Cook.

Fourth-quarter interceptions by D.J. Brown and Pat Hinkel sealed the win for Miami.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.

2011 Sugar Bowl: Ohio State 31, Arkansas 26

Ohio State holds on down the stretch, outlasts Arkansas, 31-26, for Sugar Bowl victory

Published: Wednesday, January 05, 2011, 12:31 AM Updated: Wednesday, January 05, 2011, 12:41 AM

By Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer

View full sizeMarvin Fong / The Plain DealerConstantly outrunning and outplaying the Arkansas defenders, Terrelle Pryor threw for 221 yards and ran for 115 as the Buckeyes built a 28-10 halftime lead and then had to hang on in a wobbly fourth quarter for the 31-26 victory over the Razorbacks Tuesday night at the Superdome.

NEW ORLEANS -- The Ohio State Buckeyes seized the Sugar Bowl so quickly and so emphatically Tuesday night, for four hours there wasn't time to think or talk about anything but football.

Not sanctions nor tattoos, not SEC domination nor Big Ten stumbles. There was just time for Ohio State fans to get nervous, and for the Buckeyes suspended for the start of next season to save Ohio State on this night.

Nearly blowing a 21-point lead, the Buckeyes scrambled to hang on to a 31-26 win over Arkansas that wasn't easy, but it was official.

There were fumbles and deep passes and dropped passes and injuries and Terrelle Pryor rolling up yards and Cameron Heyward chasing down Razorbacks and when the Buckeyes climbed on their charter back to Columbus from New Orleans after their night in the Superdome, the zero was gone.

Repelling the Razorbacks' rally in the second half, with the overwhelming Arkansas crowd making the dome Fayetteville South, the No. 6 Buckeyes (12-1) beat the SEC in a bowl game for the first time, now 1-9 all-time, which seems impressive only when compared to 0-9. But after the last two weeks, including the Big Ten's 0-5 bowl performance on New Year's Day that included three losses to the SEC, Ohio State fans have something to hold on to.

The victory was finished by an interception in the final seconds from defensive end Solomon Thomas, the least-known of the five Buckeyes hit with five-game suspensions from the NCAA. Before him, the other suspended Buckeyes -- Pryor, running back Dan Herron, receiver DeVier Posey and left tackle Mike Adams -- led the way, and it was just enough.

The fans still face those five-game suspensions at the start of next season and what might be a nervous two weeks wondering if the suspended Buckeyes will live up to their promises of not leaving for the NFL.

But on this night, all the players involved played. The Buckeyes won. On a team led by 24 seniors, some veteran Buckeyes went out with some of the best games, including a dominating night from Heyward and the evolution into a sack monster of Dexter Larimore.

Luck helped, too.

Arkansas receiver Joe Adams dropped what could have been a touchdown strike on the Razorbacks' first play of the game. Then on Ohio State's first drive, the Buckeyes scored on ... a fumble?

The Buckeyes attacked No. 8 Arkansas (10-3) with a no-huddle offense and converted two third downs on their opening drive. The final third down was a third-and-9 run by Pryor that ended with a fumble that Dane Sanzenbacher fell on in the end zone for a 7-0 lead.

Not a bad sign for a team looking for something good to happen.

The OSU fans were outnumbered by the Arkansas faithful, with the Razorbacks in a can't-miss game for their fans in their first BCS appearance, while the Buckeyes faced a been-there, done-that with their eighth BCS game in Tressel's 10 years. Hog calls ruled the pregame.

But the Buckeyes took control, even after a stunning and failed onside kick after their first score. Arkansas turned that into a 17-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Mallett to Adams to tie the game, but the Buckeyes rolled off three straight touchdowns without an answer, with one that even led to a flying chest bump between Pryor and Jim Tressel.

Herron scored on a nine-yard run, Sanzenbacher caught a 15-yard TD pass from Pryor and then Posey hauled in a 43-yard deep ball from Pryor for a 28-7 lead with 1:59 left in the first half. Coming in, Ohio State was concerned about getting pressure on Mallett, and Arkansas was concerned about Ohio State's power.

Both were valid. Getting in the face of Mallett worked for the Buckeyes, and the OSU offensive line was controlling the game on both sides. Then, like with the December investigation that led to the discovery that he five Buckeyes had sold memorabilia in violation of NCAA rules, things started to fall apart for Ohio State.

Senior cornerback Chimdi Chekwa was lost with a wrist or hand injury that will require surgery. Safety Jermale Hines battled a toe injury. After not practicing on Sunday in the interest of saving their legs, the Buckeyes still saw players sidelined by cramps. As the defense sagged, Mallett and the Arkansas offense struck, outscoring the Buckeyes, 16-3, in the second half, helped by the Arkansas defense tackling Herron in the end zone for a safety that cut the OSU lead to 31-26.

A game that had been looking like the 2010 Rose Bowl, when the Buckeyes knocked off Oregon with an offensive show, was starting to look more like the 2009 Fiesta Bowl, when the Ohio State defense gave up a last-minute touchdown to lose a close game.

With just over one minute to play, a Razorback jumped over the top of the OSU upbacks to block a Ben Buchanan punt, giving Arkansas the ball at the 18 with no timeouts. Just 18 yards from keeping the zero. Just 18 yards from Ohio State living through what should already be a complicated off-season with this collapse.

Then they were very glad that Solomon Thomas was there.

2011 Orange Bowl: Stanford 40, Virginia Tech 12

Harbaugh heading to . . . take your pick

Last Modified: Jan 4, 2011 12:04AM

MIAMI — As coach Jim Harbaugh was guiding his No. 5 Stanford team to a 40-12 pummeling of No. 12 Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl on Monday night, much of the rest of the football world was plotting for the former Bears quarterback’s next move.

Depending on which report was to be believed, Harbaugh was headed to either the San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos, the University of Michigan or, quite possibly, the hottest coaching candidate in college or pro football was staying put at Stanford.

The Cardinal was 1-11 before Harbaugh arrived; four years later, Stanford is the Orange Bowl champion.

“I just talk about the job that I have and none others, and that’s the way I’ve always handled it in the past, and it’s worked well,” Harbaugh said Sunday in his final media availability before the game. “Just focus and concentrate on the task at hand.”

Afterward, Harbaugh still would not comment on his future, saying the moment belonged to his players.

Sports Illustrated’s Peter King reported that Harbaugh will choose between the 49ers and Michigan for his next job. ESPN reported that new Broncos executive John Elway, the former Stanford star who served as an honorary Cardinal team captain at the Orange Bowl, was going to make a sales pitch directly to Harbaugh.

And Harbaugh is still wanted at Stanford, where he reportedly earns $1.25 million a year. Athletic director Bob Bowlsby last month offered to get extension talks started and said Harbaugh was expected to sign on the dotted line. He didn’t.

His brother, Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, said he would not be surprised if Jim stays put. ‘‘I don’t want to speak for him, but I think there’s a chance he’ll stay at Stanford,’’ John Harbaugh said.

‘‘ I know this: He loves those players . . . and he loves the university. So I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he stayed at Stanford.”

But the question at Stanford centers on whether Harbaugh thinks he can continually win without quarterback Andrew Luck, who threw for 287 yards and four touchdowns against Virginia Tech. Luck is considered a lock to be the No. 1 pick in April’s NFL draft if he decides to leave school early. He led a Stanford attack that scored at least 31 points in all but one game this season.

As for the 49ers’ interest, team president Jed York already has said that “money is no object” to change around the fortunes of the team, which fired coach Mike Singletary, who is owed about $5 million. Money doesn’t appear to be an object for Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, either.

The next question: How much will Harbaugh earn at his next job? Some project a $3.3 million salary.

On Monday, Coby Fleener caught scoring passes of 41, 58 and 38 yards from Luck — all in the final 21 minutes — to spark the Cardinal (12-1), which got its first bowl win in 14 years and likely will end the season ranked in the top five for the first time since the unbeaten 1940 team finished No. 2.

The Hokies (11-3), playing in a bowl game for the 18th consecutive year, fell to 1-27 against top-five teams.

Sun-Times wires

2011 Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma 48, Connecticut 20

Sooners end 5-game BCS bowl skid at Fiesta Bowl

(AP) – 1 hour ago

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — No more BCS losing streak for the Oklahoma Sooners. They busted it up in a big way.

Landry Jones threw for a school bowl-record 429 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 9 Oklahoma ended a five-game BCS bowl losing streak with a 48-20 win over Connecticut in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday night.

Oklahoma (12-2) carried plenty of BCS baggage after losing three straight title games and two Fiesta Bowls. The Sooners avoided the setback six pack behind Jones and Ryan Broyles, who had team records of 13 catches and 170 yards to go with the sealing touchdown.

"Coming out here and winning a bowl game, especially a BCS bowl with our past and losing so many of them, to win one for the program, for coach (Bob) Stoops and all those guys, it's just a great feeling right now," Jones said. "It motivated us. We came into the same situation a couple of times and came out with some losses, and to win a game after those, it's just a great feeling."

Connecticut (8-5) at least kept close for a while in its first BCS bowl.

The hopeful Huskies steadied themselves after an initial barrage from Oklahoma and avoided a complete New Year's Day desert disaster with hard-nosed running by Jordan Todman and a handful of big plays.

Todman had 121 yards on 32 carries and Robbie Frey returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, helping UConn provide at least a glimmer of hope that it's not just a basketball school anymore.

"Our kids did a great job and now know what to strive for so they can do it each and every year," UConn coach Randy Edsall said

Oklahoma had been down this road before.

The Sooners played in the 2007 and 2008 Fiesta Bowls, so they know the town, the stadium, the routine.

They also know disappointment.

In both games, Oklahoma came into the desert favorites and left embarrassed; first to trick-playing, BCS-busting Boise State, then in lopsided fashion to West Virginia.

To shake up their mojo, the Sooners switched hotels, practice sites, everything possible to keep from getting that here-we-go-again Fiesta feeling.

It worked.

Oklahoma followed a businesslike week with a similar approach in the game, jumping out to a 14-0 lead and getting a pair of interception returns for touchdowns to pull away for its first BCS bowl win in eight years.

"I don't have all that like everyone else is talking about it," Stoops said about feeling redemption for ending the BCS losing streak. "But in the end, it's a good win and these guys did a great job."

This was all new to the Huskies.

An FBS program for just nine years, UConn was in its fourth straight bowl, getting the Bowl Championship Series nod after winning the final five games and earning the tiebreaker as co-Big East champions.

But everything about this trip was bigger, from the airport greeting to the shine of the national spotlight.

More than that, though, the Huskies had to worry about Oklahoma's speed-you-up offense.

UConn coach Randy Edsall said OU has so many talented players, it was like the little boy trying to put his fingers in all the holes in the dike. The Sooners also play fast, snapping off more plays than any team in the country while averaging over 478 yards and 36 points per game.

UConn tried a variety of speed-up tactics in practice to simulate Oklahoma's pace, but the real test was going to come in the first few series, when the Sooners pressed the gas and the Huskies tried to keep up.

They couldn't.

With former quarterback Josh Heupel calling plays for the first time, Oklahoma hit UConn with a Manny Pacquiao-esque round of punches in its opening drive for an 8-yard touchdown from Jones to James Hanna.

Next drive: boom, boom, boom, DeMarco Murray scores on a he's-bottled-up, no-he-isn't 3-yard TD run.

Then, finally, UConn got something right. Jones, after completing his first 12 passes, led a receiver too much and cornerback Dwayne Gratz picked it off, racing in 46 yards for a touchdown.

The Huskies had life.

UConn's offense got a spark after that behind Zach Frazer and the defense held Oklahoma to a pair of field goals by Jimmy Stevens, leaving the Huskies at a manageable 20-10 halftime deficit.

The Sooners looked ready to run away with it to start the third, getting a 59-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Cameron Kenney and a 55-yard interception return for a score by Jamell Fleming 1:11 later after a pass deflected off receiver Michael Smith's hands.

Trailing 34-10, the Huskies still wouldn't go away.

Frey returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, Dave Teggart hit his second field goal from 38 yards and Lawrence Wilson stripped Broyles when he appeared to be headed for a punt return touchdown.

UConn got another big play when Jerome Junior broke up a pass on a fake field goal early in the fourth quarter, but that was it.

Broyles pulled down an impressive, toe-dragging 5-yard touchdown midway through the final quarter and Tony Jefferson had a 22-yard interception return for a score to put away the impressive, long-awaited victory and send UConn home disappointed, but satisfied.

"We didn't win the game, but there's nothing negative that comes from this," Edsall said. "To be here and to compete the way these kids competed, that says it all."

BoBA 2011 ISML Predictions

Special ISML Exhibition Matches - New Year's Day 2011

ARENA 01: Ika-Musume, Yui [Index Prohibitorum, Hirasawa Yui] by <=1000
OVER/UNDER: 5000
Over

ARENA 02: Gokō Ruri, Kiriya Nozomi [Sengoku Nadeko, Holo] by >=1000
OVER/UNDER: 5100
Under

ARENA 03: [Kōsaka Kirino, Yamada Aoi] Hiiragi Kagami, Shiina Minatsu by >=1500
OVER/UNDER: 5500
Over

ARENA 04: [Tachibana Kanade, Elsea de Lute Irma] Sakagami Tomoyo, Illyasviel von Einzbern by <=1500
OVER/UNDER: 5500
Over

2011 Rose Bowl: Texas Christian 21, Wisconsin 19

January 1, 2011

Unbeaten and Unable to Do Anything More

By PETE THAMEL

PASADENA, Calif. — In the shadows of the San Gabriel Mountains, change can come slowly. At the Rose Bowl, where college football clings to tradition with white-knuckle fervor, fullbacks can still be in vogue, tight ends act as primary pass catchers and the punter can be valued as a skill position player.

With Texas Christian facing Wisconsin in this year’s game, college football’s most historic backdrop also proved a fitting one. The Horned Frogs of the Mountain West Conference are considered interlopers; the traditionalists, commissioners and bowl executives certainly would have preferred Stanford of the Pacific-10 playing in the Rose Bowl.

But with a 21-19 victory over No. 4 Wisconsin of the Big Ten, No. 3 T.C.U. solidified its standing as one of college football’s elite programs and made observers wonder how it would have stacked up against No. 1 Auburn or No. 2 Oregon. The victory capped a 13-0 season for the Horned Frogs and a train wreck of a day for the Big Ten. The league lost its five bowl games on Saturday by a combined score of 204-102 and left the Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee open for mockery.

Gee chided T.C.U. and Boise State, who play outside college football’s six power conferences, for competing against teams like the “Little Sisters of the Poor.”

“I’m going to New Orleans tomorrow, and Antoine’s is a great restaurant,” Gee said when reached on his cellphone Saturday night. “I think they serve crow, and I’ll be eating my portion of that. T.C.U. played a great game and they deserved to be recognized for that. Obviously T.C.U. is a great ball team.”

T.C.U. Coach Gary Patterson resisted the opportunity to retaliate against Gee, saying: “I don’t have any messages for him. I make mistakes every day.”

His Horned Frogs did not make many Saturday, as the team with the country’s top-ranked defense showed it could equalize Wisconsin’s size with speed and versatility. T.C.U. became the third program from outside the six power conferences to win a B.C.S. game, joining Utah and Boise State. It is also the first team from outside the power leagues to win the Rose Bowl since Columbia beat Stanford, 7-0, in 1934.

“Today we played for us and everyone else out there who wanted a chance,” Patterson said.

And the Horned Frogs sealed the victory, fittingly, with one last defensive stand by a player who epitomizes their program. After Wisconsin pulled within 2 points with two minutes remaining on a 4-yard touchdown run by Montee Ball, T.C.U.’s Tank Carder made the game’s defining play.

The Badgers inexplicably went to a shotgun formation for the 2-point conversion, and quarterback Scott Tolzien had tight end Jacob Pedersen wide open one step over the goal line. But Carder, who was stymied on his blitz attempt, leapt up and knocked down the ball to seal the victory for T.C.U.

“I just jumped up and swatted it away,” he said. “I can’t even explain it. It feels so good.”

The play left the Wisconsin coaching staff open to second guessing. After a dominating drive in which the Badgers used their superior size to run the ball on 9 of 10 plays, Wisconsin went away from its strength, and its roots, by lining up in the shotgun and passing the ball.

“That was something we saw on film,” Bielema said, defending the call. “And obviously the guy was open, but you’ve got to get the defender’s hands down in that situation. Hindsight is 20/20.”

It was easy to see that T.C.U. belonged on this stage, with no player showing that more than the senior quarterback Andy Dalton, who played almost flawlessly as he ran for a touchdown and threw for another. The Horned Frogs will join the Big East in 2012, and they may have planted seeds for future B.C.S. bowl wins on the Rose Bowl’s hallowed turf. Their recruiting profile will only increase, as will their access to B.C.S. bowl games.

“The truth will come out when they enter into a B.C.S. conference and play someone of those caliber of those conferences week in and week out,” Wisconsin Coach Bret Bielema said. “I don’t think they’re a Cinderella story.”

Before college football had a national title game, there would have been heavy lobbying for first-place votes in the aftermath of a marquee bowl victory. While Patterson complimented his team, he resisted the urge to make any grandiose statements.

Patterson said he looked forward to watching the national title game on his couch without worrying about what blitz to dial up. He appeared more appreciative of the opportunity to play in the Rose Bowl than concerned with college football’s method of determining a national champion.

“It’s like anything else in college football or anything else you have in life,” he said. “There is a set of rules of how it is, and right now this is the way that it is. I’ve never been a whiner, I’ve never been somebody that’s been out there griping about how it is, and I’m not going to start now.”

Instead, by the time the sun set on college football’s most historic backdrop, the Rose Bowl had played host to something very untraditional — a showcase of just how parity-laden college football has become.

For all of the Big 10’s history, cable money and pride, the interlopers from the Mountain West stole the show beneath the Hollywood sign. An in this modern era of college football, few could really be surprised that T.C.U., which entered the game as a favorite, thumbed their nose at tradition.

2011 Outback Bowl: Florida 37, Penn State 24

Game 13: And so it ends

by mlmintampa on Jan 1, 2011 5:30 PM EST in Football

Urban Meyer's final game as a Gators coach was not perfect, but the Gators had more talent and made more plays in defeating Penn State 37-24 in the Outback Bowl.

Penn State led 24-17 with about four minutes remaining in the third quarter, following a sloppy first half on both sides. Florida began their comeback with a Chas Henry 47-yard field goal, one of three Henry hit on Saturday. While Henry did not have an All-American punting day, he gave UF nine points that kept them in the game. Florida would take the lead on a Mike Gillisleetouchdown dive, following Brandon Hicks' interception of Penn State's Matt McGloin.

The Gators defense was why Florida won today's game. UF shutdown Penn State in the 4th quarter, leading to another field goal. For the finale, with Penn State driving to a possible winning score, Ahmad Black took his second interception of the game 80 yards to the house for the final margin. Florida forced five turnovers in the game, all interceptions.

The first 40 minutes of the game did not inspire much confidence in Florida being able to shake off the awfulness that was their 2010 offensive output. On their first offensive play, John Brantley threw an interception, as he was 6-13 for 41 yards. If Brantley is hoping for a release from his scholarship, today might have put the final signature on the letter. Trey Burton, who was used sparingly after fumbling on the goal line driving to tie the score at 7-7, had two carries, two catches and one attempted pass. The Jordan Reed Show took center stage instead, as the freshman was 8-13 for 60 yards and had 68 yards on the ground. Omarius Hines also should get some bandwagon jumpers after two badass offensive plays, including the score to tie the game at 7-7. Of course, as is typical of the mighty Steve Addazio, Hines only got four touches in the game.

If I may go off message here, I was more emotional about seeing the final game for Black and Mike Pounceythan Urban Meyer. Black and Pouncey are part of the vaunted Lakeland Dreadnaughts class, football's equivalent of the Oh Fours. Pouncey might not be able to throw a straight snap, but he demonstrated why he is an NFL prospect. Watching him pull 30 yards to make a lead block really is a thing of beauty.

As for Black, where would Florida have been without him this season? He launched himself into bigger men all season, including today when he busted his face breaking up a pass. His second interception today was the perfect ending to a very imperfect season.

Like Meyer, their Florida careers are over, but we will see them soon somewhere else. Starting tomorrow, we should hope to see more of Jordan Reed and Omarius Hines.