College Football Today
STARS
— Cincinnati receiver Mardy Gilyard returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown and caught five passes for 118 yards, including a 68-yard score, as the fifth-ranked Bearcats rallied to beat No. 14 Pitt 45-44.
— Mark Ingram rushed for 113 yards and three touchdowns as No. 2 Alabama romped to a 32-13 victory over top-ranked Florida in the Southeastern Conference title game.
— Pitt freshman Dion Lewis ran for 194 yards and three touchdowns on a school-record 47 carries in the Panthers’ 45-44 loss to Cincinnati.
— East Carolina’s Dwayne Harris had 123 receiving yards and a 22-yard touchdown catch, earning MVP honors in the Conference USA title game as the Pirates knocked off No. 18 Houston 38-32. Harris also had a 69-yard kickoff return to set up East Carolina’s first touchdown.
— Jonathan Grimes ran for 133 yards and three touchdowns as William & Mary defeated Southern Illinois 24-3 in the Football Championship Subdivision quarterfinals.
DRAMA IN BIG D
Hunter Lawrence kicked a 46-yard field goal as time expired, and No. 3 Texas defeated 21st-ranked Nebraska 13-12 to avert a BCS meltdown. The Longhorns likely earned a berth in the BCS title game against Alabama. With Colt McCoy throwing three interceptions, the Longhorns struggled all night against the punchless Cornhuskers. Texas got a huge break when an out-of-bounds kickoff gave the Longhorns the ball on their 40 with 1:44 to go. Then a replay review put a second back on the clock after it ran down to :00 as McCoy threw the ball out of bounds. The jubilant Cornhuskers poured onto the field, only to be sent back to the sidelines so Lawrence could attempt the winning field goal, which slipped inside the left upright. “I rolled out and threw out of bounds, expecting there to be one or two seconds left,” McCoy said in a television interview. “They rushed the field early. I knew there was time on the clock left.”
RAMBLIN’ INTO THE BCS
Jonathan Dwyer’s 15-yard touchdown run with 1:20 remaining lifted 12th-ranked Georgia Tech to a 39-34 victory over No. 25 Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, locking up the Yellow Jackets’ first BCS berth. The Jackets won despite another superb performance by ACC player of the year C.J. Spiller, who rushed for 233 yards and four touchdowns for the Tigers.
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’
Behind Mark Ingram and Greg McElroy, No. 2 Alabama routed top-ranked Florida 32-13, wrapping up a berth in the Bowl Championship Series title game. Alabama (13-0) will head to Pasadena to play for its first national championship since 1992. Foiled in its bid to win a third national title in four years, Florida (12-1) will likely settle for the Sugar Bowl. “They were just better than us today,” an emotional Florida quarterback Tim Tebow said in a television interview.
MIGHTY BEARCATS
If Brian Kelly leaves Cincinnati for Notre Dame, his last regular-season game with the Bearcats will be one to remember. With snow swirling along the north shore of the Allegheny River, No. 5 Cincinnati charged back from a 21-point first-half deficit to defeat No. 14 Pittsburgh 45-44. Tony Pike’s 29-yard touchdown pass to Armon Binns with 33 seconds left capped the rally. But Mardy Gilyard’s 99-yard kickoff return only 70 seconds before halftime provided a big lift for the struggling Bearcats, who wrapped up a BCS berth and their second straight Big East title.
PLAY OF THE DAY
Fresno State offensive lineman Devan Cunningham caught a deflected pass with 2 seconds left and stumbled into the end zone for a 2-point conversion, giving Fresno State a wild 53-52 victory over Illinois. After Ryan Colburn connected with Jamel Hamler from 19 yards to cut the Bulldogs’ deficit to 52-51, coach Pat Hill elected to go for the win rather than take his chances in overtime. Colburn dropped back under heavy pressure and his pass was tipped, falling into the hands of the 350-pound Cunningham, who leaned into the end zone. Officials reviewed the play and ruled that an Illinois defense back had tipped the ball, allowing anybody to catch it.
OFF THE BANDWAGON
USC fans were apparently too busy to turn out for the 20th-ranked Trojans’ final home game. There were tens of thousands of empty seats in the Los Angeles Coliseum (capacity 93,607) as the Wildcats knocked off the Trojans 21-17, breaking a seven-game losing streak against USC. Arizona (8-4, 6-3 Pac-10) finished in a tie for second place in the Pac-10 and is likely to draw a Holiday Bowl berth, while the Trojans (8-4, 5-4) could also be headed for San Diego— and the Poinsettia Bowl. USC, which finished tied for fifth in the Pac-10, lost at home for only the third time since 2002.
PERFECT AGAIN
Doug Martin ran for four touchdowns as No. 6 Boise State beat New Mexico State 42-7 to finish unbeaten for the second consecutive season. The Broncos (13-0) will have to wait until Sunday night to see if they made it into one of the big-money bowls this season. They went 12-0 last year but were left out of the BCS.
THEY SAID IT
“I love Mack Brown at Texas, but we’ll be rooting pretty hard for Nebraska. Go Nebraska. Go Cornhuskers.”—coach Brian Kelly of Cincinnati, whose hopes for a BCS title berth probably rested on a Nebraska upset of third-ranked Texas in the Big 12 playoff game.
BACK TO BACK, JACK
East Carolina beat No. 18 Houston 38-32 in the Conference USA title game, becoming the first team to win consecutive C-USA titles since the league went to divisional play in 2005. The victory sends the Pirates back to the Liberty Bowl. The Pirates’ defense picked off Houston star Case Keenum three times.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Central Michigan quarterback Dan LeFevour has the major college football record for touchdowns passing, rushing and receiving as the Chippewas defeated Ohio 20-10 in the Mid-American Conference playoff on Friday night in Detroit. LeFevour threw for two scores, giving him 148 career TDs and surpassing the mark set by Hawaii’s Colt Brennan in 2007 and matched by Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell in 2008.
FOURTH AND INCHES
After beating Rutgers for the 15th straight time, West Virginia (9-3, 5-2 Big East) accepted a bid to play in the Gator Bowl, possibly against Florida State and former Mountaineers coach Bobby Bowden. … Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said Saturday that players suspended for being present at a campus fight will not make the Spartans’ upcoming bowl trip. Dantonio has kicked two players off the team and suspended eight others as police continue to investigate the Nov. 22 fight at a campus dorm involving players and fraternity members. … USC quarterback Matt Barkley threw an interception for the eighth straight game in a 21-17 loss to Arizona. … Terrance Morring ran for three scores and caught a touchdown pass, leading Mount Union to a 55-3 win over Albright (Pa.) in the quarterfinals of the Division III playoffs. The Purple Raiders (13-0) extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 28 games and will play against undefeated Wesley in the semifinals next Saturday.
