College Football Bowl Game Capsules
Atlanta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) – Snubbed by the College Football Playoff committee, TCU made an emphatic statement against the nation’s stingiest defense on Wednesday. Trevone Boykin threw two of his three touchdown passes to Josh Doctson and the sixth-ranked Horned Frogs manhandled the No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels 42-3 in the Peach Bowl. TCU (12-1) felt it was worthy of playing for the national title, but fell from third to sixth in the final playoff rankings despite closing its regular season with a 55-3 rout of Iowa State to earn a share of the Big 12 championship. Boykin was 22-of-31 for 187 yards with three interceptions. Wide receiver Kolby Listenbee opened the scoring with a touchdown pass to Aaron Green and added a touchdown reception. Bo Wallace struggled mightily against a stout Horned Frogs defense. Wallace threw three first-half interceptions, one of which resulted in a TCU touchdown, and fumbled once while completing 10-of-23 passes for 109 yards. The Rebels (9-4), who were held to 129 total yards on offense, had their bowl win streak snapped a six games. Ole Miss entered the contest with the nation’s No. 1 scoring defense, allowing just 13.8 points per game.
Final Score: (21) Boise State 38, (12) Arizona 30
Glendale, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) – Boise State once again had a party in the Fiesta Bowl, even if it couldn’t start celebrating until the very end. Jay Ajayi rushed for three first-half touchdowns, Thomas Sperbeck amassed a career-high 199 yards on 12 catches and the 21st-ranked Broncos stopped Arizona near the goal line on the final play to hold on for a thrilling 38-30 victory over the No. 12 Wildcats. Boise State built a 21-0 first-quarter lead and stayed in front the rest of the way, though Arizona got within eight yards of a potential game-tying touchdown before Anu Solomon was sacked by Kamalei Correa as time ran out. Ajayi finished with 134 yards on 22 carries in the Mountain West champion Broncos’ ninth straight win and third in the past nine Fiesta Bowls. Grant Hedrick threw for 309 yards with a touchdown and an interception while completing 24-of-34 passes for Boise State (12-2). Solomon had both a rushing and passing touchdown and put up 335 yards on a 28-of-49 completion rate, but the freshman also had a few rookie mistakes that hurt Arizona (10-4) in its first major bowl appearance since the 1994 Fiesta. He was intercepted twice, one of which was returned 16 yards for a critical touchdown by Donte Deayon late in the third quarter, and couldn’t throw the ball away on Correa’s game-ending tackle on third down with the Wildcats out of time outs.
Final Score: (10) Georgia Tech 49, (8) Mississippi State 34
Miami, FL (SportsNetwork.com) – Justin Thomas accounted for four touchdowns and No. 10 Georgia Tech gouged eighth-ranked Mississippi State for an Orange Bowl record 452 rushing yards in a 49-34 rout on Wednesday night. Thomas finished with 121 yards on the ground with three touchdowns and also threw for 125 yards with a score and an interception, earning Orange Bowl MVP honors. Synjyn Days rushed for 171 yards and three scores for the Yellow Jackets (11-3), who responded from a close loss to Florida State in the ACC Championship Game and broke down a solid SEC defense. Dak Prescott went 33-of-51 passing for 453 yards with three touchdowns and an interception for the Bulldogs (10-3), while also rushing for 47 yards and a touchdown. Josh Robinson, who declared for the NFL Draft prior to the game via his Instagram account, rushed for a team-high 75 yards in the setback. De’Runnya Wilson hauled in nine passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns.
Categorized in: NCAA Football