It took 45 years, but Les Miles and his Louisiana State Tigers (11-2) finally won a Cotton Bowl, coming from behind to beat the Texas A&M Aggies (9-4), 41-24.
LSU was just 1 of 5 teams to win bowl games recently. Texas Tech outlasted Northwestern 45-38 in the inaugural TicketCity Bowl, Syracuse won a close shoot-out with Kansas State 36-34 in the Pinstripe Bowl, Pittsburgh whipped Kentucky 27-10 in the BBVA Compass Bowl, and Nevada moved past Boston College 20-13 in the Fight Hunger Bowl.
LSU's Jordan Jefferson threw 3 touchdown passes to Terrance Toliver and ran for another score to lead the 11th-ranked Tigers over the 18th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies. Steven Ridley added 105 yards rushing and Spencer Ware another 102 yards.
The victory was sweet for head coach Les Miles, who has now completed his 4th season in 6 years with at least 11 wins. Losing was really sour for A&M coach Mike Sherman, whose Aggies earned their way to the Cotton Bowl by winning their last 6 games with impressive victories over Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas.
Texas Tech's Taylor Potts winged 4 touchdown passes and scored another on a trick play, and Eric Stephens added an 86-yard scoring run as the Red Raiders (8-5) blew past Northwestern in a game that was not decided until the last play.
Texas Tech led by 22 points early in the 2nd half, but had to stave off an attempted comeback by the Wildcats, who scored on 3 straight TD drives and also got a 39-yard pick-six interception return. Northwestern remains winless in a bowl game since 1949, losing 8 in a row and 3 close ones.
This was a classic shoot-out with a combined total offense of 927 yards, emphasizing each team's total lack of a defense. Tech's QB Potts went 43-for-56 (76%) for 369 yards; Northwestern's lack of a secondary made Potts look like a world beater.
Syracuse (8-5) hung tough in its 36-34 shoot-out win over Kansas State(7-6). Delone Carter ran for 198 yards and 2 touchdowns and Marcus Sales caught 3 long TD passes (56, 44, and 36 yards) from Ryan Nassib to lead the Orange to victory. A celebration penalty by K-State also helped Syracuse.
Adrian Hilburn looked good as he slipped a tackle and sped 30 yards to score on a pass from Carson Coffman with 1:13 left, but he got sappy as he saluted the crowd. Hilburn was flagged with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that pushed K-State's 2-point conversion attempt back to the 17-yard line. The conversion attempt, which would have tied the game, failed.
Pittsburgh converted two mistakes by Kentucky's punting team into touchdowns as the Panthers put a whipping on Kentucky and gave former coach Dave Wannstedt a going away bowl win. Wannstedt got the ax from Pitt; defensive coordinator Phil Bennett, Pitt's acting head coach for game, is also departing to become the defensive coordinator at Baylor.
Wannstedt tried his best to bring Pittsburgh back to national prominence, but never made it.
This game got a little rough as players on both teams traded punches in the 2nd quarter. Tempers flared when Pitt was called for a false start and a Kentucky player hit Tino Sunseri as officials attempted to stop the play. Pitt's Jason Pinkston responded by shoving a Wildcat, and a brawl ensued.
This is college football. Occasionally they duke it out.
Nevada rolled to a 12-1 season with a high-powered offense and a bowl game appearance against Boston College, but it was the Wolf Pack defense that showed up big and saved the day as 13th-ranked Nevada held on to upend unranked Boston College, 20-13.
The Eagles top-ranked rushing defense stopped Nevada's pistol attack that was ranked 3rd in the nation with 336 yards per game. Boston College held Nevada to 114 yards rushing.
The Wolf Pack's Rishard Matthews came to the rescue with a 27-yard touchdown reception and a 72-yard punt return. Matthews' return for a score was Nevada's first in 9 years. The victory was sealed by the defense when Khalid Wooten intercepted a Boston College pass on the final drive of the game.
Boston College played without its leading rusher, Montel Harris, who hurt himself stretching before the game. The Eagles ended their season at 7-6.
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