January 2 bowl games
- GATOR: #21 Auburn 22, #23 Notre Dame 18
- FIESTA: #5 Iowa State 31, #7 NEBRASKA 22
- ORANGE: #8 North Carolina 32, #6 WISCONSIN 7
In the most letter conservative QB battle of all time, Bo Nix held off Ian book, by finally punching it into the end zone, when he needed to. The Tigers' first 5 trips inside the Irish 25 yard line resulted in 5 field goals, while Ian Book struggled, but led Notre Dame on a pair of touchdown drives. The Irish sold out to make Nix keep the ball, and he did. While he wasn't efficient, he did wind up with 118 rushing yards on 23 carries. Trailing 18-15 with 4:55 to play he finally led Auburn to their first touchdown drive of the game.
The Huskers completely shut down the Iowa State offense early, while stretching their early lead to 16-0, even with a pair of Taylor Martinez interceptions, including one in the end zone. The Cyclones kicked a field goal on the final play of the half, to cut it to 16-3. The game really shifted after Matt Campbell elected to punt on 4th and 2 from his own 48 midway through the third. Nebraska was pinned inside their own 1, and a short run and two incomplete passes later, a tipped punt went out of bounds at the Nebraska 22. Iowa State scored a touchdown 3 plays later, and scored again before the third was over, to go up 17-16. Scott Frost went to Luke McCaffrey after Martinez had thrown 2 interceptions, and was ineffective on the ground. The move seemed to pay off immediately, as Nebraska drove 75 yards for a touchdown. McCaffrey was held out on the quarterback keepr for the two point conversion, but Nebraska regained a 22-17 lead. The Husker defense, which had played so well in the first half, allowed the Cyclones back to back touchdown drives, with Breece Hall tallying 96 of his 171 rushing yards over those final two drives.
The Badger defense did the best they could, but Jack Coan was awful, completing just 113 passing yards on the day, and North Carolina was set up time after time. It was a respectable 9-0, late in the 2nd before Sam Howell hit Dymai Brown on a 46 yard catch and run to stretch it to 16-0. Mack Brown went aggressive, burning his timeouts to get the ball back, and with the ball back to the Badgers 44, it looked like it might pay off. Instead Scottie Nelson picked off a tipped ball across the middle, and Wisconsin got down to the UNC 32. A missed field goal left Wisconsin scoreless at the half, and they never got the ball that deep into North Carolina territory again until the 4th quarter.
