Saturday results
PEACH BOWL
Tennessee 46, Mississippi State 20
Will Rogers threw a pick six on Mississippi State’s third play of the game, and the Vols offense was too good to allow their defense to score too.
GATOR BOWL
Florida 33, Iowa State 24
Neither offense could get anything going for a while, Brock Purdy starting the game 1-8 for 12 yards and an interception. But things picked up midway through the third quarter, when the teams exchanged touchdowns to make it 17-14. From that point on, it was all Gators, scoring the final 16 points of the game.
CITRUS BOWL
Auburn 38, MICHIGAN 28
A Michigan-Auburn Citrus Bowl feels like the most real thing about this tournament. J.J. McCarthy accounted for two touchdowns, first on a 7 yard run, which set up a 68 yard pass over the top to a completely open Andrel Anthony to give the Wolverines control at 28-17. The Michigan defense completely melted down in the fourth quarter against the Auburn run game, which they had held in check for three quarters. The Tigers ran for 193 yards over their final four drives, which resulted in three touchdowns, and probably would have gotten at least a field goal on the fourth, except for a David Ojabo third down sack.
COTTON BOWL
Oklahoma 25, Cincinnati 21
Cincinnati gave Caleb Williams whatever he wanted between the twenties, and for a little over three quarters, it worked perfectly, and Cincinnati held a narrow 14-13 lead, even though Williams was already at 338 yards, because the Sooners had kicked five field goals, and missed three of them. Then Desmond Ridder broke his wrist, and the Bearcats had to turn to Evan Prater. Cincinnati caught the Sooners off guard, by letting him throw downfield on his second play, and it went for a 56 yard touchdown. The problem was Prater was awful beyond that, and Oklahoma loaded the box. The clamp down in the red zone strategy also failed, as Oklahoma scored 12 fourth quarter points, and Williams finished with 449 passing yards.
SUN BOWL
Ole Miss 38, Notre Dame 31 (OT)
Jack Coan took a sack on 4th and goal at the 5 with 3:51 left, down 31-24, a nearly unforgivable mistake, but the defense got him another chance, and he dove for the tying touchdown with 29 seconds left. It was overturned on review, but Tyren Williams punched it in a play later. Unfortunately he made two bad throws in overtime, the second of which was a game ending interception, after Ole Miss scored in the top half in two plays. Both losses in tournament play for the Irish came to Lane Kiffin.
HOLIDAY BOWL
PENN STATE 42, MINNESOTA 14
C.J. Stroud couldn’t beat the Gophers, neither could Bryce Young. But Sean Clifford absolutely cooked them. A 48 yard jet sweep to Jahan Dotson on their first possession of the second half ended any minor doubt, to make it 35-0. But Clifford ran for 84 yards and 2 touchdowns in the first half, and threw for 116 and another, while Minnesota mustered just 33 first half passing yards, falling behind 28-0 at the break.
