The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (8-5) and Navy Midshipmen (9-4) will square off in the 2016 Armed Forces Bowl, and Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo is seeking to lead his team to 10 wins for the second year in a row. With a win, it would be the first time in school history that Navy has reached 10 or more wins in back-to-back years. More
The Colorado State Rams face off against the Idaho Vandals in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Here is all of the information you need for the matchup.
Colorado State ended their season hot on offense behind the arm of quarterback Nick Stevens (14 TD’s and 1 Int, in final six games) and the legs of running backs Dalyn Dawkins and Izzy Matthews. To add to offensive weapons that the Rams have is wide receiver Michael Gallup who leads the team with 1,164 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns on the season. The Colorado State defense is led by linebacker Kevin Davis, who has 101 tackles on the season.
Idaho came out of nowhere this season to win eight games and now finds itself playing in a bowl game in its home state. The Idaho football program hasn’t exactly been one…
Tulsa has put itself in the running for the most dominant performance of the 2016-17 bowl season.
The Golden Hurricane showcased their talent on both sides of the ball with a 55-10 win over Central Michigan in the Miami Beach Bowl. More
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Taylor Rapp returned one of his two interceptions for a touchdown and Myles Gaskin ran for 159 yards to help No. 4 Washington strengthen its case for a playoff berth with a 41-10 victory over No. 9 Colorado in the Pac-12 championship game Friday night.
The Huskies (12-1, No. 4 CFP) broke open a close game when Rapp intercepted Sefo Liufau’s passes on the first two drives of the second half for a touchdown and to set up a field goal that made it 24-7.
Washington rolled from there to its first conference title since 2000 with a performance likely to keep the Huskies in the top four when the College Football Playoff bids are handed out Sunday.
It was a rough day for Colorado (10-3, No. 8 CFP) and Liufau, who was knocked out of the game after injuring his right leg on a sack on the Buffaloes’ first drive of the game. He returned to start the second half and threw three interceptions, including one on the first play from scrimmage that Rapp returned 35 yards for a score.
Liufau threw another interception on the ensuing drive and Colorado could never recover. Even a circus kick return in…
UW’s John…
The Cowboys turned in another solid defensive effort and cashed in a key turnover Thursday night as they held off the Vikings, 17-15.
It came down to the final seconds. The Vikings drove and scored their only touchdown of the game with 25 seconds left when Jerick McKinnon caught a pass in the flats from Sam Bradford, but the two-point conversion failed and Jason Witten recovered the ensuing kick to preserve the win.
The Cowboys trailed, 9-7, in the fourth quarter when Cowboys linebacker Kyle Wilber basically took the ball away from…
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were not expected to beat the Seattle Seahawks Sunday. Not only did the Bucs win, they turned in a dominant defensive effort.
Tampa defenders sacked Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson six times and intercepted him twice in a 14-5 victory to keep playoff hopes alive. Offensively, the Buccaneers were led by receiver Mike Evans, who had his way with the Legion of Boom. He finished with eight catches for 104 yards and both of the game’s touchdowns.
Tampa Bay (6-5) remained just a game back of the Atlanta Falcons (7-4) in the NFC South. The Buccaneers are also just half a game back of Washington (6-4-1) for the final wild-card spot in the NFC. The Falcons dealt a blow to Arizona’s playoff chances with a 38-19 win over the Cardinals at the Georgia Dome.
The Seahawks (7-3-1) still have a comfortable lead in the NFC West with every other team in the division also losing. The Cardinals (4-6-1) lost in Atlanta while the Los Angeles Rams (4-7) were clobbered by the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco 49ers lost their 10th straight with a 31-24 defeat in Miami.
The defending NFC champions appear done after Carolina fell to 4-7 with Sunday’s 35-32 loss in Oakland.
The Saints (5-6) also stayed alive in the NFC playoff hunt with their dominant 49-21 victory at the Superdome. They sit 10th in the NFC, but can gain ground with two games remaining against the Buccaneers and the season finale at Atlanta. Four of New Orleans’ final five games are indoors, where Saints quarterback Drew Brees has thrived.
The Dolphins and Bills helped themselves in the AFC. Miami held off a final charge by the 49ers to move to 7-4 and into a tie with the Denver Broncos for the sixth spot in the AFC. Sunday’s 30-27 win over the Broncos pushed the Kansas City Chiefs to within a game of the Raiders (9-2) in the AFC West and securely into the top wild-card slot.
Buffalo kept its postseason dreams alive thanks to a fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Tyrod Taylor to Justin Hunter to lift the Bills to a 28-21 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-9). The San Diego Chargers (5-6) also stayed in the hunt thanks to their 21-13 win over the struggling Houston Texans (6-5), who still lead the AFC South.
Behind the Dolphins, the AFC is a jumbled mess as the Bills, Texans, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans all have six wins. The Steelers (6-5) beat the Indianapolis Colts (5-6) on Thursday while the Titans (6-6) evened their record with a 27-21 win over the Chicago Bears (2-9) on Sunday. The Ravens stayed tied with the Steelers atop the AFC North with a 19-14 win over the Cincinnati Bengals (3-7-1).
There is still a lot to be decided over the next five weeks as only the Dallas Cowboys (10-1), New England Patriots (9-2), Raiders and Seahawks appear to be postseason locks.
The winless Cleveland Browns, who fell to 0-12 with Sunday’s 27-13 loss to the New York Giants, and the 49ers (1-10) are the only teams already eliminated from playoff contention.
Injury report
Jaguars receiver Allen Hurns fought for a 12-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter of Jacksonville’s 28-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills, but it was a costly score. Hurns grabbed his left hamstring after diving into the end zone and did not return to the game. The touchdown was his only catch…
Check the scoreboard above for the final score and click on the stats link for game stats.
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Here’s the AP recap:
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Trace McSorley completed 17 of 23 passes for 376 yards and four touchdowns and No. 8 Penn State beat Michigan State 45-12 to win the Big Ten East on Saturday.
Penn State (10-2, 8-1 Big Ten, No. 7 CFP) edged No. 2 Ohio State for the East title, setting up a conference championship game against West winner Wisconsin next week in Indianapolis. The Nittany Lions beat Ohio State24-20 at home Oct. 22.
McSorley set single-season school record for total offense and sparked the Nittany Lions with multiple deep passes in the second half when Penn State outscored Michigan State 35-0.
He threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Chris Godwin down the sideline on Penn State’s first second-half possession and followed it with a 45-yarder to Mike Gesicki on the next drive. Godwin got loose down the middle minutes later and McSorley hit him in stride for 59 yards to give Penn State a 31-12 lead and cap a 21-point third quarter.
Andre Robinson added 14- and 40-yard touchdown runs in the fourth quarter for Penn State, and Saquon Barkley scored on a 1-yard run in the second. Barkley left in the third quarter with an apparent right leg injury and did not return.
Tyler Davis added a second-quarter field goal for Penn State.
Michael Geiger kicked four field goals for the Spartans (3-9, 1-8), the last giving Michigan State a 12-10 halftime lead.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Penn State: The Nittany Lions will get another shot to impress the selection committee in the Big Ten championship game. As for a shake up right now, the question is how far will No. 3 Michigan fall having lost two of its last three, including a double-overtime game at Ohio State.
THE BIG PICTURE
Michigan State: The Spartans’ run of nine straight seasons with a bowl appearance under Mark Dantonio was snapped weeks ago. Their chance to play spoiler was hindered by more…
LOS ANGELES — The end is here. And it looked, for the most part, like the rest of it.
Notre Dame’s 45-27 loss shared all too many similarities with their other seven defeats. Special teams blunders. A devastating stretch before halftime that altered the game’s outcome. And a mostly gutty effort that ended with the Irish losing because they gave away much more than they took.
The Irish showed plenty of fight on Saturday. Unfortunately, they showed just as much charity. Two special teams touchdowns for Adoree Jackson. A DeShone Kizer gift-wrapped pick six. Add them together and three scores were just too many to spot the hottest football team in the country.
The Irish end their season with four wins. They leave behind many more unanswered questions. Let’s find out what we learned.
Adoree Jackson against Notre Dame’s special teams was an unfair fight.
Notre Dame knew Adoree Jackson was one of the country’s most dangerous return men. They kicked to him anyway.
Jackson’s 55-yard punt return and 97-yard kickoff return were two more touchdowns given up by Scott Booker’s special teams, a fitting end to a nightmarish season where the five return scores allowed only covered a fraction of the damage done.
On a day where the Irish special teams needed to be clean, they were anything but. And when Jackson picked up a bouncing punt and sprinted to the end zone, he turned a field goal-game into a 10-pointer. And when Jackson answered his coverage blunder with a hurdling, highlight reel return touchdown, he all but ended the game.
“Unfortunately today, special teams was a huge deciding factor in the game and we gave up two touchdowns there to a very talented player,” Kelly said postgame. “But we knew how talented he was going into the game.”
That talent presented omnipresent problems, the Irish unwilling to kick away from Jackson when they knew playmakers like Ronald Jones and JuJu Smith-Schuster awaited. And with Jackson’s lone catch going 52-yards for a touchdown, the All-American candidate left Irish defenders grasping at air as the all-purpose weapon scored three times—with Irish fans hoping they’ve seen Jackson for the last time with a stay-or-go decision coming soon.
(Speaking of those…)
DeShone Kizer may well be a high first-round draft pick. But before he makes his final decision, he’d be wise to look at all the information on hand.
DeShone Kizer hasn’t made any decisions. That was the message from the quarterback after he faced a swarm of tape recorders, all hoping to get something from a football player far too smart to offer anything.
But if this is indeed it for Kizer, he’ll leave a resume far less convincing than the one he had entering the season. As NFL teams looks for a quarterback to change the future of their franchise, Kizer will need to prove that the player showing up on tape is the real deal, not a signal-caller who regressed in his second season as a starter.
Kizer’s final Saturday of the season was another mixed bag. His 17 completions included some throws that’ll make football men nod with approval. But his 15 misses included some head-shakers, none more confounding than Ajene Harris‘s interception, the throw into coverage breaking Notre Dame’s back.
Kizer’s receiving corps was undermanned, with Corey Holmes struggling in a featured role and Chris Finke supplying most of the playmaking. Add in challenging weather conditions, and it was difficult to tell if Kizer struggled or merely fought an uphill fight.
“There were…
AUSTIN, Texas – Quarterback Kenny Hill ran for two touchdowns and TCU beat Texas 31-9 Friday, sending Longhorns coach Charlie Strong to a crushing loss in what may be his final game after three seasons.
Amid swirling reports he will be fired, Texas officials had said this week that Strong’s future would be evaluated after the game. The loss dropped Strong to 16-21 at Texas and he’s the first coach in program history with three consecutive losing seasons.
Strong has two years left on a guaranteed contract that pays him more than $5 million per season.
Hill scored TCU’s first touchdown with a 4-yard run that capped the Horned Frogs’ first drive. He scored again in the third quarter on a 41-yard scamper that saw him break away from a pass rush and dart…