Reliaquest Bowl
Tampa, FL
Mississippi State 19, Illinois 10

Mississippi State won their first game since the unexpected death of head coach Mike Leach, coming back from an early deficit to do so. The Bulldogs, wearing a pirate flag on their helmets in honor of Coach Leach, took their first lead in the game with 4 seconds left on a 27-yard field goal from Massimo Biscardi. The Illini tried a wild series of laterals on the final play but the ball was picked off by the Bulldogs and returned for the games final points. Will Rogers threw for 261 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions for the struggling Bulldog offense. But the Dogs defense held Illinois to just 215 yards and had 7 sacks in the game.

Citrus Bowl
Orlando, FL
LSU 63, Purdue 7

The Tigers steamrolled the Boilermakers to finish off a 10-win season in Brian Kelly’s first year at the helm. Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels had 139 yards passing and a score to go along with 67 yards rushing and he even caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from wideout Malik Nabers. Freshman Garrett Nussmeier also saw time at quarterback and threw for 173 yards and two touchdowns of his own. The margin of victory for the Tigers tied the largest in college football bowl history.

Cotton Bowl
Arlington, TX
Tulane 46, USC 45

The Tulane Green Wave roared back in the final four minutes to knock off No. 10 USC 46-45. Michael Pratt led two big late scoring drives to give the Green Wave their big win. Pratt led a two play drive in 23 seconds that cut the lead to 8. Then USC mishandled the kickoff and had to start at their own 1 yard line and the Green Wave forced a safety in two plays to get within 6. Pratt then led a 12-play, 66 yard drive capped by a 6-yard touchdown pass to Alex Bauman that was initially ruled an incompletion. After review the call was overturned to a touchdown and the ensuing extra point gave the Green Wave the win. Tyjae Spears was a monster on the ground for Tulane with 208 yards and 4 touchdowns on the day. The Green Wave finish the year at 12-2. USC fell to 11-3.

Rose Bowl
Pasadena, CA
Penn State 35, Utah 21

Penn State won just their second rose bowl in program history, using a strong second half to take down the Utes. Sean Clifford was 16-22 for 279 yards and a pair of touchdwons for the Nittany Lions. Utah quarterback Cam Rising left the game in the third quarter with a knee injury and backup Bryson Barnes struggled the rest of the way. Penn State running back Nicholas Singleton had two rushing touchdowns, including an 87-yard scamper to break a 14-all tie midway through the third.