Houston earns 12th win of season
Clayton Tune and the Houston Cougars punctuated an impressive season with a win in Southeastern Conference country.
Jake Herslow caught a 26-yard, go-ahead touchdown pass from Tune with 3:27 left to help lift No. 20 Houston to a 17-13 victory over Auburn on Tuesday in the Birmingham Bowl in front of a mostly orangeand-blue crowd at Protective Stadium in Alabama.
The Cougars (12-2) marched 80 yards in eight plays to cap the third season in program history with at least 12 wins. They ended a four-game bowl losing streak and won 12 of their final 13 games, the only loss after the opener coming to No. 4 Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference championship game.
“Winning this game solidified this 2021 football team at the University of Houston as a great football team,” said Houston coach Dana Holgorsen.
The Tigers (6-7) went in the opposite direction at the end of coach Bryan Harsin’s first season. They ended with five straight losses for the first time in 71 years and dropped their third bowl game in a row.
Game MVP Tune completed 26 of 40 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns with an interception while also rushing for 43 yards. Nathaniel Dell caught 10 passes for 150 yards, while Alton McCaskill ran for 66 yards and caught a touchdown pass.
Air Force 31, Louisville 28: Haaziq Daniels threw for two touchdowns and ran for two others as the Falcons (10-3) defeated the Cardinals (6-7) in the First Responder Bowl in Dallas.
Daniels completed nine of 10 passes for a season-high 252 yards, leading a tripleoption offense that came into the game averaging a Football Bowl Subdivisionbest 340.8 rushing yards and the second-fewest passing yards at 82.5 per game. Brandon Lewis had touchdown catches of 64 and 61 yards for Air Force, finishing with five receptions for 172 yards. That’s the most receiving yardage ever in the Falcons’ 28 bowl games.
Texas Tech 34, Mississippi State 7: Donovan Smith threw for 252 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score, and the Red Raiders (7-6) beat the Bulldogs (7-6) in the Liberty Bowl at Memphis, Tenn.
Tahj Brooks rushed for 107 yards and a touchdown and SaRodorick Thompson ran for 80 yards and a score for Texas Tech, which finished with a winning record for the first time since 2015. The Red Raiders were appearing in their first bowl game since 2017.
Coach Mike Leach fell short in his first game against a former program of his. Leach went 84-43 at Texas Tech from 2000 to 2009. He was seeking to become the first Bulldogs coach to end each of his first two seasons with a bowl victory.
Minnesota 18, West Virginia 6: Ky Thomas ran for 144 yards and a touchdown, Mar’Kiese Irving added 129 yards rushing, and the Gophers (9-4) shut down the Mountaineers (6-7) on defense to win the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix.
Thomas and Irving became Minnesota’s 1-2 punch after Mohamed Ibrahim and Trey Potts sustained season-ending injuries. The two running backs accounted for 273 of the Gophers’ 358 total yards.
Minnesota held West Virginia to 206 total yards to win its fifth consecutive bowl game overall and third under coach P.J. Fleck.