Thursday’s bowls: TCU rallies to defeat Stanford in Alamo Bowl
Kenny Hill passed for two touchdowns, ran for another and even caught one as No. 13 TCU rallied from a big early deficit to beat 15th-ranked Stanford 39-37 in the Alamo Bowl on Thursday night in San Antonio.
Cole Bunce’s 33-yard field goal with just over 3 minutes to play won it for the Horned Frogs (11-3), who trailed 21-3 before storming back behind big plays from Hill and a 76-yard punt return from Desmon White. TCU rallied from 31 down to beat Oregon in the 2015 Alamo Bowl.
Stanford (9-5) running back Bryce Love, a Heisman Trophy finalist, rushed for 145 yards and had a 69-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. K.J. Costello had three touchdown passes to J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, the last one giving Stanford a 37-36 lead.
Hill then drove TCU to Bunce’s game winner. The Horned Frogs defense sealed it with an interception by Innis Gaines with 2:01 left.
Hill finished with 314 yards passing, a team-high 60 yards rushing and caught a 27-yard TD pass from White in his final game.
Love finished with the season with 2,118 yards rushing, the school’s single-season record.
Camping World Bowl
(17) Oklahoma State 30, (22) Virginia Tech 22: Mason Rudolph threw for 351 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and James Washington became Oklahoma State’s career receiving yards leader as the Cowboys beat the Hokies in the Camping World Bowl in Orlando, Florida.
Washington caught five passes for 126 yards, giving him 4,472 for his career and passing Rashaun Woods for the school mark. Justice Hill ran for 120 yards and another score for the Cowboys (10-3), who have won 10 games in each of the last three seasons – another Oklahoma State first.
Josh Jackson ran for two scores and threw for another for the Hokies (9-4), including a rush that got Virginia Tech within 27-21 with 5:40 remaining. Deshawn McClease ran for 124 yards, a Virginia Tech season-best, but the Hokies were hurt by two turnovers in Oklahoma State territory.
Hill came through with perhaps the play of the night. Facing a third-and-11 with 3:30 left, Hill took a handoff, went left, waited for a lane to open – and broke loose for a 31-yard gain down to the Hokies’ 18. Matt Ammendola’s 38-yard field goal with 2:34 left put the Cowboys up by nine, essentially sealing the outcome.
Virginia Tech actually outgained the high-octane Cowboys, 518 yards to 492.
Military Bowl
Navy 49, Virginia 7: Backup quarterback Zach Abey scored five touchdowns, Malcolm Perry ran for 114 yards and two scores and the Midshipmen defeated the Cavaliers in a surprisingly lopsided Military Bowl in Annapolis, Maryland.
After Virginia’s Joe Reed took the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, the Midshipmen (7-6) got two TDs apiece from quarterbacks Perry and Abey in taking a 28-7 halftime lead.
Perry left in the third quarter with a foot injury, leaving Abey to score on runs of 5 and 20 yards to make it 42-7 in a game Navy entered as a 1 1/2-point favorite.
Abey added a 1-yard touchdown with 11:11 remaining, then sat for the remainder of the game.
The Midshipmen rolled up a Military Bowl-record 452 yards rushing, including 101 by Chris High and 88 by Abey, who began the season as the starter before losing the job.
Playing in their first bowl since 2011, the Cavaliers (6-7) could not contain Navy’s triple option and had no success moving the ball.