College football bowl games
Published 9:35 pm Saturday, December 29, 2007
ALAMO BOWL: Penn State 24, Texas A&M 17: At San Antonio — Joe Paterno’s 500th game as Penn State coach ended the way most have: with JoePa on top.
Evan Royster broke a tie with a 38-yard touchdown run and Deon Butler scored on a controversial 30-yard catch as Penn State erased an early 14-point deficit to beat Texas A&M on Saturday night at the Alamo Bowl.
Paterno, college football’s leader in bowl appearances (34), led the Nittany Lions in a thriller that brought him his record 23rd postseason win.
The Nittany Lions secured their third straight bowl victory and spoiled Gary Darnell’s one-game stint as interim head coach. Darnell took over Nov. 23, when Dennis Franchione resigned, and A&M has hired Mike Sherman, currently offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans, take over as head coach in 2008.
LIBERTY BOWL: Mississippi State 10, Central Florida 3: At Memphis Tenn., Anthony Dixon scored on a 1-yard run with 1:54 remaining, Derek Pegues had two interceptions and Mississippi State kept Central Florida’s Kevin Smith from breaking the single-season rushing record in a victory at the Liberty Bowl.
In a game featuring anemic offenses and few big plays, the Bulldogs (8-5) kept Central Florida (10-4) out of the end zone and held Smith to 119 yards. The junior finished 61 yards shy of Barry Sanders’ single-season record of 2,628 yards set for Oklahoma State in 1988.
It was the lowest scoring Liberty Bowl since Penn State beat Tulane 9-6 in 1979.
MEINEKE BOWL: Wake Forest 24, UConn 10: At Charlotte, N.C., Behind speedy receiver Kenneth Moore and a swarming defense full of big plays, the Demon Deacons rallied to beat fellow upstart Connecticut.
Often called “Weak Forest” for a long history of ineptitude, Wake Forest (9-3) secured the second-most wins in school history, behind only last year’s improbable 11-3 mark that included an Atlantic Coast Conference title and an Orange Bowl berth.
Wake Forest finished with nine wins in its last 11 games, and reeled off 24 unanswered points after falling behind 10-0 at halftime against the Huskies, who were playing in only their second bowl game.
Moore, a senior playing in his hometown in his final game, caught 11 passes for 112 yards. Riley Skinner completed 29 of 38 passes for 268 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
Micah Andrews put it away with a 9-yard touchdown run with 29 seconds left for Wake Forest.
Associated Press
