’Noles hold off Wolverines
TD pass with 36 seconds to play gives Florida State 33-32 victory in Orange Bowl
MIAMI — Deondre Francois threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Nyqwan Murray with 36 seconds remaining and No. 10 Florida State beat No. 6 Michigan 33-32 in a wild Orange Bowl on Friday night.
Francois threw for two scores — both to Murray — and ran for another for the Seminoles (10-3). They got 145 yards rushing from Dalvin Cook and recovered after wasting a 12-point lead midway through the fourth.
Chris Evans had a 30-yard touchdown run and Khalid Hill an eight-yard scoring catch in the final minutes for Michigan (10-3), which also got a defensive conversion when Josh Metellus ran a blocked extra point back after the second Francois-Murray TD.
But Michigan turned the ball over on its final possession, and the Seminoles held on to win a game where the teams combined for 23 points and two lead changes in the final 5:22.
“The character on this team,” Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said. “I’ve said it before. I’m as proud of this team as any I’ve coached.”
Evans’ scoring run put the Wolverines up 30-27, but Florida State’s Keith Gavin swung momentum back to the Seminoles with a 66-yard kickoff return right up the middle — setting up the crucial final scoring drive. “Best game of my life,” Cook said. Michigan played without injured star linebacker Jabrill Peppers, and lost tight end Jake Butt to what appeared to be a knee injury early in the second quarter.
Wilton Speight was 21-for-38 passing for 163 yards for Michigan, while Francois completed his freshman season with a 9-for-27 night.
STANFORD 25, N.CAROLINA 23
EL PASO, Texas — Bryce Love took over for the absent Christian McCaffrey in the Stanford backfield, running for 119 yards and catching a 49-yard touchdown pass to help the No. 16 Cardinal beat North Carolina 25-23 on Friday in the Sun Bowl.
Stanford held on after North Carolina pulled within two with 25 seconds left on Mitch Trubisky’s two-yard pass to Bug Howard, sacking Trubisky on the two-point conversion try.
McCaffrey skipped the bowl game to focus on his NFL career.
Stanford took a 25-17 lead on Conrad Ukropina’s 27-yard field goal with 3:23 left. North Carolina was forced to punt on its next series, but used two timeouts to get the ball back.
Stanford safety Dallas Lloyd intercepted two of Trubisky’s passes, returning the second 19 yards for a touchdown to give Stanford a 22-17 lead early in the fourth quarter.