Ga. Southern routs La. Tech
New Orleans Bowl win caps an eight-win season
Shai Werts had three touchdown runs and threw a 65-yard scoring pass to help Georgia Southern beat Louisiana Tech 38-3 in the New Orleans Bowl on Wednesday.
Werts, who missed the Eagles’ last two regular-season games because of a shoulder injury, scored one of his touchdowns on a designed QB run that covered 37 yards. His two other rushing TDS came from a yard out.
Georgia Southern came up with four interceptions — including two near its own goal line in the first quarter. Safety Justin Birdsong intercepted two passes — the first against Louisiana Tech starter Aaron Allen and the second against reserve JD Head in the third quarter.
Georgia Southern (8-5), which came in averaging 262 yards rushing, finished with 322 against Louisiana Tech (5-5).
Malik Murry broke off a 43-yard run on the game’s opening drive to set up Werts’ first short TD run. Gerald Green added a 55-yard run in the fourth quarter to give him 108 yards and one TD rushing for the game. Werts finished with 71 yards rushing.
Montgomery Bowl: Brady White passed for 284 yards and three touchdowns to lead Memphis to a 25-10 victory over Florida Atlantic.
ALL-SEC: No. 1 Alabama is on top of the South
eastern Conference again. The SEC champions dominated all-sec honors as voted on by a panel of members of The Associated Press. Nick Saban was voted the league’s Coach of the Year, receiver Devonta Smith nabbed SEC Offensive Player of the Year honors and cornerback Patrick Surtain II is the Defensive Player of the Year. The only individual award the experienced Crimson Tide didn’t snag was Newcomer of the Year, which went to Auburn freshman runner Tank Bigsby. Alabama led the SEC in scoring at almost 50 points a game, so it’s no surprise five Crimson Tide players were named to the first-team offense. Quarterback Mac Jones, Smith and SEC leading rusher Najee Harris were voted to the team, along with center Landon Dickerson and tackle Alex Leatherwood. Surtain and defensive lineman Christian Barmore were on the defensive first team.
Arizona: The school hired New England Patri
ots assistant Jedd Fisch as its head coach. The school announced Wednesday that Fisch will replace Kevin Sumlin, who was fired earlier this month after the Wildcats finished winless.
San Jose State: The school is finalizing a contract extension with coach Brent Brennan after he led the school to its best season in more than 80 years at 7-0. They are headed to the Arizona Bowl to face Ball State on Dec. 31.
Louisiana-monroe: Former Auburn coach Terry Bowden has been hired by LouisianaMonroe to rebuild a program that went 0-10 this season. Bowden is the son of former Florida State coaching great Bobby Bowden.
Nagurski Trophy: Tulsa linebacker Zaven Collins has won the award honoring the nation’s best defensive player. The 6-foot-4, 260-pound Collins totaled 54 tackles and 11.5 tackles for loss and four interceptions.