Washington wins Pac-12 title
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Byron Murphy returned a deflected interception 66 yards for the game’s only touchdown to lead 11thranked Washington to a 10-3 victory over No. 17 Utah in an offensively challenged Pac-12 championship game Friday night.
In a matchup of the two stingiest defenses in the conference, neither offense could get much of anything going. So it was only fitting that a dropped pass by the Utes (9-4) led to an interception for the Huskies (10-3) and the only touchdown.
Both teams had been held to just one field goal when Washington broke through late in the third quarter.
Jason Shelley’s pass hit Siaosi Mariner in the hands inside the Huskies’ 35-yard line. But Mariner could not hold onto the pass, and it ricocheted off his leg and into the hands of Murphy, who raced 66 yards for the score that made it 10-3.
Jordan Miller intercepted another pass from Shelley on the following drive, and Murphy got his second interception of the game the next time Utah had the ball. Washington sealed the victory with a fourth-down stop in the final minute to earn a trip to the Rose Bowl.
The Huskies had four drives of at least 10 plays but got only one field goal out of those. They were stopped on a fourth-and-6 from the Utes’ 23 on the opening drive, threw an interception in Utah territory on the third drive and had a field-goal attempt blocked in the fourth quarter.
The one score came on Peyton Henry’s 29-yard field goal late in the first half. That was enough to give Washington a 3-0 lead at the break, but the Utes tied it with a score on the opening possession of the third quarter when Matt Gay’s 53-yard field goal just cleared the cross bar.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 30 BUFFALO 29
Marcus Childers threw a touchdown pass — his fourth of the game — to D.J. Brown with 1:09 to go as the Huskies rallied from a 20-point second-half deficit to defeat the Bulls in the Mid-American Conference championship game at Ford Field in Detroit.
The 35-yard scoring pass came on the eighth play of a 70-yard drive that took a little more than two minutes after a punt forced by Sutton Smith’s sack of Buffalo quarterback Tyree Jackson.
Northern Illinois’ twopoint conversion failed, and the Bulls (10-3) reached the Huskies’ 41yard line before an incomplete pass on fourth down with 21 seconds left ended Buffalo’s hopes.
Northern Illinois’ touchdown completed a comeback from a 29-10 deficit in the third quarter. Childers threw a 28-yard score to Brown near the end of the third quarter and a 32yarder to Spencer Tears with under 13 minutes left in the fourth. Childers also had a 13-yard TD pass to Tears in the first half. Childers completed 21 of 33 passes for 300 yards with an interception and led the team with 58 yards rushing.
Jackson was 18-of-35 passing for 252 yards and threw two touchdown passes to Anthony Johnson, who had 124 yards receiving on seven catches. Kevin Marks and Jaret Patterson ran for touchdowns. The Bulls missed an extra-point kick after their second TD.
Buffalo never has beaten Northern Illinois in a MAC game since joining the league in 1999, going 0-12.