Temple upsets No. 19 Navy for AAC title
Soon after Coach Matt Rhule received the obligatory drenching on the sideline, confetti rained down on the Temple football team and the players jumped with excitement during a celebration that was nearly five decades in the making.
For the first time since 1967, the Owls are league champions.
Phillip Walker threw two touchdown passes, Temple’s defense stuffed Navy’s running game and the Owls claimed their first American Athletic Conference title with a 34-10 victory Saturday.
After Temple (10-3) scored touchdowns on its first three possessions, protecting the 21-0 lead became substantially easier when No. 19 Navy (9-3) lost standout quarterback Will Worth to a second-quarter ankle injury.
Western Kentucky 58, Louisiana Tech 44: Anthony Wales rushed for 209 yards and four touchdowns, Mike White threw for 421 and three more scores and Western Kentucky the Hilltoppers defeated the Bulldogs in the Conference USA championship game.
Western Kentucky (10-3) and Louisiana Tech (8-5), which won the regular-season matchup, 55-52, on Oct. 6, combined for 1,163 yards of total offense in the highestscoring championship game in C-USA history.
at No. 16 West Virginia
24, Baylor 21: Skyler Howard threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, and the Mountaineers held on in the Big 12 regularseason finale for both teams.
Justin Crawford rushed for 209 yards to help the Mountaineers (10-2, 7-2) to their first 10-win regularseason since 2007. They came from 11 points down in the first half to hand Baylor (6-6, 3-6) its sixth straight loss after a 6-0 start.
Kansas State 30, at Texas Christian 6: Jesse Ertz ran for a career-high 170 yards with a touchdown and threw an 83-yard scoring pass as the Wildcats ended their regular season with a win over the Horned Frogs.
Coach Bill Snyder got his 201st victory in 25 seasons with Kansas State (8-4, 6-3 Big 12), which next will play in its 20th bowl game — the 19th under Snyder. Kansas State appears headed to the Houston Bowl to play an SEC team.
Grambling State 27, Alcorn State 20: The Tigers overcame a 17-point halftime deficit to defeat the Braves in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship.
The game was a rematch of the 2015 SWAC title game, which Alcorn State won, 4921. The Tigers won their first SWAC championship since 2011 and 24th conference title in school history, the most in the conference.
at Georgia Southern 28, Troy 24: Kevin Ellison threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more and Georgia Southern beat Troy.
Troy (9-3, 6-2) needed a victory to tie for what would have been its sixth Sun Belt championship but instead the Eagles (5-7, 4-4) snapped a four-game losing streak and beat the Trojans for the fourth straight time.