Notre Dame tops Louisiana St.
Irish win Citrus Bowl; Central Florida the Peach, South Carolina the Outback.
Myles Boykin scored on a 55-yard touchdown pass with 1 minute 28 seconds to play and No. 14 Notre Dame defeated No. 16 Louisiana State 21-17 on Monday in the Citrus Bowl at Orlando, Fla.
It was the first victory for the Fighting Irish (10-3) in a New Year’s Day bowl since beating Texas A&M 24-21 in the 1994 Cotton Bowl.
Three plays after Jack Gonsoulin’s 17-yard field goal gave the Tigers (9-4) a 17-14 lead with 2:03 remaining, Boykin caught a pass from Ian Book with his right hand at the Louisiana State 33, managed to elude cornerback Donte Jackson and broke a tackle attempt by John Battle up the right sideline for the game-winning score.
“Ian put it in place where only I could reach it,” Boykin said. “It was a great pass and I was just lucky enough to pull it down on one hand. I’ve got pretty big hands.”
The junior had three receptions for 102 yards and was selected the game’s most valuable player.
Book, who entered the game in the second quarter, was 14 of 19 for 164 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Louisiana State’s Danny Etling was 19 of 33 for 229 yards and two touchdowns, both to Derrius Guice, who had 98 yards in 21 carries.
Peach
McKenzie Milton threw two touchdown passes and ran for 116 yards and a touchdown, leading No. 10 Central Florida to a 34-27 victory over No. 7 Auburn at Atlanta.
The Knights (13-0) led 3420 before having to stop a late rally by the Tigers (10-4). Antwan Collier’s interception in the end zone with 24 seconds remaining clinched it.
The Knights won in their final game with coach Scott Frost, who stayed with the team through the bowl game after accepting an offer to become the coach at Nebraska, his alma mater.
“It was the right thing to do to come coach these guys,” Frost said, holding the game ball. “I’m not happy for me. I’m so happy for these guys.”
The Knights believe they deserved a higher ranking after winning the American Athletic Conference and leading the nation in scoring.
Frost said “it wasn’t right” for Central Florida to not receive more consideration for the four-team playoff.
“They deserve more credit from the committee than they got,” he said.
The Knights held the Tigers to 90 yards rushing in 44 carries.
“That was probably the main stat that was disappointing for me,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said.
Central Florida sacked Jarrett Stidham six times.
Outback
Jake Bentley threw for 239 yards and two touchdowns to help South Carolina overcome a 16-point second-half deficit and beat Michigan 26-19 in the Outback Bowl at Tampa, Fla.
The sophomore tossed scoring passes of 21 yards to Bryan Edwards and 53 yards to Shi Smith, the latter giving the Gamecocks (9-4) a 23-19 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Michigan (8-5) finished with its first three-game losing streak under coach Jim Harbaugh. The Wolverines turned the ball over five times, including an endzone interception that denied them an opportunity to regain the lead with just under eight minutes to go.
The loss cost the Big Ten a sweep of bowl games. The league entered 7-0, looking to go unbeaten in postseason play for the first time since 1998 when it was 5-0.
“We don’t have all the trophies and the tradition and history but we have some grit,” South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said. “We’ve got some toughness and resolve. You saw us down 19-3 and not a lot of good things happening for us.”