Ohio State rallies past Utah in Rose Bowl
C.J. Stroud capped his record-setting offensive day by leading a 56-yard drive ending in Noah Ruggles’ 19-yard field goal with nine seconds to play, and No. 7 Ohio State beat No. 10 Utah, 48-45, on Saturday night in Pasadena, California, in the wild 108th edition of the Rose Bowl.
Stroud passed for a school-record 573 yards and a record-tying six touchdowns for the Buckeyes (11-2), who won the Granddaddy of Them All for the second time in four years with an offensive performance that shattered multiple long-standing offensive marks. Stroud’s yards passing and touchdowns both are Rose Bowl records, and he finished 3 yards shy of the record for yards passing in any bowl game.
Ohio State still had to rally from 10 points down late in the third quarter to get past the Pac-12 champion Utes (10-4), who got off to an electrifying start and stayed competitive even after star quarterback Cameron Rising went down with an injury with 9:56 to play in Utah’s first trip to the Rose Bowl.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba set the record for any FBS bowl game with 347 yards receiving while catching a school-record 15 passes and scoring three touchdowns. Marvin Harrison Jr. also caught three TD passes for the Buckeyes, who set a Rose Bowl record with 683 total yards.
Ohio State trailed 38-31 entering the fourth quarter despite the pyrotechnics of its passing game, but the Buckeyes immediately stopped Utah on downs at the Ohio State 31, and tied it on Harrison’s 5-yard TD catch with 10:12 left. Rising was injured moments later while getting sacked, the Utes had to turn to Bryson Barnes, who had never thrown a collegiate pass.
Smith-Njigba then made a 30-yard, over-the-shoulder catch for his third touchdown with 4:22 to play, but Barnes improbably led the Utes on a tying drive capped by a 15-yard TD pass to Dalton Kincaid with 1:54 left.
But Stroud coolly led the Buckeyes back downfield in the waning seconds, and Ruggles hit his easy field goal. Ohio State kicked off to Britain Covey, who already had a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown earlier, but the Buckeyes smothered his cutback as time ran out.
Rising passed for 214 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 92 yards and a score, but he left the game with an apparent head injury.
With two top Buckeyes receivers opting out of the Rose Bowl, Smith-Njigba had a spectacular day that included TD receptions of 50 and 52 yards made 30 seconds apart – albeit with Covey’s TD return in between.
He broke Cris Carter’s 1985 school record of 172 yards receiving in a bowl game in the first half alone. He snapped Keyshawn Johnson’s 1996 Rose Bowl record of 216 yards receiving and then Terry Glenn’s 1995 single-game school record of 253 yards after halftime.
When Utah led 35-21 at halftime, the schools matched the 2012 Oregon-Wisconsin matchup for the highest-scoring half in Rose Bowl history – and they combined for 42 points and 443 yards in the second quarter alone.
The 24-year-old Covey’s sensational 97-yard romp through the Buckeyes in the second quarter was the first kickoff return for a touchdown in Utah’s entire bowl history. Covey, who also caught a 19-yard TD pass for the Utes’ first points, arrived at the school in 2015.
A sellout crowd dominated by Utah fans created a crackling atmosphere in the venerable stadium that opened in October 1922.
With the anticlimactic nature of this Rose Bowl for the Buckeyes four key starters opted out of the game: Receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, starting left tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere and defensive tackle Haskell Garrett.
Fiesta Bowl
Spencer Sanders accounted for 496 yards and threw three of his four touchdown passes to Ty Martin, and No. 9 Oklahoma State overcame a 21-point deficit to beat No. 5 Notre Dame, 37-35, in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday in Glendale, Arizona.
Oklahoma State (12-2, No. 9 CFP) came up inches short of securing a College Football Playoff spot in a loss to No. 6 Baylor at the Big 12 title game and fell into 21-point, first-half hole against Notre Dame (11-2, No. 5 CFP).
Former Wisconsin Badgers quarterback Jack Coan led Notre Dame’s early charge while throwing for a Fiesta Bowlrecord 509 yards and five touchdowns.
Sanders and Martin brought the Cowboys back.
Sanders, who had a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jaden Bray in the first quarter, cut Notre Dame’s lead to 28-14 with a 9-yard scoring pass to Martin with 37 seconds left in the first half. The pair connected for two more touchdowns, from 5 and 8 yards, to tie the game, and the Cowboys went up 34-28 on two field goals by Tanner Brown.
Coan threw a 25-yard TD pass to Austin with 1:05 left to pull Notre Dame within two, but Oklahoma State recovered the onside kick to keep the Irish winless in major bowl games since the 1993 Cotton Bowl under Lou Holtz.
Sanders threw for 371 yards on 34of-51 passing and ran for 125 yards.
The Irish appeared to be headed toward a rousing start to the Marcus Freeman era, building a 28-7 lead behind Coan. Notre Dame’s senior quarterback threw for 342 yards and four touchdowns in the first half, including two to tight end Michael Mayer. Coan finished 38 for 68.
Outback Bowl
KJ Jefferson picked up 104 of his 110 rushing yards in the second half and threw for 90 more to lead No. 22 Arkansas past Penn State, 24-10, in the Outback Bowl on Saturday in Tampa, Florida.
Arkansas (9-4), coming off four consecutive seasons of four or fewer wins, got its first nine-win year since going 11-2 in 2011. The Razorbacks also played in their first bowl game since the 2016 Belk Bowl.
Sean Clifford went 14 of 32 or 195 yards for Penn State (7-6). He gained 47 yards on the ground on 11 attempts.
Citrus Bowl
Chris Rodriguez scored on a 6-yard touchdown with 1:48 to play and Kentucky rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Iowa in the Citrus Bowl on Saturday in Orlando, Florida.
Kentucky (10-3) was forced to rally after blowing a 10-point lead in the second half. Wan’Dale Robinson set up the winning score when he caught a 52-yard pass from Will Levis to get to the 1. Robinson finished with 10 catches for 170 yards, and Levis completed 17 of 28 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown.
DeAndre Square intercepted Spencer Petras’ pass with 48 seconds to seal it.
Iowa finished 10-4.