CELTS CHARGE PAST ROCKETS
ORLANDO, Fla. — They started playing football at Oklahoma State 116 years ago, and never in that span had there been a run of three consecutive 10-win seasons. Until now. Mason Rudolph threw for 351 yards and a pair of touchdowns on his way to winning game MVP honors, James Washington had a long touchdown grab and became Oklahoma State’s career receiving yards leader, and the 17th-ranked Cowboys beat No. 22 Virginia Tech 30-21 in the Camping World Bowl on Thursday night.
“It’s cool. It speaks a lot about the senior class, about the leadership on both sides of the ball,” Rudolph said. “It’s a great achievement for us.”
Washington caught five passes for 126 yards, giving him 4,472 for his career and passing Rashaun Woods for the school mark. Justice Hill ran for 120 yards and another score for the Cowboys (10-3).
“A really good win for our organization,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said.
“Defensively, we gave up a lot of rushing yards but we were able to make some stops and force some turnovers. For Oklahoma State, really in the end, that’s what it comes down to.”
MICHIGAN STATE 42, WASHINGTON STATE 17: Brian Lewerke threw for 213 yards and three touchdowns, and LJ Scott ran for 110 yards and two scores for No. 18 Michigan State, which took advantage of Luke Falk’s absence to rout No. 21 Washington State in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego.
NAVY 49, VIRGINIA 7: Two quarterbacks put on one heck of a show for Navy in the Military Bowl in Annapolis.
Backup Zach Abey scored five touchdowns, starter Malcolm Perry ran for 114 yards and two scores and the Midshipmen rolled to a surprisingly easy victory over Virginia.
After Virginia’s Joe Reed took the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, the Midshipmen (7-6) got two TDs apiece from Perry and Abey in taking a 28-7 halftime lead. Perry left in the third quarter with a foot injury, leaving Abey to score on runs of 5 and 20 yards to make it 42-7 in a game Navy entered as a 1.5-point favorite.
TCU 39, STANFORD 27: Kenny Hill passed for two touchdowns, ran for another and even caught one as No. 13 TCU rallied from a big early deficit to beat 15thranked Stanford in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. Cole Bunce’s 33-yard field goal with just over 3 minutes to play won it for the Horned Frogs (11-3), who trailed 21-3 before storming back behind big plays from Hill and a 76-yard punt return from Desmon White. —AP
Al Horford made a hook shot with 3.7 seconds left to give Boston its only lead of the game, and the host Celtics rallied from a 26-point deficit to beat the Houston Rockets 99-98.
Kyrie Irving scored 26 and Jayson Tatum finished with 19 for the Celtics, while Marcus Smart drew two offensive fouls against James Harden in the closing seconds to help Boston complete the comeback. Smart and Terry Rozier had 13 points apiece.