Blue Raiders win Camellia Bowl
MONTGOMERY, Ala. —
and Middle Tennessee produced a triumphant finish to an injury-riddled season.
Stockstill passed for 232 yards and two touchdowns and the Blue Raiders came up with some key stops to hold off Arkansas State 35-30 in the Camellia Bowl late Saturday night.
A team that had players miss a combined 125 games with injuries earned its first bowl win since 2009.
“We never made excuses this whole year,” said
the quarterback's coach and father. “A lot of people wanted to give up on us but this team never gave up.”
There were some chances to fold in this one, too.
The Blue Raiders (7-6) ran out most of the final 5 minutes with a series of short passes from Stockstill after losing much of an 18-point lead over the Red Wolves (7-5).
Punter pinned Arkansas State's prolific offense 91 yards from the end zone with 1:27 left and no timeouts. Middle Tennessee defenders then sacked
three times, one by
on the final play. That capped a wild game that included
54-yard fumble return for a touchdown, six turnovers and 17 penalties.
“Stockstill, as we expected, played really, really well,” Arkansas State coach
said. “They made plays they had to make and we made too many mistakes to win a game against a good football team. I thought all along they were better than their record and they proved that tonight.”
The Blue Raiders won four of their final five games after Brent Stockstill's return from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for half the season. He was intercepted three times. including
“Not very often as a quarterback can you throw three picks and [have] your defense bail you out like that,” the passer said.
The Red Wolves had cut a 28-10 deficit down to 35-30 on Hansen's 41-yard touchdown pass to
with 5:03 left. Middle Tennessee linebacker was MVP after collecting 12 tackles, a sack and two pass breakups. He forced the fumble that allowed Sanders to scoop and score.
Hansen completed 31 of 57 passes for 337 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. He had a 2-yard touchdown pass to
after Arkansas State converted a fake punt with 21-yard pass to
on fourth-and-14. The 2-point attempt failed.
Stockstill then swiftly gave the Blue Raiders a bigger cushion with a pair of big plays. He hit
on a 34-yard catch and then threw a 30-yard touchdown to
Arkansas State then marched down to Middle Tennessee’s 1 with help from a couple of pass interference calls but the Blue Raiders held with
tackle for and an incompletion.
Arkansas State defensive end finished his career with 43.5 sacks, just shy of
record of 44. He finished the bowl game with a tackle for a loss and a quarterback hurry.
UCF's Clemson's loss are the finalists for the Associated Press Coach of the Year award.
The winner will be announced today.
Frost led the Knights to an unbeaten regular season before taking the Nebraska job. Frost plans to coach No. 12 UCF in the Peach Bowl against Auburn.
Smart, in his second season with Georgia, guided the Bulldogs to a 12-1 record and their first SEC championship since 2005.
No. 3 Georgia will face No. 2 Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl.
Swinney has the defending national champion Tigers back in the playoff for a third consecutive year. No. 1 Clemson won the ACC, finished 12-1 and will face No. 4 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.