UAB holds on for a victory in the Bahama Bowl
Jermaine Brown Jr. rushed for 116 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns, Trea Shropshire had 183 yards receiving and a score, and UAB held off Miami (Ohio), 24-20, on Friday in the Bahamas Bowl at Nassau.
UAB (7-6) won its second bowl game in a row — beating No. 13 BYU 31-28 in the Independence Bowl last season — and third in program history. The Blazers won their 50th game since returning in 2017 from a program shutdown.
Cure Bowl
Trailing 12-7 at halftime, Troy State scored 11 points the second half on Gunnar Watson’s 12--yard TD pass to Rajae Johnson and Brooks Buce’s 27-yard field goal to win at Orlando, Fla.
Nebraska
Mickey Joseph, Nebraska’s interim football coach for nine games this season who was charged with felony assault, is no longer part of the Cornhuskers’ program, the athletic department announced.
Joseph is accused of putting his hands around a woman’s throat, pulling her hair and punching her during a domestic dispute Nov. 30, according to a police affidavit. He was charged on Dec. 1 with assault by strangulation or suffocation.
Alabama
Outside linebacker Will Anderson Jr. and quarterback Bryce Jordan, rated as two of the top draft prospects, said they plan to play in the Crimson Tide’s bowl game. Coach Nick Saban said he didn’t expect any optouts for the Sugar Bowl game Dec. 31 against Kansas State. Anderson and Jordan are expected to declare for the draft.
Texas State
Texas State football has named Mack Leftwich (North Allegheny grad) as the offensive coordinator and Jordan Shoemaker as the offensive line coach/run game coordinator as Texas State’s newly named head football coach G.J. Kinne announced the first two members of his coaching staff.
Leftwich and Shoemaker join Kinne from Incarnate Word as the trio helped establish the nation’s No. 1 offense in both FBS and FCS.
Northwestern
Peter Skoronski, one of the nation’s top offensive linemen, declared his intention to enter the NFL draft. Skoronski, a junior, became the first unanimous AllAmerican in school history.
Purdue
The Boilermakers are hiring Graham Harrell as their offensive coordinator, the first major move under new coach Ryan Walter, according to ESPN.com.
Walter, 37, spent the 2022 season as the offensive coordinator at West Virginia after three years in the same role at USC. A record-setting quarterback for the late Mike Leach at Texas Tech, Harrell began his coaching career under Leach at Washington State.
Texas
Five-star recruit Anthony Hill, a linebacker from Denton, Texas, committed to the Longhorns for the 2023 class after revoking his commitment to Texas A&M. A 6foot-3, 230-pounder, Hill was ranked No. 18 overall and the No. 2 outside linebacker in his class.