FALCONS WIN WITH RARE AIR ATTACK
Air Force changed its strategy Tuesday for the First Responder Bowl, taking inspiration from its name and trying out its passing game. It worked.
Haaziq Daniels threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more to give Air Force a 31-28 win over Louisville in Dallas.
Daniels completed 9 of 10 passes for a season-high 252 yards, leading a triple-option offense that came into the game averaging an FBSbest 340.8 rushing yards and the second-fewest passing yards at 82.5 per game.
The Falcons (10-3) didn’t throw a pass in their final game of the regular season, a 48-14 win over UNLV, and took a streak of 94 straight rushes from scrimmage into their second possession Tuesday.
“I figured we’d (pass) more then we did in the last game,” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun joked. “I just think sometimes you get in games, you make adjustments.”
Louisville coach Scott Satterfield lamented his shorthanded secondary getting beat on man-to-man coverage. The Cardinals (6-7) were missing defensive back Kenderick Duncan (injured) and Greedy Vance, who is transferring to Florida State.
“Anytime you play a team like this, they’re going to take a shot,” Satterfield said. “They connect — they’re going to come back to it again.”
Senior Brandon Lewis had touchdown catches of 64 and 61 yards for the Falcons, finishing with five receptions for a career-high 172 yards. That’s the most receiving yardage for an Air Force player this season and the most ever in the Falcons’ 28 bowl games.
“I feel like I could have been doing this all season,” Lewis said. “I’m just happy that I did do it in my final game.”
Matthew Dapore kicked a 26-yard field goal with 5:28 left to give the Falcons a twoscore lead.
Louisville’s Malik Cunningham threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Harrell and ran for a 22-yard touchdown with 2:57 to play. Jawhar Jordan returned a kickoff 100 yards and Trevion Cooley had a 1-yard run for the Cardinals’ other touchdowns.
Cooley, a freshman, had 92 yards rushing for Louisville. Redshirt freshman Jalen Mitchell, who led the Cardinals during the season with 722 rushing yards, was out with an illness.
Louisville’s James Turner had a 44-yard field-goal attempt sail left in the first quarter, and the Cardinals were stopped on fourth-andgoal at the Falcons’ 2-yard line early in the third quarter when Cooley was tackled by Camby Goff and Trey Taylor.
Birmingham Bowl
No. 21 Houston 17, Auburn 13: Jake Herslow caught a 26-yard, go-ahead
touchdown pass from Clayton Tune with 3:27 left, and the Cougars beat the Tigers.
The Cougars (12-2) marched 80 yards on eight plays to cap the third season in program history with at least 12 wins. They snapped a four-game bowl losing streak and won 12 of their final 13 games, the only loss coming to No. 4 Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference championship game.
The Tigers (6-7) went in the opposite direction in coach Bryan Harsin’s first season. They ended a season with five straight losses for the first time in 71 years and dropped their third bowl game in a row.
Tune completed 26 of 40 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns with an interception while also rushing for 43 yards to earn game MVP honors. Nathaniel Dell caught 10 passes for 150 yards, while Alton McCaskill ran for 66 yards and caught a touchdown pass.
Auburn, which fired offensive coordinator Mike Bobo after the regular season, had one more chance after Houston’s go-ahead score but couldn’t get a first down. Tank Bigsby ran for 8 yards on first down and then T.J. Finley threw three straight incompletions on short passes.
Finley completed 19 of 34 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown in his third start since replacing the injured Bo Nix. Bigsby had 88 rushing yards and 68 receiving yards.
Houston coach Dana Holgorsen said this win was similar to “some other ones that we’ve had this year.”
“Just a bunch of guys that fight hard and win,” Holgorsen said. “Basically, winning this game solidified this 2021 football team at the University of Houston as a great football team.”
Harsin was already looking ahead to, he hopes, better things.
“Nobody’s going to go in there and just hang their head and say, ‘Well, this is just how it is,’ ” Harsin said.
“We’re going to change it. We’re going to fix it, and we’re going to get better.
“I mean, there is no Plan B. There’s Plan A, and we’re here to make this work.”
Liberty Bowl
Texas Tech 34, Mississippi State 7: Donovan Smith threw for 252 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score, and the Red Raiders beat the Bulldogs in Memphis, Tenn.
Tahj Brooks rushed for 107 yards and a touchdown and SaRodorick Thompson ran for 80 yards and a score for the Red Raiders (7-6), who finished with a winning record for the first time since 2015. They were appearing in their first bowl game since 2017 and opened the game with 145 rushing yards in the first quarter.
Mississippi State (7-6) fell short in coach Mike Leach’s first game against a former program of his. Leach, who went 84-43 at Texas Tech from 2000-09, lost in his bid to become the first Bulldogs coach to end each of his first two seasons with a bowl victory.
Red Raiders interim head coach Sonny Cumbie, a former player at Texas Tech under Leach, ended his fivegame run with a 2-3 record. Cumbie, who is departing to become Louisiana Tech’s coach, took over for Matt Wells in October.
Leach’s prolific offense was held scoreless in the second half and finished with 344 yards, 105 below its average.
Texas Tech put the game out of reach with two thirdquarter touchdowns. Smith scored on a 1-yard run to cap a 95-yard drive, the Red Raiders’ second-longest of the season. Smith, who was named the game’s MVP, completed passes of 39 and 52 yards during the drive. He added a 14-yard touchdown pass to J.J. Sparkman with 2 seconds remaining in the quarter.
Thompson scored his touchdown on a 1-yard run midway through the final quarter for a 34-7 lead.