Air Force uses rare passing game to win First Responder Bowl
DALLAS — 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.
Daniels completed 9 of 10 passes for a season-high 252 yards, leading a triple-option offense that came into the game averaging an FBS-best 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 careerhigh 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.”
BIRMINGHAM BOWL
NO. 21 HOUSTON 17, AUBURN 13
In Birmingham, Ala., Clayton Tune and the Houston Cougars punctuated an impressive season with a win in Southeastern Conference country.
Jake Herslow caught a 26-yard, go-ahead touchdown pass from Tune with 3:27 left to help lift No. 21 Houston to a victory over Auburn in front of a mostly orange-andblue crowd at Protective Stadium.
The Cougars (12-2) marched 80 yards in 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 after the opener coming to No. 4 Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference championship game.
Houston coach Dana Holgorsen said this win was similar to “some other ones that we’ve had this year.”
The Tigers (6-7) went in the opposite direction at the end of coach Bryan Harsin’s first season. They ended with five straight losses for the first time in 71 years and dropped their third bowl game in a row.
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.
LIBERTY BOWL
TEXAS TECH 34, MISSISSIPPI STATE 7
In Memphis, Tenn., Donovan Smith threw for 252 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score, and Texas Tech beat Mississippi State.
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.
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, fell short in his bid to become the first Bulldogs coach to end each of his first two seasons with a bowl victory. Mississippi State was playing in its 12th straight bowl game.
Red Raiders interim head coach Sonny Cumbie, a former player at Texas Tech under Leach, ended his five-game 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 never could get rolling against the Red Raiders and the resulting lopsided loss dropped the Southeastern Conference to 0-4 in the postseason.