The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Utah continues bowl mastery
Moss’ big day gives Utes 11th win in 12 postseason games.
Zach Moss ran for 150 yards with a career-long 58-yard run for a touchdown, Tyler Huntley scored twice on 2-yard keepers, and Utah got its fifth consecutive bowl victory, a 30-14 win over West Virginia in Dallas.
On a drizzly and chilly day in Cotton Bowl Stadium, the Utes (7-6) led for good after Moss took a third-and-1 handoff, quickly burst into the open field and went all the way to the end zone to cap their opening drive.
“It was very important for us to come out of the gates with a big play early on and set the tone,” Moss said.
Utah improved to 11-1 in bowl games under Kyle Whittingham, the former defensive coordinator whose debut as head coach was a Fiesta Bowl win at the end of the 2004 season. Whittingham co-coached that game with Urban Meyer, who had taken the Florida job three weeks earlier but returned to be part of Utah’s postseason Teammates congratulate Duke’s T.J. Rahming (3) as his second-quarter touchdown breaks a tie with Northern Illinois in the Quick Lane Bowl.
win over Pittsburgh after Whittingham had been promoted to head coach. With Tuesday’s win, Whittingham tied Alabama’s Nick Saban for most bowl wins by an active coach.
“He knows how to coach the team and he always caps the year off right,” Utah sophomore quarterback Tyler Huntley said.
Under Whittingham, the Utes prepare for bowl games like regular season games, often in full pads and with continuing conditioning work. There is also a little bit of peer pressure.
“We’ve got a group of guys and have had several groups of guys come here that take a lot of pride in their bowl performance and the bowl record that we have,” Whittingham said. “This group was no different. Each subsequent group doesn’t want to be the group that lets the previous groups down. They want to keep that bowl prowess alive.”
West Virginia (7-6) finished the season with its third straight loss. The Mountaineers had only 153 total yards without junior quarterback Will Grier, who broke a finger Nov. 18, and 1,000yard rusher Justin Crawford, a senior who bypassed the bowl game in advance of the NFL draft.
Quick Lane Bowl
Duke 36, Northern Illinois 14: Daniel Jones threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as the Blue Devils (7-5) defeated the Huskies (8-5) in Detroit.
Jones finished with 338 yards of offense, while Shaun Wilson and Brittain Brown added touchdowns for Duke.
Marcus Childers threw for 234 yards and a score for Northern Illinois.
The Blue Devils took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, sandwiching rushing touchdowns around a failed Northern Illinois fake punt on fourth-and-18 from its 11.
The Huskies had two first downs and 46 yards in the quarter, but tied it with two scores in the first 2:38 of the second. Duke, though, moved back into a 26-14 lead with two touchdowns before halftime.
Jones fumbled on the first possession of the second half, but Northern Illinois turned the ball back over after a failed fake field goal.