COLLEGE BOWL GAMES ROUNDUP
Louisville 24, Cincinnati 7
Running back Jawhar Jordan earned a silver baseball bat as the offensive player of the game. Interim coach Deion Branch lifted the Fenway Bowl trophy. Defensive back Jarvis Browlee danced around the baseball field with the Keg of Nails.
The Cardinals are heading back to Louisville with all the prizes.
Except their coach.
Jordan ran for 115 yards, breaking free for two long touchdowns, and Scott Satterfield's former team beat his new one on Saturday in the twice-delayed inaugural edition of the first bowl game at Fenway Park in Boston.
"It was all about closing the chapter. Closing the coach Satterfield chapter," said Branch, the Patriots Super Bowl MVP who temporarily took over the Cardinals (8-5) when Satterfield left Louisville for Cincinnati (9-4).
"I'm enjoying it. I'm relishing it," said Branch, who will return to his job as director of player development and hand the team over to Jeff Brohm. "As of now, I'm retiring."
With a gridiron laid out over the diamond and "Fenway Park" painted in the end zones using the traditional Red Sox font, Jordan scored from 49 yards out at the end of the first quarter and 40 at the end of the second.
Brock Domann hit Marshon Ford for another score on a 40-degree day when both teams struggled to pass — or even hold onto the ball. The Bearcats fumbled three times, losing two; Louisville fumbled twice and had two interceptions.
But Jordan and Maurice Turner, who ran 31 times for 160 yards, gave Louisville a 287-55 edge in rushing yards and bragging rights in the Ohio River rivalry that was first played in 1929 but went dormant after the Cardinals moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014.
Fresno St. 29, Washington St. 6
Jordan Mims rushed for a career-high 205 yards and two scores, Jake Haener threw two TD passes and Fresno State completed the biggest in-season turnaround in Football Bowl Subdivision history with a victory over Washington State in the LA Bowl.
Fresno State — which won the Mountain West Conference title — is the first team to get to 10 wins after dropping four of the first five. The Bulldogs (10-4) were 1-4 in early October before winning their final nine games.
Mims accounted for 232 all-purpose yards and outgained Washington State, which had 182 offensive yards. Both of Mims' touchdowns were on direct snaps out of the Wildcat formation.
Early in the second quarter, the senior went 4 yards around left end to give the Bulldogs a 14-0 advantage. In the fourth quarter, he carried it 2 yards up the middle to make it 29-6.
Haener completed 24 of 36 passes for 284 yards in his final game for Fresno State. The senior connected with Zane Pope on a 22-yard touchdown to complete the Bulldogs' opening possession. He added an 11-yard score to Nikko Remigio late in the third quarter to extend the lead to 22-6.
Cameron Ward was 22 of 32 for 137 yards for Washington State (7-6).
NC Central 41, Jackson State 34
Quarterback Davius Richard ran for 97 yards and two touchdowns, including a 1-yard scoring plunge in overtime, and North Carolina Central beat Jackson State in the Celebration Bowl in Atlanta to spoil coach Deion Sanders' bid for an undefeated season in his final game with the Tigers.
The Eagles' defense made a goal-line stand on Jackson State's first overtime possession to preserve the win. Tight end Hayden Hagler's drop on third down from the 1 set up an incompletion by Jackson State quarterback Shedeur Sanders to end the game regarded as the championship of teams from historically Black college and universities.
Sanders' 19-yard touchdown pass to Travis Hunter as time expired in regulation set up Alejandro Mata's tying extra point to send the game to overtime. It was the fourth scoring pass of the game for Sanders, who also ran for a score.
Jackson State (12-1) was denied its bid for the first undefeated season in school history. Coach Deion Sanders is taking over the football program at Colorado, but wanted to finish the season with his Tigers first. Shedeur Sanders will accompany his father to Boulder.
The win by N.C. Central (10-2) gave the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference a 6-1 edge over teams from the Southwestern Athletic Conference in the Celebration Bowl.
No. 17 Oregon State 30, Florida 3
Deshaun Fenwick came off the bench to rush for 107 yards, and Oregon State nearly dealt Florida a rare shutout, winning the Las Vegas Bowl.
The Beavers (10-3) reached 10 victories for the third time program history and the first time in 16 years. They first accomplished the feat in 2000, when coach Jonathan Smith was the team's quarterback.
Oregon State won seven of its final eight games.
After the Beavers took control early in the third quarter by going up 17-0, the only real question was whether Florida would keep its NCAA-record scoring streak intact. The Gators last were shut out in 1988, a span of 436 games and 57 games longer than any other team.
The streak remained alive when Adam Mihalek made a 40yard field goal with 37 seconds left.