Ohio St. comes up roses in Cotton Bowl win over USC
No .5 Buck eyes, snubbed for playoffs, cruise past Darnold, No. 8 Trojans
Playoff-snubbed Ohio State got a bit defensive even without one of its best defenders in the Cotton Bowl.
Damon Webb returned an interception for a touchdown after recovering a fumble to set up an early score and the No. 5 Buckeyes beat No. 8 Southern California 24-7 on Friday night in a matchup that traditionally has been in the Rose Bowl.
The Big Ten and Pac-12 champions would usually play New Year’s Day in Pasadena, but the Rose Bowl is a College Football Playoff semifinal game this season.
Ohio State (12-2) instead quickly settled in at the NFL stadium where three years ago it won the first national championship in the four-team CFP format. The Buckeyes, with that bad loss at Iowa after an early setback to playoff team Oklahoma, were the first team left out this season.
USC (11-3), the Rose Bowl champion last season, lost for only the third time in its last 23 games. The Trojans had four turnovers that led to 21 Ohio State points in what could have been third-year sophomore quarterback Sam Darnold’s final game.
Buckeyes All-America junior cornerback Denzel Ward has already decided to go into the NFL draft and didn’t play after practicing with the team this week.
Webb’s 23-yard interception return for a TD put Ohio State up 17-0 less than a minute into the second quarter.
Ohio State went up 24-0 when J.T. Barrett ran 28 yards for another touchdown after the first of Darnold’s two fumbles when stripped while being sacked. Darnold was sacked eight times overall.
Music City Bowl
NORTHWESTERN 24, KENTUCKY 23 >>
Justin Jackson ran for 157 yards and two TDs as No. 20 Northwestern held off Kentucky in Nashville in a game that might be remembered more for injuries, ejections and a wild finish.
Both starting QBs left in the first half with injuries, though Kentucky’s Stephen Johnson returned early in the third. Kentucky lost RB Benny Snell Jr. to an ejection for contact with an official early in the second quarter, and Northwestern LB Paddy Fisher before halftime when he was ejected for targeting. Northwestern improved to 10-4. Kentucky (7-6) had a chance to win after Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald tried to convert his fifth fourth down of the game, only to turn it over for the fourth time on downs, this time at his own 39 with 2:31 left. Johnson ran for his second TD of the second half with 37 seconds left. Kentucky coach Mark Stoops went for the 2-point try rather than play for overtime, but Johnson couldn’t connect on a pass.
Belk Bowl
WAKE FOREST 55, TEXAS A&M 52 >>
John Wolford threw for 400 yards and four touchdowns and Matt Colburn ran for 150 yards and the go-ahead score to lead Wake Forest in Charlotte, N.C.
The teams combined for 1,260 yards and 107 points in one of the highest-scoring games in bowl history.
Sun Bowl
N.C. STATE 52, ARIZONA STATE 31 >>
Nyheim Hines had three 5-yard touchdown runs to help North Carolina State in El Paso, Texas.
N.C. State played without standout defensive end Bradley Chubb, a projected top-10 pick in the NFL draft. The school announced a few hours before the game that he wouldn’t play.
Arizona Bowl
NEW MEXICO STATE 26, UTAH STATE 20 (OT) >>
Larry Rose III scored on a 21-yard run in overtime in Tucson, and New Mexico State won in its first bowl game in 57 years.
Utah State (6-7) had the ball first in overtime and Dominik Eberle hit the right upright on a 29-yard field goal, sending a groan through the Utah State crowd.
Eberle made 16 for 18 field goals during the regular season, but missed three.