Cajuns win First Responder Bowl
DALLAS — Trey Ragas scored on a 1-yard plunge with 7:16 left and No. 16 Louisiana-Lafayette beat UTSA 31-24 in the First Responder Bowl on Saturday at SMU’s Ford Stadium.
The Ragin’ Cajuns (10-1) drove 72 yards in 12 plays for the winning score after UTSA (7-5) overcame a 24-7 second-half deficit to tie it.
UTSA associate head coach/offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. directed the Roadrunners after first-year coach Jeff Traylor twice tested positive for COVID-19 this week and didn’t accompany the team.
Levi Lewis had first-half touchdown passes of 15 and 10 yards for Louisiana-Lafayette. Elijah
Mitchell added a 3-yard touchdown run, and Kenneth Almendares kicked a 31-yard field goal, The Ragin’ Cajuns won their seventh straight game following a loss to Coastal Carolina in mid-October.
Frank Harris had touchdown passes of 29 yards and 10 yards and an 11-yard scoring run for the Roadrunners. Hunter Duplessis kicked a 20yard field goal that tied with 13:32 left.
UTSA was originally scheduled to play in the Frisco Bowl on Dec. 19 against SMU, but that game was cancelled because of COVID protocols in place within SMU’s football program.
Lendingtree Bowl Georgia State 39, West Kentucky 21
MOBILE, Ala. — Redshirt freshman Cornelius “Quad” Brown threw for 226 yards and three touchdowns to lead Georgia State past Western Kentucky in the LendingTree Bowl.
The Panthers (6-4) scored touchdowns on four consecutive first-half possessions and Brown’s touchdown passes came in the second quarter to three receivers.
Destin Coates added 117 yards and a touchdown rushing, part of a 227-yard day on the ground for Georgia State.
Western Kentucky ( 5- 7) scored first, driving 80 yards in
14 plays for quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome’s 2-yard touchdown run and a 7- 0 lead with 4: 02 left in the first. Georgia State answered with a largely runbased drive, capped by Coates’
11- yard run that made it 7-7 with eight seconds remaining in the first.
The Panthers scored again on their next possession to take a 14-7 lead, with Brown hitting Sam Pinckney with a 26-yard strike at the goal line with 9:50 left in the half. After Pigrome threw his first interception of the year three plays later, Georgia State again got into the end zone on Brown’s 5-yard pass to Jamari Thrash for a 21-7 lead at the 2:09 mark of the second.
Brown completed 15 of 29 passes with an interception and ran for 40 yards on 10 attempts before giving way to Colasurdo midway through the fourth quarter
Pigrome, like Brown an Alabama native playing back in his home state, was 17 of 33 for 180 yards and two interceptions. He was also sacked three times.