Runaway bowl games
QUICK LANE BOWL
Duke 36, N. Illinois 14 Daniel Jones threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as Duke beat Northern Illinois. Jones finished with 338 yards of offense, while Shaun Wilson and Brittain Brown added touchdowns for Duke (7-6). Marcus Childers threw for 234 yards and a score for Northern Illinois (85). 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 own 11.
HEART OF DALLAS BOWL
Utah 30 West Virginia 14 Utah (7-6) running back Zach Moss ran for 150 yards, including a career-long 58-yard run for a touchdown on the Utes’ opening drive in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, on the way to a 30-14 victory over West Virginia on Tuesday. They are now 11-1 in postseason games under Kyle Whittingham, who matched Alabama’s Nick Saban for the most bowl victories by an active coach. Sophomore quarterback Tyler Huntley scored twice, both on 2-yard keepers, but they led for good in their fifth consecutive bowl victory after Moss broke free. West Virginia (7-6) finished the season with its third consecutive loss. The Mountaineers had only 153 total yards.
CACTUS BOWL
Kansas State 35, UCLA 17 Quarterback Alex Delton ran for three touchdowns and threw for another as Kansas State (8-5) rallied from a 17-7 deficit to score 28 unanswered points in a victory over UCLA (6-7).
DETROIT — Similar to the path its season took, Duke dominated early, stumbled then collected itself to finish strong in Tuesday’s Quick Lane Bowl.
The Blue Devils scored the game’s first two touchdowns and saw Northern Illinois tie the score with a series of big plays. But just as it showed resolve in surviving a six-game losing streak to still make a bowl game, Duke came back with a vengeance to score the game’s final 22 points in a 3614 victory at Ford Field.
The victory means the Blue Devils (7-6) have a winning season for the fourth time in the last five years. Prior to this streak of success under Coach David Cutcliffe, Duke had just five winning seasons from 1975-2012.
The route to finishing above the .500 mark this season was rocky. Duke won its first four games before suffering through a six-game losing streak. With its bowl hopes fading, Duke rallied from behind to beat Georgia Tech and Wake Forest in the final two games of the regular season to qualify for the Quick Lane Bowl.
Against Northern Illinois (8-5), Duke returned to its September form. Quarterback Daniel Jones fired two touchdown passes and ran for a third. He gained 86 rushing yards on 16 carries and completed 27 of 40 passes for 272 yards with no interceptions.
Senior running back Shaun Wilson closed his career by rushing for 75 yards and a touchdown while also catching a touchdown pass from Jones.
Duke’s defense shut out Northern Illinois after halftime, meaning that unit allowed just six second-half points over the season’s final three games (all Duke victories).
The Blue Devils took control of the game in the first quarter, scoring two touchdowns before Northern Illinois collected a first down.
On Duke’s second possession, Jones completed three of four passes, including a 20yard strike to tight end Davis Koppenhaver to the Northern Illinois 9.
Three running plays left the Blue Devils with fourthand-goal on the 1. Jones kept the ball and rolled right to reach the end zone and give Duke a 7-0 lead.
One of the more bizarre play calls of the season followed and helped Duke double its lead.
After Duke’s Trevon McSwain sacked Northern Illinois quarterback Marcus Childers at the 11, the Huskies faced fourth-and-18. Punter Matt Ference took the snap in the end zone but, instead of booting the ball to Duke, fired a pass that fell incomplete on the right sideline well short of the first-down marker.
The unsuccessful fake punt gave Duke the ball at the 11. Wilson’s 1-yard touchdown run on the drive’s third play gave the Blue Devils a 14-0 lead with 3:17 left in the first quarter.
Even though it appeared Duke would roll to an easy win, the Huskies struck back early in the second quarter.
Northern Illinois’ first play from scrimmage in the second quarter was a 43-yard pass from Childers to Spencer Tears. On the next play, Tre Harbison broke free for a 25yard touchdown run leaving Duke up 14-7.
Following another Duke punt. Northern Illinois needed two plays to tie the score. This time, Childers threw a deep pass to wide receiver Jauan Wesley, who got behind Duke safety Michael Carter II. Wesley caught the ball at the 30 and eluded Carter’s tackle attempt before running to the end zone for a 67-yard touchdown play that tied the game at 14-14 with 12:22 left before halftime. CACTUS BOWL
Delton leads Kansas St. PHOENIX — Alex Delton ran for 158 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, leading Kansas State to a 35-17 Cactus Bowl victory over UCLA on Tuesday night in what could be the final game of Coach Bill Snyder’s career.
Delton replaced Skylar Thompson late in the first quarter and scored on runs of 68 yards, 3 yards and 1 yard. Alex Barnes added 117 yards and a touchdown for the Wildcats, who rushed for 345 yards.
Kansas State (8-5) struggled in the first half against UCLA’s potent offense, but shut down the Bruins in the second to give Snyder his 210th victory with the Wildcats.
Snyder turned around one of the nation’s worst programs after taking over in the Little Apple in 1989. He returned from a three-year retirement in 2008 and led the Wildcats to eight consecutive bowl appearances.
UCLA (6-7) played without top NFL prospect Josh Rosen, who’s recovering from a concussion, and built a 10-point halftime lead without its star quarterback.