Jones, Duke too Quick for NIU
Daniel Jones threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as Duke beat Northern Illinois, 36-14, in the Quick Lane Bowl yesterday in Detroit.
Jones finished with 338 yards of offense, while Shaun Wilson and Brittain Brown added touchdowns for Duke (7-6).
BOWL ROUNDUP
“We knew Northern Illinois had a lot of success rushing the passer this year, but our offensive line really controlled things,” Jones said. “That really opened things up.”
Marcus Childers threw for 234 yards and a score for Northern Illinois (8-5).
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.
“They were being physical with our gunners, so we thought we could get a pass interference and a first down,” Huskies coach Rod Carey said. “They didn’t bite, and we had a punter throwing to a defensive back.”
The Huskies had two first downs and 46 yards in the quarter but tied the game 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.
“We let up for a little while, and they took advantage of our mistakes,” Duke linebacker Joe Giles-Harris said. “We knew we had to get focused again, and we shut them out from there.”
Jones fumbled on the first possession of the second half, but Northern Illinois turned the ball back over after a failed fake field goal.
Heart of Dallas Bowl
Utah 30, West Virginia 14 — Zack Moss took a thirddown handoff and burst through the line into an opening in the middle of the field. The Utes (7-6) were off and running to another bowl victory.
Moss ran for 150 yards, including a career-long 58yard run for a touchdown on the Utes’ opening drive in Dallas as they went on to crush the Mountaineers (7-6). Utah is 11-1 in postseason games under Kyle Whittingham, who matched Alabama’s Nick Saban for the 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.
Huntley scored twice on 2-yard keepers, but the Utes led for good in their fifth straight bowl victory after Moss broke free early on a drizzly and chilly day in Cotton Bowl Stadium.
“It was very important for us to come out of the gates with a big play early on and set the tone,” said Moss, who like Huntley still has two seasons left with the Utes.
West Virginia 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 1,000-yard rusher Justin Crawford, a senior who bypassed the bowl game in advance of the NFL draft.
“It was a pretty disappointing loss to end a pretty disappointing season,” Mountaineers coach Dana Holgorsen said. “You never hear me use it as an excuse. If you lose guys, you need guys to step in and play at a high level, and that is the bottom line.”
Cactus Bowl
Kansas State 35, UCLA 17 — In Phoenix, Alex Delton ran for 158 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, leading the Wildcats over the Bruins 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) gave Snyder his 210th — and possibly final — win with the Wildcats.
UCLA (6-7) played without top NFL prospect Josh Rosen, who is recovering from a concussion, and built a 10-point halftime lead without its star quarterback.
The Bruins’ offensive success didn’t carry over into the second half and their defense had a hard time containing Delton, saddling interim coach Jedd Fisch with a loss in his last game before Chip Kelly takes over.