Utah freshman star Jordan dies
Ty Jordan, a star freshman running back for the University of Utah who grew up in the Dallas area, has died, school officials announced Saturday.
Authorities in Texas and Utah have not released details about the circumstances of Jordan’s death. A day earlier, on Christmas, the 19-year-old was named the Pac-12’s newcomer of the year in football.
“Words cannot express the devastation and heartache that our team is feeling right now upon learning of the tragic death of our teammate and brother, Ty Jordan,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said in a release.
The speedy 5-foot-7, 200-pound Jordan, a highly touted recruit from the Dallas suburb of Mesquite, emerged from a crowded Utah backfield to become the focal point of the team’s offense this fall. He finished the Utes’ five-game season with 597 rushing yards, 11 catches for 126 yards and six touchdowns.
› ULL 31, UTSA 24
DALLAS — Trey Ragas scored on a 1-yard plunge with 7:16 left as the University of Louisiana at Lafayette beat the University of Texas at San Antonio in the First Responder Bowl at SMU’s Ford Stadium on Saturday.
The Ragin’ Cajuns (10-1), coached by Murray County High School graduate Billy Napier, drove 72 yards in 12 plays for the winning score after UTSA (7-5) overcame a 24-7 second-half deficit to tie it.
“We made it entertaining again,” Napier said. “It’s too late to have a rah-rah speech. At that point you’ve either got the ownership, the character to regroup and make adjustments to compete and play through the ups and downs of the game, or you don’t.”
Barry Lunney Jr. — UTSA’s associate head coach and offensive coordinator — directed the Roadrunners after first-year coach Jeff Traylor twice tested positive for COVID-19 during the week and didn’t accompany the team to the bowl game.
Levi Lewis had first-half touchdown passes of 15 and 10 yards for ULL, while 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 after 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 the 20-yard field goal that tied with 13:32 left.
The Ragin’ Cajuns, co-champions of the Sun Belt Conference with Coastal Carolina, will finish as a ranked team for the first time in program history, having moved to the Football Bowl Subdivision in 1982. In the most recent national rankings, they were No. 16 in the AP Top 25, 17th in the coaches’ poll and listed 19th by the College Football Playoff selection committee.
They finished with double-digit wins for the second straight season after never previously doing so. Napier, 41, is 28-11 in three seasons leading the program.
UTSA was originally scheduled to play in the Frisco Bowl on Dec. 19 against SMU, but that game was canceled because of coronavirus protocols for the Mustangs.
› Georgia State 39, Western Kentucky 21
MOBILE, Ala. — Redshirt freshman Cornelius “Quad” Brown threw for 226 yards and three touchdowns Saturday to lead Georgia State to a 39-21 victory over 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 as 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 run-based 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, and didn’t trail again.
Western Kentucky had a chance to make it a one-score game late in the first half, but the Panthers stopped the Hilltoppers on fourth-and-1 at the 2. The Hilltoppers were outgained 478 yards to 284 in the game.
The Panthers finished with a winning record in back-to-back seasons for the first time in the program’s 11-year history. They enter the offseason on a three-game winning streak.