San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Ohio State edges Utah in wild Rose Bowl
C.J. Stroud capped his record-setting offensive day by leading a 56-yard drive ending in Noah Ruggles’ 19-yard field goal with nine seconds to play, and No. 7 Ohio State beat No. 10 Utah 48-45 on Saturday night in the wild 108th edition of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Stroud passed for a schoolrecord 573 yards and a recordtying six touchdowns for the Buckeyes (11-2), who won the Granddaddy of Them All for the second time in four years with an offensive performance that shattered multiple longstanding offensive marks. Stroud’s yards passing and touchdowns both are Rose Bowl records, and he finished 3 yards shy of the record for yards passing in any bowl game.
“It’s emotional for me,” said Stroud, from nearby Rancho Cucamonga. “It’s like I’m dreaming right now. I was able to come home and win the Rose Bowl like this.”
It was a welcome return to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl, which was played in Arlington, Texas, last year because of pandemic restrictions in California. Alabama won that one 31-14 over Notre Dame.
On Saturday, Ohio State had to rally from 10 points down late in the third quarter to get past the Pac-12 champion Utes (10-4), who got off to an electrifying start and stayed competitive even after starting quarterback Cameron Rising went down with an injury with 9:56 to play in Utah’s first trip to the Rose Bowl.
Ohio State’s Jaxon SmithNjigba set the record for any FBS bowl game with 347 yards receiving while catching a school-record 15 passes and scoring three touchdowns. Marvin Harrison Jr. also caught three TD passes for the Buckeyes, who set a Rose Bowl record with 683 total yards.
Smith-Njigba had TD receptions of 50 and 52 yards made 30 seconds apart and broke Cris Carter’s 1985 school record of 172 yards receiving in a bowl game before the first half ended. He snapped Keyshawn Johnson’s 1996 Rose Bowl record of 216 yards receiving and then Terry Glenn’s 1995 single-game school record of 253 yards after halftime. Smith-Njigba finished the season with 1,606 yards, blowing past David Boston’s 1998 school record. “I just try to take advantage every time the ball is in the air, and I feel like I did that today,” Smith-Njigba said.
Utah played without three of its top four cornerbacks, prompting running back Micah
Bernard to move to defensive back.
Ohio State trailed 38-31 entering the fourth quarter despite the pyrotechnics of its passing game, but the Buckeyes immediately stopped Utah on downs at the Ohio State 31, and tied it on Harrison’s 5-yard TD catch with 10:12 left. Rising was injured moments later while getting sacked, the Utes had to turn to
Bryson Barnes, who had never thrown a collegiate pass.
Smith-Njigba then made a 30-yard, over-the-shoulder catch for his third touchdown with 4:22 to play, but Barnes improbably led the Utes on a tying drive capped by a 15yard TD pass to Dalton Kincaid with 1:54 left.
Stroud then led the Buckeyes back downfield in the waning seconds, and Ruggles
hit his easy field goal. Ohio State kicked off to Britain Covey, who already had a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown earlier, but the Buckeyes smothered his cutback as time ran out.
Fiesta Bowl: Spencer Sanders accounted for 496 yards (371 yards passing, 125 rushing) and threw three of his four touchdown passes to Tay Martin, and Oklahoma State overcame a 21-point deficit to beat Notre Dame 37-35 in Glendale, Ariz.
Oklahoma State (12-2) came up inches short of securing a College Football Playoff spot in a loss to Baylor at the Big 12 title game and fell into 21-point, first-half hole against Notre Dame (11-2). Jack Coan led Notre Dame’s early charge and finished with a Fiesta Bowlrecord 509 yards passing and five touchdowns.
Sugar Bowl: Mississippi (10-3) could not overcome the loss of starting quarterback Matt Corral and three turnovers, and Baylor (12-2) posted a 21-7 win in New Orleans. Corral injured his right leg while being sacked by Cole Maxwell in the first quarter. Corral was carted to the locker room for X-rays and later returned to the sideline on crutches. Abram Smith led the Bears’ rushing attack with 172 yards on 25 carries.
Outback Bowl: KJ Jefferson picked up 104 of his 110 rushing yards in the second half and threw for 90 more to lead Arkansas past Penn State 24-10 in Tampa, Fla. Raheim Sanders had 79 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries and Dominique Johnson added 85 yards on 11 rushes. The Razorbacks finished with 361 rushing yards. Arkansas (9-4), coming off four consecutive seasons of four or fewer wins, got its first nine-win year since going 11-2 in 2011. Sean Clifford was 14-for-32 passing for 195 yards for Penn State (7-6). He gained 47 yards on the ground on 11 attempts.
Citrus Bowl: Chris Rodriguez scored on a 6-yard run with 1:48 to play and Kentucky rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Iowa 20-17 in Orlando, Fla. Kentucky (10-3) was forced to rally after blowing a 10-point lead in the second half to the Hawkeyes (10-4). Wan’Dale Robinson set up the winning score when he caught a 52-yard pass from Will Levis to get to the 1. Robinson finished with 10 catches for 170 yards, and Levis completed 17 of 28 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown.