South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Oregon ruins Utah’s playoff aspirations
Wide receiver CeeDee Lamb celebrates after Oklahoma’s overtime victory against Baylor in Saturday’s Big 12 championship game.
CJ Verdell ran for 208 yards and broke open the game with two long touchdown runs in the fourth quarter, and No. 13 Oregon spoiled No. 5 Utah’s playoff hopes with a 37-15 victory in the
Pac-12 championship game Friday in Santa Clara, Calif.
The Utes (11-2) came into the game hoping to make a case for one of the four playoff spots with a conference title but instead got overmatched by Oregon
(11-2) and lost their second straight
Pac-12 championship game.
They fell into a 20-0 hole in the first half and then gave up a 70-yard TD run to Verdell after cutting the deficit to
23-15.
Sun Belt title game: night
Jaylon Henderson threw for 220 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score to lead No. 19 Boise State to a 31-10 victory over Hawaii in the Mountain West championship game Saturday in Boise, Idaho.
Boise State (12-1) won its second conference title in three years, beating Hawaii again this season after winning the Oct. 12th meeting 59-37. After rolling up 518 yards of offense in the first game, the Broncos leaned on their defense in the rematch.
The Broncos made two defensive stands inside the 5, once in the second quarter and another early in the third.
Hawaii (9-5) was making its first appearance in the title game. It enjoyed some success through the air with Cole McDonald passing for 241 yards, but couldn’t overcome early problems in the red zone.
The Rainbow Warriors were denied their first 10-win season since 2010.
Mountain West title game:
Darrynton Evans scored three touchdowns and No. 21 Appalachian State repeated as Sun Belt Conference champions with a 45-38 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday in Boone, N.C.
Evans won the game’s MVP for the second straight season.
Zac Thomas threw for 149 yards and two touchdowns and Daetrich Harrington and Marcus Williams added touchdown runs. The Mountaineers racked up 416 yards on offense, including 267 on the ground in a dominating first half.
The Mountaineers (12-1, 8-1 Sun Belt) accomplished something North Carolina, Duke, North Carolina State and Wake Forest never have — becoming the first FBS team from North Carolina to win 12 games in a season.
Appalachian State defeated Lafayette
17-7 early this season on the road, but this one wasn’t nearly as competitive.
Levi Lewis threw for a Sun Belt championship game-record 354 yards and four touchdowns for Lafayette
(10-3, 8-2). But the left-hander turned the ball over twice, including an interception that returned 16 yards for a score by linebacker Josh Thomas in the third quarter that gave App State a 42-17 lead.