No. 13 Kansas State beats No. 3 TCU in OT for Big 12 title
ARLINGTON, TEXAS » Ty Zentner kicked a 31-yard field goal in overtime and No. 13 Kansas State beat No. 3 TCU 31-28 in the Big 12 championship game Saturday, leaving the Horned Frogs to wait another day to find out if they had already done enough to get into the four-team College Football Playoff.
The Wildcats (10-3, No. 10 CFP) set up the winning field goal after TCU (12-1, No. 3 CFP) had the first overtime possession and Kendre Miller was stopped short on consecutive plays from inside the 1.
Deuce Vaughn ran for 130 yards and a touchdown and Will Howard threw two TDs for the Wildcats, who six weeks earlier jumped out to a 28-10 lead early in the second quarter before TCU scored the game’s last 28 points.
The first Big 12 team to complete a regular season undefeated since Texas in 2009, TCU could still get into the playoff. While their case was helped when fourth-ranked Southern California (11-2) lost 4724 to Utah in the Pac-12 championship game Friday night, the Frogs now have to wait until the final CFP rankings come out Sunday.
SEC championship
NO. 1 GEORGIA 50, NO. 11 LSU 30
ATLANTA » With all sorts of turmoil behind them in the rankings, Georgia left no doubt about the top team heading into the College Football Playoff, dismantling LSU in the Southeastern Conference championship game.
Stetson Bennett’s threw a season-high four touchdown passes in another stellar postseason performance, while Christopher Smith gave the Bulldogs an early spark with a heads-up play that turned a seemingly harmless blocked field goal into a 96-yard TD.
Not that any fortuitous breaks were needed, but Georgia (13-0, No. 1 CFP) caught a big one when a deflected pass bounced off an LSU receiver’s helmet and wound up being picked off by the Bulldogs, setting up a score that contributed to a 3510 lead by halftime.
LSU’s hopes of denying the reigning national champs their first SEC title since 2017 were further dampened by quarterback Jayden Daniels re-injuring a sore right ankle late in the first half. Not that backup Garrett Nussmeier played poorly, guiding the Tigers (9-4, No. 14 CFP) to three second-half touchdowns.
AAC championship
NO. 18 TULANE 45, NO. 22 UCF 28
NEW ORLEANS » Michael Pratt accounted for 442 total yards and five touchdowns, Tyjae Spears highlighted his 199 yards rushing with a 60-yard score and Tulane beat UCF in the American Athletic Conference championship game.
The victory virtually assured Tulane (11-2) would play in the Cotton Bowl — its first major New Year’s Day bowl since the 1939 season — only one season after going 2-10.
Pratt passed for a career-high 394 yards, including touchdowns of 73 yards to Duece Watts, 60 and 10 yards to Shae Wyatt and 43 yards to Lawrence Keys. Pratt also ran for a pivotal 18-yard touchdown with 4:04 left.
The Green Wave, which earned the right to host the title game by ending Cincinnati’s 32-game home winning streak last weekend, avenged a 38-31 regular-season loss to UCF (9-4) on the same field three weeks ago.