PASADENA, Calif. — TCU will never know how it would fare against prolific Auburn quarterback Cam Newton. Thanks to the impenetrable BCS, the Horned Frogs can only speculate on whether they could match Oregon’s spread offense point for point.
Yet third-ranked TCU’s dramatic 21-19 win over No. 4 Wisconsin in the 97th Rose Bowl on Saturday answered just about every other question the world could pose to this modest program with enormous heart.
The Frogs (13-0) then celebrated their perfect season on the hallowed Pasadena turf in the name of all those small schools that never even imagined they could get there — every non-automatic qualifying school with dreams of validation.
“We weren’t just playing for TCU,” said Andy Dalton, who threw for 219 yards and a touchdown and ran for a score in his 42nd career victory. “We were playing for all the non-AQ schools out there. … The way the system is, it didn’t give us the opportunity to play in the (title) game, but we did everything we were capable of doing.”
TCU’s first Rose Bowl victory wasn’t secure until Tank Carder batted down a 2-point conversion pass attempt with 2 minutes to play. The Frogs’ star linebacker saved the game with a serendipitous play after the Badgers (11-2) made a gutsy late scoring drive to get to the brink of a tie.
Bart Johnson caught an early TD pass and recovered a late onside kick for the Mountain West champion Horned Frogs, who followed up their second straight unbeaten regular season with their first BCS victory.
TCU lost last year’s Fiesta Bowl to Boise State by a touchdown, but that’s still the only loss of the past two seasons for the improbable power built deep in the heart of football-crazy Texas by coach Gary Patterson.
“It’s hard for me to believe we even got an opportunity to play in the Rose Bowl, let alone say we’re the Rose Bowl champs,” Patterson said. “As a program for 13 years, we’ve been trying to climb the mountain. … Today has been the climax of the last (13) years and what we’ve tried to get done.”
Most of the Frogs stayed on the field after the trophy presentation to soak in another minute of the biggest achievement for TCU football since its national championship season in 1938 — the only other unbeaten campaign for the school that has produced Davey O’Brien, “Slingin’ Sammy” Baugh and LaDainian Tomlinson.
Patterson plans to watch the BCS championship game on his couch, relaxing while Oregon’s Chip Kelly and Auburn’s Gene Chizik sweat out the details in nine days. Patterson’s ferocious Frogs already proved they can play with anybody on college football’s biggest stages.
Montee Ball rushed for 132 yards and a late score for the Big Ten co-champion Badgers, whose loss capped a nightmare New Year’s Day for their conference. The Big Ten went 0-5 in bowl games Saturday, including the Badgers’ loss to one of those teams Ohio State president Gordon Gee said didn’t deserve to play for the national championship because they play opponents like “Little Sisters of the Poor.”
Fiesta Bowl
Oklahoma 48, UConn 20
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Watching film of their two previous, disastrous trips to the Fiesta Bowl back at the team hotel, Oklahoma’s players didn’t cringe, didn’t get that here-we-go-again feeling.
The Sooners got mad and took it out on Connecticut, finally ending that BCS losing streak.
Landry Jones and Ryan Broyles had record-setting games, Oklahoma’s defense scored two touchdowns while holding UConn’s offense without one, and the ninth-ranked Sooners ended their five-game BCS bowl losing streak with a 48-20 victory over Connecticut in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday night.
“Coming out here and winning a bowl game, especially a BCS bowl with our past and losing so many of them, to win one for the program, for Coach (Bob) Stoops and all those guys, it’s just a great feeling right now,” Jones said. “It motivated us. We came into the same situation a couple of times and came out with some losses, and to win a game after those, it’s just a great feeling.”
Oklahoma (12-2) carried plenty of BCS baggage after losing three straight title games and two Fiesta Bowls.
The Sooners avoided the setback six pack behind Jones, Broyles and a dominating defense.
Showing he’s emerged from the shadow of Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, Jones threw for a school bowl-record 429 yards — breaking his own record of 418 in last season’s Sun Bowl — and three touchdowns on 34-of-49 passing.
Outback Bowl
Florida 37, Penn State 24
TAMPA, Fla. — Urban Meyer walked away from Florida with a win against Joe Paterno, who insists Penn State’s disappointing season won’t be his last.
Meyer closed out a highly successful six-year run that included a pair of national titles by leading the Gators back from a second-half deficit to beat JoePa’s Nittany Lions 37-24.
Omarius Hines and Mike Gillislee ran for touchdowns, Chas Henry kicked three second-half field goals, and Ahmad Black sealed the Outback Bowl win with an 80-yard interception return TD to help Florida (8-5) send Meyer out with a smile.
The 46-year-old coach resigned last month amid health concerns.
Meyer and the 84-year-old Paterno met at midfield for a postgame handshake that was anything but typical. “He said, ‘I love you kid,’” Meyer said. “He’s the only one who calls me kid. And I love him too.”
As for Paterno, he — and his wife and Penn State officials — spent the week leading up to the game repeatedly shooting down rumors that the Outback Bowl could be his last.
He expects to be back for a 46th season with Penn State (7-6). At one point, he called the speculation about his future — including reports that he might be in poor health and had been hospitalized — “ridiculous.” He reiterated Friday that he has no plans to retire.
Matt McGloin threw five interceptions for Penn State after only being picked off four times in 174 attempts during the regular season. He finished 17 of 41 for 211 yards and one touchdown.
Gator Bowl
No. 21 Mississippi State 52, Michigan 14
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Chris Relf threw three touchdown passes, Vick Ballard ran for three scores and the Bulldogs overwhelmed the Wolverines.
The 38-point drubbing was the worst bowl loss in Michigan’s storied history and may have sealed the fate of Wolverines coach Rich Rodriguez. His three-year tenure has been tainted by consecutive losing seasons, NCAA sanctions and late-season slides.
Michigan (7-6) was out of this game early, done in again by a defense that made a middle-of-the-pack Southeastern Conference offense look like a juggernaut.
Relf and Ballard posed problems all day. Relf completed 18 of 23 passes for 281 yards, and added 49 yards on the ground. Ballard ran for 77 yards. The Bulldogs (9-4) finished with 485 yards and punted twice.
Capital One Bowl
Alabama 49, Michigan State 7
ORLANDO, Fla. — Mark Ingram ran for two scores to break the Alabama career touchdown record, and the Crimson Tide rolled to the most lopsided victory in Capital One Bowl history.
The 2009 Heisman winner had 59 yards rushing against the team he rooted for as a kid, Greg McElroy threw for 220 yards and one touchdown, and Alabama (10-3) pulled most of its starters in the third quarter. Ingram moved past Shaun Alexander’s mark (41) with 42 career touchdowns.
The Crimson Tide found the end zone on their first four possessions, held the Spartans (11-2) to 171 total yards and sacked Kirk Cousins four times in their best performance all season.
The margin of victory topped East Texas State’s 33-0 victory over Tennessee Tech in the 1953 game, then known as the Tangerine Bowl. The bowl dates back to 1947.
TicketCity Bowl
Texas Tech 45, Northwestern 38
DALLAS — Taylor Potts threw four touchdown passes and scored another on a trick play, and Eric Stephens ran 86 yards for a score to carry Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders (8-5) led by 22 points early in the second half, then had to sweat it out.
The Wildcats (7-6) got within a touchdown twice in the fourth quarter, with freshmen quarterbacks Evan Watkins and Kain Colter combining to lead three straight touchdown drives and Jordan Maybin returning an interception 39 yards for a score with 5:37 left.
The game wasn’t decided until the final play, a heave by Watkins that was intercepted.
Northwestern remains winless in a bowl since 1949. The Wildcats have lost eight in a row, including three straight close ones the last three seasons.