Day Of Bowl Games Keeps College Football Fans Entertained

Enlarge this image toggle caption Jae C. Hong/AP Jae C. Hong/AP

In less than a week, the winner of the College Football Playoff Championship will be decided. The No. 3 Clemson Tigers face the No. 1 ranked Crimson Tide of Alabama. The Monday night game will be played in Tampa, Fla. In the meantime, the winners of four bowl games on Monday have been decided.

Sugar Bowl: Oklahoma Victorious Over Auburn 35-19

Heisman Trophy finalists Baker Mayfield and Dede Westbrook connected one last time for a touchdown. Joe Mixon emerged from his recent controversy with big plays that had teammates lifting him off his feet in celebration. Samaje Perine put his name in Oklahoma's record books.

Seventh-ranked Oklahoma had plenty to celebrate after a 35-19 triumph over No. 17 Auburn in the Sugar Bowl on Monday night, including a 10th-straight victory.

"We're a prideful team," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "And we're confident, regardless of the people that try to rattle the cage and shake your confidence. ... We improved as we went through the end and we fought through the outside noise."

Auburn (8-5), which wound up in the Sugar Bowl despite dropping its last two Southeastern Conference games to Georgia and Alabama, entered the game hopeful that it would be buoyed by the return of quarterback Sean White, who'd missed the Tigers' final two games with a throwing shoulder injury. White led Auburn to a touchdown on its first series — Chandler Cox's 3-yard run on fourth down — but the quarterback left the game for good in the first half with a broken right forearm.

Rose Bowl: Southern California Downs Penn State 52-49

After 98 combined points and 1,040 yards of spectacular offensive play, the highest-scoring Rose Bowl in history rested on the left foot of a Southern California kicker who had already missed two field goals.

Matt Boermeester somehow blocked out the cacophonous tension in the chilly air. He focused only on securing a perfect ending to an epic evening.

"Game was on the line, but you've got to keep true to your technique and trust it," Boermeester said.

His technique was sound. His kick was true. And the Trojans got their storybook finish in Pasadena.

Boermeester hit a 46-yard field goal as time expired , and No. 9 USC rallied from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter for a 52-49 victory over No. 5 Penn State on Monday night in the 103rd edition of the Granddaddy of Them All.

Freshman Sam Darnold passed for 453 yards and five touchdowns while leading a stirring comeback by the Trojans (10-3), who won their ninth consecutive game and triumphed in their first Rose Bowl since 2009. USC trailed 49-35 with nine minutes to play, but persevered to win one of the greatest Rose Bowls ever played.

Cotton Bowl: Wisconsin Beats Western Michigan 24-16

Troy Fumagalli had highlight catches for Wisconsin even before the big tight end's leaping 8-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter and his 26-yard gain on third down that effectively wrapped up the Cotton Bowl victory.

The game's offensive MVP also had a nifty one-handed grab on third down with his left hand - the one missing an index finger since right after his birth - to extend the eighth-ranked Badgers' opening touchdown drive. There was another leaping two-handed catch in the first half of a 24-16 victory Monday that denied Western Michigan a perfect season.

"It's special," said Fumagalli, a junior. "It's a great feeling to come out on top."

Fumagalli had seven passes thrown his way, and the 6-foot-6 junior caught six of them. The last two clinched the third consecutive bowl victory for the Big Ten runner-up Badgers (11-3).

After his TD catch between two defenders in the back of the end zone with 12:26 left made it 24-10, Western Michigan (13-1) took 9 minutes to score. Wisconsin was able to run out the clock after Fumagalli's big play on third-and-8.

The Badgers, who finished with 11 wins for the fourth time in seven seasons, were clearly bigger and stronger - especially up front. Their offensive line averaged about three inches and 45 pounds more than the WMU defensive front.

Outback Bowl: Florida Routs Iowa 30-3

No. 20 Florida dominated the Outback with stingy defense and a persistent offense that did its job, too.

Chauncey Gardner, Jr., returned one of his two fourth-quarter interceptions 58 yards for a touchdown, and graduate transfer Austin Appleby threw for 222 yards and two TDs to pace Monday's 30-3 rout of No. 21 Iowa.

With Gardner grabbing game MVP honors, the Gators (9-4) held up their end of what many expected to be a day defense ruled , especially considering Florida entered ranked 115th in the nation in total offense — five spots ahead of the sputtering Hawkeyes.

Conversely, the teams were sixth and 24th, respectively, in total defense.

"The MVP, it goes to our guys up front, the linebackers and the coaching staff because they put me in good position to make plays. ... It should be a team MVP," Gardner said. "Our motto is just go out there and have fun, and play our game."

Mark Thompson scored on an 85-yard pass play in the first half and Appleby, who spent the past four seasons at Purdue, tossed a 6-yard TD pass to DeAndre Goolsby to break the game open late in the third quarter.

Florida (9-4) rebounded from lopsided losses to archrival Florida State and No. 1 Alabama, scoring more points on Iowa (8-5) than the Hawkeyes allowed to Michigan, Illinois and Nebraska combined while ending the regular season on a three-game winning streak.