SAN DIEGO (AP) — Kyle McCord threw for 453 yards and five touchdowns to break Deshaun Watson’s Atlantic Coast Conference season passing record and lead No. 22 Syracuse to a 52-35 victory over depleted-yet-scrappy Washington State in the Holiday Bowl on Friday night.
LeQuint Allen rushed for 120 yards and two touchdowns for his second straight 1,000-yard season for the Orange (10-3), who had their first 10-win season since 2018. Fran Brown joined Paul Pasqualoni (1991) as the only Orange coaches since World War II to win 10 game in their first season.
McCord, the national passing leader, came in with 4,326 yards, which was fifth on the ACC’s season list, and needed 268 yards to break Watson’s record of 4,593, which he set in 15 games in 2016 at Clemson. McCord broke the record by a yard on the Orange’s first play of the second half on a 50-yard pass to Darrell Gill Jr., who made a beautiful over-the-shoulder catch. McCord finished with 4,779 yards.
McCord was 24 of 34. Gill had 145 yards on four catches and Jackson Meeks had five catches for 110 yards. Trebor Pena and Oronde Gadsden each had two touchdown catches.
The Cougars (8-5) lost their fourth straight game but were spirited despite losing coach Jake Dickert to Wake Forest, quarterback John Mateer to Oklahoma, both coordinators and the quarterbacks and running backs coach, as well as having more than 20 players enter the transfer portal.
Zevi Eckhaus, who threw only seven passes in the regular season as Mateer’s backup, threw for 363 yards and three touchdowns, with two interceptions. Kyle Williams had 10 catches for 172 yards to break Dez Bryant’s Holiday Bowl record of 168 yards receiving in 2008.
ARMED FORCES BOWL
NAVY 21, OKLAHOMA 20
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Blake Horvath set a Navy record with a 95-yard touchdown run and then scored a go-ahead 6-yarder with 4:34 left as the Midshipmen overcame an early two-touchdown deficit and stopped a late 2-point conversion attempt to beat Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl.
The Sooners (6-7) got a 10-yard touchdown pass from Michael Hawkins Jr. to Jake Roberts with six seconds left. They then went for the win, but Hawkins was sacked by Justin Reed on the conversion try.
Just two weeks after a dominating win over Army for the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, the Midshipmen (10-3) reached 10 wins for the sixth time. The last 10-win season had been in 2019, which had been their last winning season.
Horvath’s record run on a sprint down the middle of the field tied the game at 14 late in third quarter. He then put Navy ahead for the first time on his 6-yard TD run, one play after he converted a fourth-and-3 with a 16-yard pass to Eli Heidenrich.
Horvath ran 18 times for 155 yards, and completed 7 of 12 passes for 92 yards. Alex Tecza had an 11-yard TD run for the Midshipmen.
BIRMINGHAM BOWL
VANDERBILT 35, GEORGIA TECH 27
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Diego Pavia threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more scores and Vanderbilt secured its first winning season since 2013 with a victory over Georgia Tech in the Birmingham Bowl.
The Commodores (7-6) capped the season with yet another big win led by Pavia, a New Mexico State transfer whose gritty play helped lead a huge turnaround from a 2-10 season.
Pavia accounted for three of his scores in a six-minute span starting late in the third quarter before Georgia Tech (7-6) rallied. A lightning delay with 7:17 left only pushed back the celebration of the Commodores’ first bowl win since that 9-4 season 11 years ago.
Pavia, the game MVP, completed 13 of 21 passes for 160 yards and gained 84 yards on 17 rushes. He had a 7-yard touchdown pass to Quincy Skinner Jr. and a 6-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter. Afterward, he announced his plans to return to Vandy next season.
Georgia Tech’s Haynes King tried to bring his team back from a 35-13 deficit with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jamal Haynes with 5:03 left and a 2-yarder to Bailey Stockton at the 1:30 mark. The onside kick attempt went out of bounds.
King was 25-of-33 passing for 204 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. Haynes carried 17 times for 136 yards and had five catches for 32 yards.
LIBERTY BOWL
ARKANSAS 39, TEXAS TECH 26
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Taylen Green threw for 341 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 81 yards in Arkansas’ victory over Texas Tech in the Liberty Bowl.
Green completed 11 of 21 passes and Arkansas (7-6) had 573 yards of total offense.
J’Koby Williams rushed for 123 yards and a TD for Texas Tech (8-5). Will Hammond threw for 280 yards and a touchdown.
The Red Raiders took a shot before game time when leading running back Tahj Brooks, who rushed for 1,505 yards, opted not to play for “personal reasons.”
The first half was highlighted by big scoring plays, including a 54-yard run by Williams and a 94-yard pass from Green to receiver Dazmin James, the longest pass play in Liberty Bowl history.
Arkansas upped its offense in the second half, while the Razorbacks held Texas Tech scoreless over the final two quarters until the closing minutes.
LAS VEGAS BOWL
SOUTHERN CAL 35, TEXAS A&M 31
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jayden Maiava threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to hit tight end Kyle Ford with eight seconds left to give Southern California a victory over Texas A&M in the Las Vegas Bowl.
A graduate of Liberty High School in nearby Henderson and a transfer from UNLV, Maiava helped the Trojans (7-6) overcome a 17-point deficit.
After Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed raced 19 yards for a touchdown with 1:49 remaining to regain the lead, Maiava drove Southern California 75 yards in 10 plays for the winning score.
The Aggies (8-5) opened the third quarter by scoring 17 straight points to take a 24-7 lead, but squandered the lead thanks to several untimely penalties that allowed the Trojans to mount a comeback, eventually taking a 28-24 lead with 4:30 remaining.
Maiava finished 22 of 39 for 295 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions. Bryan Jackson ran 16 times for 66 yards and scored once.
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