SPORTS
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Michigan St. beats Stanford 24-20 Thursday, January 2, 2014 Phone: 575-622-7710, ext. 304
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Connor Cook passed for a career-high 332 yards and hit Tony Lippett with a tiebreaking 25-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, leading No. 4 Michigan State to a 24-20 victory over No. 5 Stanford on Wednesday night in the 100th Rose Bowl.
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Roswell Daily Record
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Cook also threw a TD pass to Trevon Pendleton, and Jeremy Langford rushed for 84 yards and a score in the first Rose Bowl victory in 26 years for the Big Ten champion Spartans (13-1), who finished the season with 10 straight See ROSE BOWL, Page B3
AP Photos
ABOVE: Michigan State’s Kyler Elsworth celebrates the Spartans’ 24-20 win over Stanford in the Rose Bowl, Wednesday.
LEFT: Michigan State’s Connor Cook holds the trophy as coach Mark Dantonio looks on after the Spartans’ Rose Bowl victory, Wednesday.
LSU beats Iowa 21-14 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — What Anthony Jennings lacked in experience, LSU more than compensated for with a talented supporting cast in the Outback Bowl. Jennings made plenty of freshman mistakes Wednesday, however they weren’t nearly as costly as they could have been for the 14th-ranked Tigers with Jeremy Hill rushing for 216 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-14 victory. The second quarterback in school history to make his first college start in a bowl game, Jennings fretted over an interception that helped Iowa (8-5) get back in the game. But with the outcome on the line, he simply turned and handed the ball to Hill, who made sure LSU (10-3) would not lose. “Anthony in his first start was tight,”
coach Les Miles said, adding that Jennings learned some lessons will be beneficial moving forward with his career. “He wasn’t perfect by any stretch,” Miles said. “But he did what he had to do.” Craig Loston’s fourth-quarter interception stopped a potential tying drive, giving Hill a chance to put the game out of reach by carrying four times for 87 yards on a six-play, 92-yard march that gave LSU (10-3) a 21-7 lead. Iowa (8-5) pulled within a touchdown for the second time in 4 minutes after Jordan Cotton returned the ensuing kickoff to the Tigers 4. Jennings ran for a first-quarter touchdown, but the true freshman struggled to hit open receivers while completing 7
No. 8 South Carolina too much for No. 19 Badgers
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw’s career has been marked by a mix of special moments and others he’d like to forget. He made sure his final game was one he’ll be able to savor. Shaw was responsible for five touchdowns, including three passing, and No. 8 South Carolina outlasted No. 19 Wisconsin 34-24 in the Capital One Bowl on Wednesday. The Gamecocks’ senior was named the game’s MVP after picking apart the Badgers defense, completing 22 of 25 passes for 312 yards. Shaw also had scores rushing and receiving. South Carolina (11-2) won its third straight bowl game to cap its third straight 11-win season. After untimely injuries and losses culminated in the Gamecocks missing a spot in the BCS, Shaw said See TOO MUCH, Page B3
— THURSDAY, JAN. 2 — • Dexter at Tucumcari, 4 p.m. Wagon Mound Invitational • Gateway Chr. vs. Wagon Mound, 7 p.m. BOYS BASKETBALL
• Dexter at Tucumcari, 2:30 p.m. Wagon Mound Invitational • Gateway Chr. vs. Cimarron, 5:30 p.m. GIRLS BASKETBALL
See LSU, Page B3
AP Photo
South Carolina’s Jadeveon Clowney walks around the field carrying the trophy after South Carolina defeated Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl, Wednesday.
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FIESTA BOWL
AP Photo
Knights knock off Bears
Central Florida’s Blake Bortles (5) dashes for a rushing touchdown as Baylor’s Terrell Burt (13) defends during the second half of the Fiesta Bowl, Wednesday.
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Central Florida was supposed to be a patsy for Baylor in its first BCS bowl. The Knights wanted no part of it, turning the Fiesta Bowl into a big-play party. Blake Bortles threw for 301 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, Storm Johnson ran for three more scores, and No. 15 Central Florida pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the bowl season by outlasting No. 6 Baylor 52-42 on Wednesday night. A 17-point underdog, Central Florida (12-1) didn’t back down from the big, bad Bears, racing past the nation’s top offensive team with an array of big plays. The jumped out to an early 14-point and kept rolling, piling up 556 total yards in the highest-scoring game in Fiesta Bowl history. Rannell Hall had four catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns, and Johnson ran for 124 yards to give the Knights a rousing BCS bowl debut. Baylor (11-2) had a hard time keeping up with the Knights, gaining 550 total yards but losing 135 on 17 penalties. Bortles threw for three touchdowns on 20-of-31 passing and ran for another score.
SPOTLIGHT 1961 — George Blanda passes for three touchdowns and kicks a field goal and the extra points to give the Houston Oilers a 24-16 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in the first American Football League championship game. 1966 — Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung gain 201 yards on four inches of snow at Lambeau Field to lead the Green Bay Packers to a 23-12 victory over the Cleveland Browns and their third championship in
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Bryce Petty ran for three touchdowns and threw for 356 yards and two more scores for Baylor. Lache Seastrunk ran for 117 yards. The Fiesta Bowl was the BCS comingout party for Baylor and Central Florida before college football’s switch to a playoff system next season. The Bears had been building toward this since Art Briles became coach in 2009, winding up his high-octane offense to lead the nation in scoring and churn out the second-most yards in FBS history. Central Florida had a slower rise under George O’Leary. The coach who was fired by Notre Dame five days after being hired for lying on his resume has built his reputation back up in Orlando, taking a program that went winless in 2004 to the inaugural American Athletic Conference title and automatic BCS berth this year. The matchup was projected to be like the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, when mighty Oklahoma rolled over Connecticut 48-20. The Knights weren’t listening. They opened with a 76-yard scoring drive capped by Johnson’s tackle-breaking See FIESTA, Page B2
SPORTS
ON THIS DAY IN ... five years. 1982 — Rolf Benirschke’s 29-yard field goal at 13:52 of overtime ends one of the wildest and highest-scoring playoff games as the San Diego Chargers beat the Miami Dolphins 41-38. 1985 — Nevada-Las Vegas beats Utah State 142140 in triple overtime as both teams set an NCAA record for total points. The Runnin’ Rebels score a record 93 points in the second half, and coach Jerry
Tarkanian gets his 600th victory. 1987 — No. 2 Penn State beats No. 1 Miami 14-10 in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship. 1995 — Florida State beats Florida 23-17 in the Sugar Bowl to give coach Bobby Bowden an NCAArecord 10 consecutive bowl wins. 1996 — No. 1 Nebraska demolishes No. 2 Florida 62-24 in the Fiesta Bowl, making them the first repeat champions in 16 years.