Dec 30, 2006 - 5:30 AM
0 shoutsBy PA SportsTicker
Steve Spurrier still showed there was life in the "Old Ball Coach" as he guided South Carolina to its first bowl win under his reign.
Blake Mitchell passed for four touchdowns as the Gamecocks posted a 44-36 victory over Houston in the Liberty Bowl.
Mitchell completed 19-of-29 passes for 323 yards and one interception as South Carolina (8-5) earned its first bowl win since 2002.
"It's a good win," Spurrier said. "Eight wins is good for us right now. We had seven last year, and we'll shoot for nine or 10 next year."
The victory also evened Spurrier's career bowl record at 7-7.
Mitchell - who was named the game's Most Valuable Player - guided the Gamecocks to 512 yards of total offense and was helped by a ground attack led by junior Cory Boyd, who gained 94 yards on 18 carries and scored twice.
"Blake has come on strong the late part of the year," Spurrier said. "We think he can be even better next year. What I think he's done best is take care of the ball."
Kevin Kolb was 26-of-39 for 386 yards and three touchdowns for Houston (10-4), which led, 28-27, at halftime.
It was the highest-scoring first half in the history of the Liberty Bowl, and the teams combined for 1,039 yards of total offense overall.
Another high-scoring affair took place in El Paso, Texas.
Yvenson Bernard rushed for the two-point conversion after tight end Joe Newton caught a 14-yard touchdown pass with just 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter to lift 24th-ranked Oregon State to a 39-38 victory over Missouri in the second-highest scoring game in the 73-year history of the Sun Bowl.
"It (the decision to go for two) was done with some encouragement from Bernard," Oregon State coach Mike Riley admitted. "Like in a card game, we were all in. We put all our chips on the table."
Matt Moore passed for 356 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for another score for the Beavers, who have won three straight bowl games under Riley.
Tony Temple rushed for a career-high 194 yards and two touchdowns and Chase Daniel passed for 330 yards and two scores for Missouri (8-5), which has dropped five of its last seven contests.
The teams combined for 1,018 yards - 561 for Missouri and 457 for Oregon State.
Meanwhile, Andre' Woodson and Kentucky capped off a fantastic finish to the season with a rare accomplishment - the school's first bowl win in over two decades.
Woodson passed for 299 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Wildcats to a 28-20 triumph over Clemson in the Music City Bowl.
It was Kentucky's first victory in a bowl game since a 20-19 win over Wisconsin in the Hall of Fame Bowl on December 29, 1984. The Wildcats were winless in their previous three bowl appearances.
"This was a hard-fought football game," Kentucky coach Rich Brooks said. "To me, it is a very significant win."
Clemson (8-5) rallied from a three-touchdown deficit to make it 28-20 with 44 seconds remaining, when Will Proctor fired a 17-yard TD pass to Aaron Kelly.
But the Tigers failed to recover the ensuing onside kick, sealing the Wildcats' long-awaited win.
Proctor completed 23-of-39 passes for 272 yards, three TDs and one interception while Chansi Stuckey had five catches for 93 yards for Clemson, which fell to 15-14 in bowl games.
In Tempe, Arizona, all Texas Tech did was pull off a comeback of historical proportions.
Graham Harrell threw for 445 yards as the Red Raiders posted a 44-41 overtime triumph over Minnesota in the Insight Bowl, completing the largest comeback in Division I-A bowl history.
Harrell - the game MVP - completed 36-of-55 passes and threw for two touchdowns against one interception for Texas Tech (8-5), which trailed, 38-7, midway through the third period before posting what also was the largest comeback in school annals.
"I think at halftime, everybody sort of recommitted and understood that we had a great opportunity," Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said. "We really didn't want to be behind or anything. But you know, as long as we were here, we had a great opportunity to do something memorable. Then everybody recommitted and just zeroed in on doing their job."
After tossing a 43-yard score to Joel Falani in the third quarter, Harrell found Robert Johnson for an eight-yard TD at the start of the fourth period to cut the deficit to 38-21.
One-yard touchdown runs by Harrell and Shannon Woods drew the Red Raiders within three points, and Alex Trlica's career-long 52-yard field goal at the end of regulation tied the game at 38-38.
Joel Monroe kicked a 32-yard field goal in overtime to give the Golden Gophers a three-point lead, but Harrell's two completions and a one-yard plunge by Woods on Texas Tech's possession completed the dramatic comeback.
Bryan Cupito was 19-of-31 for 263 yards with three touchdowns and an interception and Amir Pinnix carried 34 times for 179 yards for Minnesota (6-7), which had the ball more than 11 minutes more than Texas Tech.
After all of the high-scoring hijinx in the other four bowl games, Maryland won in a nice, quiet way.
Sam Hollenbach tossed two touchdown passes and led an offense that kept possession of the ball for nearly 40 minutes as Maryland posted a 24-7 victory over Purdue in the Champs Sports Bowl.
Hollenbach - who was named the game's Most Valuable Player - completed 15-of-24 passes for 223 yards and helped the Terrapins' offense, which was ranked 96th out of 119 Division I-A schools, gain 429 total yards.
Lance Ball rushed for 98 yards on 18 carries and Darrius Heward-Bey caught nine passes for 81 yards and a score for Maryland (9-4), which gave coach Ralph Friedgen his 50th career victory in winning its third straight bowl game.
"I thought we had an excellent game plan," Friedgen said. "We worked on it a lot against each other in practice."
Curtis Painter was 23-of-36 for 264 yards with a touchdown and an interception for the Boilermakers (8-6), who were held to 285 total yards after coming in ranked ninth in the nation (425.8).
Three more bowl games are on tap for Saturday.
Navy begins the festivities when it takes on No. 23 Boston College in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina, and No. 18 Texas faces Iowa in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.
Saturday night, two teams who play south of the Mason-Dixon Line meet in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, as Georgia battles No. 14 Virginia Tech in Atlanta.
A total of 32 bowls are being held over a 21-day span, which will end with top-ranked Ohio State meeting second-ranked Florida in the BCS National Championship in Glendale, Arizona on January 8.
