Rose Bowl Football

Ohio State wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba fends off Utah cornerback Kenzel Lawler to score one of his three touchdowns in the Buckeyes’ 48-45 comeback victory Saturday in the Rose Bowl at Pasadena, Calif. John McCoy/Associated Press

PASADENA, Calif. — C.J. Stroud capped his record-setting offensive day by leading a 56-yard drive ending in Noah Ruggles’ 19-yard field goal with nine seconds to play, and No. 7 Ohio State beat No. 10 Utah 48-45 on Saturday night in the wild 108th edition of the Rose Bowl.

Stroud passed for a school-record 573 yards and a record-tying six touchdowns for the Buckeyes (11-2), who won the Rose Bowl for the second time in four years with an offensive performance that shattered multiple long-standing offensive marks. Stroud’s yards passing and touchdowns both are Rose Bowl records, and he finished 3 yards shy of the record for yards passing in any bowl game.

Ohio State still had to rally from 10 points down late in the third quarter to beat the Pac-12 champion Utes (10-4), who got off to an electrifying start and stayed competitive even after star quarterback Cameron Rising went down with an injury with 9:56 to play in Utah’s first trip to the Rose Bowl.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba set the record for any FBS bowl game with 347 yards receiving while catching a school-record 15 passes and scoring three touchdowns. Marvin Harrison Jr. also caught three TD passes for the Buckeyes, who set a Rose Bowl record with 683 total yards.

Ohio State trailed 38-31 entering the fourth quarter despite the pyrotechnics of its passing game, but the Buckeyes immediately stopped Utah on downs at the Ohio State 31 and tied it on Harrison’s 5-yard TD catch with 10:12 left. Rising was injured moments later while getting sacked, and the Utes had to turn to Bryson Barnes, who had never thrown a collegiate pass.

Smith-Njigba then made a 30-yard, over-the-shoulder catch for his third touchdown with 4:22 to play, but Barnes improbably led the Utes on a tying drive, capped by a 15-yard TD pass to Dalton Kincaid with 1:54 left.

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Stroud then coolly led the Buckeyes back downfield in the waning seconds, and Ruggles hit his easy field goal. Ohio State kicked off to Britain Covey, who already had a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown earlier, but the Buckeyes smothered his cutback as time ran out.

Rising passed for 214 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 92 yards and a score, but he left the game because of an apparent head injury after getting sacked.

FIESTA BOWL: Spencer Sanders accounted for 496 yards and threw three of his four touchdown passes to Ty Martin, and No. 9 Oklahoma State overcame a 21-point deficit to beat No. 5 Notre Dame 37-35 in Glendale, Arizona.

Fiesta Bowl Football

Oklahoma State’s Tay Martin, left, is congratulated by fellow wide receiver Bryson Green after catching a touchdown pass Saturday against Notre Dame during the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP

Oklahoma State (12-2, No. 9 CFP) fell into a big first-half hole against Notre Dame (11-2, No. 5 CFP).

Jack Coan led Notre Dame’s early charge while throwing for a Fiesta Bowl-record 509 yards and five touchdowns.

Sanders and Martin brought the Cowboys back.

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Sanders, who had a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jaden Bray in the first quarter, cut Notre Dame’s lead to 28-14 with a 9-yard scoring pass to Martin with 37 seconds left in the first half. The pair connected for two more touchdowns, from 5 and 8 yards, to tie the game, and the Cowboys went up 37-28 on three field goals by Tanner Brown.

Coan threw a 25-yard TD pass to Austin with 1:05 left to pull Notre Dame within two, but Oklahoma State recovered the onside kick to keep the Irish winless in major bowl games since the 1993 Cotton Bowl.

Sanders threw for 371 yards on 34-of-51 passing and ran for 125 yards.

CITRUS BOWL: Chris Rodriguez ran for a 6-yard touchdown with 1:48 to play, and No. 25 Kentucky rallied in the fourth quarter for a 20-17 victory over No. 17 Iowa in Orlando, Florida.

Kentucky blew a 10-point lead in the second half, but Wan’Dale Robinson set up the winning score when he caught a 52-yard pass from Will Levis to get the Wildcats to the 1-yard line. Robinson, the game’s MVP, finished with 10 catches for 170 yards, while Levis completed 17 of 28 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown.

DeAndre Square intercepted Iowa’s Spencer Petras with 48 seconds to play to clinch the victory. Kentucky (10-3) won a fourth straight bowl game for the first time in school history and became the fourth Wildcats team to win at least 10 games.

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Iowa (10-4) saw its bowl winning streak end at three games. The Hawkeyes led 17-13 after Petras’ 36-yard touchdown pass to Sam LaPorta with 10:54 to play.

OUTBACK BOWL: KJ Jefferson picked up 104 of his 110 rushing yards in the second half and threw for 90 more to lead No. 22 Arkansas (9-4) to a 24-10 win over Penn State (7-6) in Tampa, Florida.

Raheim Sanders added 79 yards and two touchdowns on 13 rushing attempts, and Dominique Johnson gained 85 yards on 11 carries as the Razorbacks finished with 361 rushing yards.

Arkansas, coming off four consecutive seasons of four or fewer wins, got its first nine-win year since going 11-2 in 2011. The Razorbacks played in their first bowl game since the 2016 Belk Bowl.

Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford was 14 of 32 passing for 195 yards.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

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ST. JOSEPH’S 60, BOWDOIN 55: Cassandra Stapelfeld scored 19 points, and Angelica Hurley added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Monks (10-1) in a win over the Polar Bears (9-2) at Brunswick.

Sela Kay paced Bowdoin with 23 points in the first meeting between the two teams since the 1999-2000 season.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

UMAINE: An America East game scheduled for Thursday against Hartford has been postponed because of COVID-19 issues in the Hartford program.

The Black Bears open the conference portion of their schedule on Sunday at New Jersey Institute of Technology.

(1) BAYLOR 77, (8) IOWA STATE 72: James Akinjo scored 16 points, LJ Cryer got 10 of his 13 in the second half, and the Bears (13-0, 1-0 Big 12) never trailed in a win over the Cyclones (12-1, 0-1) at Ames, Iowa.

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The defending national champions extended their winning streak to 19 games and are among three remaining unbeaten teams. Southern California and Colorado State are the others.

Tristan Enaruna scored a career-high 23 points for the Cyclones, who were off to the second-best start in program history under first-year coach T.J. Otzelberger after winning two games last season.

(6) KANSAS 76, GEORGE MASON 67: Jalen Coleman-Lands came off the bench to hit five 3-pointers and score 20 points, reserve Mitch Lightfoot added 14 points, and the Jayhawks (11-1) held off the Patriots (7-6) in Lawrence, Kansas.

(22) VILLANOVA 73, (15) SETON HALL 67: Justin Moore hit a go-ahead jumper with 1:36 to play and the Wildcats (9-4, 2-1 Big East) beat the short-handed Pirates (9-3, 0-2) at Newark, New Jersey.

Collin Gillespie scored 21 points, Brandon Slater added 17 and Moore had 13 for the Wildcats.

Backup guard Bryce Aiken led Seton Hall with 22 points. The Pirates have lost their last two games playing with only eight players because of COVID-19 issues.

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(17) TEXAS 74, WEST VIRGINIA 59: Marcus Carr scored a season-best 20 points and the Longhorns (11-2, 1-0 Big 12) defeated short-handed West Virginia (11-2, 0-1), snapping the Mountaineers’ eight-game winning streak.

West Virginia played without starting guard and leading scorer Taz Sherman (20.9 points per game) along with reserves Gabe Osabuohien and Kobe Johnson. All three are in COVID-19 protocols.

(21) PROVIDENCE 70, DEPAUL 53: Aljami Durham scored 17 points to lead the Friars (13-1, 3-0 Big East) past the Blue Demons (9-3, 0-2) in Chicago.

Providence, off to its best start since the 2015-16 team won 14 of its first 15, grabbed a 25-point halftime lead on the way to its eighth straight win.

Javon Freeman-Liberty led DePaul with 22 points.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

WILLIAMS 4, BOWDOIN 0: Robin Kitazono and Paige Galle scored in the first period to start the Ephs (6-2-2, 3-2 NESCAC) on their way to a win over the Polar Bears (4-4, 1-4) in Williamstown, Mass.

Delaney Szlezyngier and Kelly McCarthy added second-period goals, and Chloe Heiting stopped 29 shots for the shutout.

Bowdoin’s Dani Marquez recorded 21 saves.


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