Georgia missed an opportunity to send the game to a fourth
overtime when Blair Walsh's 47-yard field goal attempt was blocked on the final
play of the game.
Walsh became the Southeastern Conference's career scoring
leader with a field goal in the second extra period, but he missed a 42-yarder
in the first overtime.
Michigan State (11-3) ended a five-game bowl losing streak
with its first postseason win since beating Fresno State in the 2001 Silicon
Valley Bowl.
Georgia (10-4) finished the season on a two-game losing
streak, including a lopsided loss to top-ranked LSU in the Southeastern
Conference championship game.
At Jacksonville, Florida, Andre
Debose returned a kickoff 99 yards — the longest scoring play in bowl history —
and Chris Rainey blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown as Florida
beat Ohio State in the Gator Bowl.
The speedsters helped the Gators (7-6) avoid their first
losing season since 1979 and pick up some much-needed momentum after losing six
of their previous eight games.
Ohio State (6-7) lost four in a row to end the season and
finished below .500 for the first time since 1986.
The game pitted former Florida coach Urban Meyer's old team
against his new one.
Meyer won two national championships with Florida before
resigning at the end of last season. He was hired to take over at Ohio State
last month and officially starts this week.
At Orlando, Florida, Connor
Shaw threw two touchdown passes and South Carolina's defense had six sacks as
the Gamecocks dominated Nebraska over the final three quarters to win the
Capital One Bowl.
The victory gave South Carolina 11 wins in a season for the
first time in school history and ended a string of three straight bowl losses.
Both teams lost players in the third quarter when Gamecocks
receiver Alshon Jeffrey and Cornhuskers cornerback Alfonso Dennard were ejected
for fighting after a play.
Jeffrey had four catches for 148 yards and a touchdown for
South Carolina (11-2) before the incident.
Nebraska (9-4) lost its second consecutive bowl game.
In Dallas, Case Keenum threw for 532 yards and three
touchdowns as Houston beat Penn State to win the TicketCity Bowl, a dispiriting
finish to the Nittany Lions' season following the child sex-abuse scandal that
led to the firing of longtime coach Joe Paterno.
Penn State (9-4) had allowed 162 passing yards per game this
season, but Keenum threw for more than double that by halftime. He burned the
Nittany Lions' secondary with TD passes of 40 and 75 yards to build a 24-7 lead
by the break.
Patrick Edwards finished with 10 catches and 228 yards for
two touchdowns for Houston (13-1).
It was Penn State's first bowl game without Paterno as head
coach since the 1962 Gator Bowl, a 17-7 loss to Florida. He was fired on Nov. 9
after child sex-abuse charges were leveled against retired assistant coach
Jerry Sandusky.
Longtime defensive coordinator Tom Bradley took over on an
interim basis.
