CELEBRATION BOWL
NORTH CAROLINA A&T 24, ALCORN STATE 22
ATLANTA -- Lamar Raynard passed for 292 yards and two touchdowns and Malik Wilson returned a kickoff for the game-sealing touchdown for North Carolina A&T in the Celebration Bowl.
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion Aggies (10-2) won their second consecutive historically black college national championship and third in four years. Alcorn State finished 9-4.
The Celebration Bowl kicks off the bowl season by matching up the champions of two historically black leagues, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Raynard, a senior who finished his career with a 35-2 record as a starter, did most of his damage in the first half with touchdown passes of 17 yards to Zachary Leslie and 27 yards to Elijah Bell as North Carolina A&T (10-2) built a 17-3 lead in the second quarter.
Alcorn State (9-4) stormed back in the third quarter. De'Shawn Waller tallied 116 of his 167 rushing yards on just four carries in the period while playing about six miles east of where he grew up.
The Braves pulled within 17-16 on a 30-yard touchdown run by quarterback Noah Johnson, the SWAC Offensive Player of the Year, and a 29-yard field goal with 51 seconds left in the quarter. Johnson rushed for 120 yards and passed for 128.
CAMELLIA BOWL
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 23, EASTERN MICHIGAN 21
MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Tyler Bass kicked a 40-yard field goal as time expired to give Georgia Southern a victory over Eastern Michigan in the Camellia Bowl.
Shai Werts kept the winning drive alive with a 29-yard scramble on fourth-and-10. Bass came on for his third field goal after Wesley Fields' two runs pushed Georgia Southern (10-3) 7 yards closer.
Werts also made a 50-yarder on the final play of the first half.
Eastern Michigan (7-6) had delivered its own big fourth-down play to take the lead for the first time.
Mike Glass threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Arthur Jackson with 3:33 left on fourth-and-4, followed by Chad Ryland's extra point.
Georgia Southern took over at its own 25 with a triple-option offense that attempted fewer passes than every FBS team but Army. Werts completed a 15-yard pass to tight end Ellis Richardson, but Georgia Southern fittingly covered most of the 52 yards with runs.
Werts ran for 79 yards and two first-half touchdowns while completing 4 of 7 passes for 33 yards to receive Most Valuable Player honors. Wesley Kennedy III gained 107 yards on nine carries.
NEW MEXICO BOWL
UTAH STATE 52, NORTH TEXAS 13
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Jordan Love threw for 359 yards and four touchdowns and Jalen Greene had six catches for 151 yards and a score to help Utah State rout North Texas in the New Mexico Bowl.
Interim coach Frank Maile directed the Aggies (11-2) after Matt Wells left to take the Texas Tech job.
Love completed 21 of 43 passes with one interception. D.J. William had two interceptions, helping Utah State ground high-flying North Texas (9-4).
Aaren Vaughns caught two passes for 109 yards and two scores for the Aggies, Gerold Bright ran for 103 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries, and Darwin Thompson added 93 yards on 21 carries.
North Texas quarterback Mason Fine was injured in the first quarter, and the Mean Green ended up using four quarterbacks. Jalen Guyton had four catches for 103 yards a score.
North Texas Coach Seth Littrell said Fine left with a "pretty bad" hamstring injury but couldn't give more details.
CURE BOWL
TULANE 41, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 24
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Darius Bradwell rushed for a career-best 150 yards and two touchdowns to lead Tulane to its first postseason victory in 16 years, a win over intrastate rival Louisiana-Lafayette in the Cure Bowl.
Justin McMillan improved to 5-1 as the Green Wave's starting quarterback, tossing a first-quarter TD pass to Terren Encalade and running for a late score while accounting for 217 yards total offense -- 145 passing and 72 rushing.
Bradwell scored on runs of 15 and 4 yards while setting bowl records for rushing attempts (35) and yards for Tulane (7-6), which won a bowl game for the first time since the 2002 Hawaii Bowl.
The Green Wave also got a rushing TD from Amare Jones and outgained the Ragin' Cajuns 337 yards to 84 on the ground.
Louisiana-Lafayette (7-7) rallied from a 24-7 deficit to pull within three points on Jarrod Jackson's 15-yard TD reception with just over 10 minutes remaining.
McMillan put the game away, leading a 75-yard drive Bradwell finished with his second TD and later scoring himself on a 16-yard run that put Tulane up 41-24.
Sports on 12/16/2018