ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Mississippi State's sideline erupted in celebration, relieved to escape with a victory to end a challenging season.
Nick Fitzgerald rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns in another strong performance by the dual-threat quarterback; however, the heavily favored Bulldogs had to block a field goal in the closing seconds to hold off Miami (Ohio) 17-16 in the St. Petersburg Bowl on Monday.
"Great game. Not exactly how we drew it up," coach Dan Mullen said after defensive tackle Nelson Adams got a hand on Nick Dowd's potential game-winning kick that would have helped Miami finish a stunning turnaround from a 0-6 start to the season to a winning record.
Instead, both the Bulldogs (6-7) and the RedHawks (6-7), who won six straight games to become bowl eligible, finished with losing marks.
"You know what, it's been an interesting year. We've battled. Throughout the year we've lost some tough games on the final play of the game," Mullen said. "I told the guys in the locker room afterward, we're here because we didn't give up. We found a way to go make that final play. Even though we missed a lot of opportunities, we made the final play when it mattered."
Fitzgerald, who led the Southeastern Conference in total offense, scored on runs of 2 and 44 yards on the way to his eighth 100-yard rushing performance of the season. The redshirt sophomore also completed 13-of-26 passes for 126 yards.
Gus Ragland threw for 257 yards and two touchdowns for Miami. He also threw his first interception of the season early in the fourth quarter, and Mississippi State turned the mistake into a 36-yard field goal that put the Bulldogs ahead with 12:03 remaining.
"We were one play ahead of them for most of the game, if not more than one, but they were one play ahead of us at the end," Miami coach Chuck Martin said. "We had opportunities. When you look at it, it didn't need to come down to that last kick, but it did. They made one more play than us. Tough way to end. That's sports, and that's competition."
The RedHawks drove the ball deep into Bulldogs territory on their next two possessions, turning the ball over on downs at the Mississippi State 32 midway through the fourth quarter and reaching the 17 before Dowd had his kick blocked with 5 seconds left.
James Gardner and Ryan Smith caught TD passes for Miami, which also had an extra-point blocked in the opening half.
"We had noticed on film that the kicker kind of did line drives. All that was going through my head was get your hands up as quick as you can," Adams said. "It's been a tough year for us. The only thing going through my mind was make a play, make something happen, and that's what I did."
Boston College builds lead,
gets past Maryland
DETROIT - Patrick Towles threw two touchdown passes and caught a pass for a score in the first half, helping Boston College build a big lead in a 36-30 win against Maryland in the Quick Lane Bowl on Monday.
The Eagles (7-6) led by 16 at halftime, 23 points early in the third quarter and had to force Maryland to turn the ball over on downs late in the game to seal the victory.
The Terrapins (6-7) had the ball at their 35 with 1:48 left, but didn't gain a yard before Harold Landry helped to finish them off with a possession-ending sack.
Boston College was ahead 29-13 at halftime after Towles threw a 49-yard TD pass to Michael Walker. On a reverse and pass from receiver Jeff Smith, the quarterback scored on a 20-yard TD catch in the second quarter.
The Terrapins made some big plays on offense, but four turnovers, sacks and poor field position proved to be costly. In the first half, Perry Hills threw an interception, lost a fumble and was sacked four times. On the Terrapins' first snap of the second half, Hills handed off to Ty Johnson and the running back's fumble was recovered in the end zone by Boston College.
With 4:02 left, the Terrapins got to the Boston College 1 with a chance to cut into their nine-point deficit and Hills lost a fumble after bobbling a snap. They got the ball back less than a minute later when Boston College's Jon Hilliman fumbled at his 6, and were forced to settle for a field goal.
Johnson had 62- and 30-yard TD runs in the first half. Hills threw a 63-yard TD pass to Teldrick Morgan and a 52-yard pass to Levern Jacobs for a score to get Maryland within nine points. Johnson had a 29-yard run early in the fourth quarter to give Maryland the ball in Eagles territory, but it turned the ball over on downs at their 41.
Landry was the only player in the game on the Associated Press All-America team, earning second-team honors, and showed why he merited the recognition. The 6-foot-3, 250-pound junior entered with 15 sacks, tying with Florida State's DeMarcus Walker for the most in the nation, and had 11/2 of his team's eight sacks. Landry also had a one-handed interception and deflected passes on consecutive plays on Maryland's drive late in the fourth quarter that ended with a fumble.
The Terrapins were without their leading tackler, linebacker Shane Cockerille, who was ruled ineligible. School officials declined to provide details before the game.
NC State beats Vanderbilt 41-17
in Independence Bowl
SHREVEPORT, La. - Jaylen Samuels caught three touchdown passes from Ryan Finley, Nyheim Hines returned a kickoff for a 100-yard touchdown and North Carolina State beat Vanderbilt 41-17 on Monday night in the Independence Bowl.
North Carolina State (7-6) won three of its final four games to finish with a winning record. The Wolfpack built a 28-3 lead by midway through the third quarter - largely thanks to Samuels' touchdown catches of 9, 55 and 17 yards - and then held off a brief Vanderbilt rally.
Finley completed 19-of-30 passes for 235 yards. Samuels' three touchdown catches were an Independence Bowl record.
Vanderbilt (6-7) had a lot of momentum going into the game thanks to surprising wins against Mississippi and Tennessee to end the regular season. But the Commodores' offense - which scored a combined 83 points against the Rebels and Volunteers - struggled for most of the night.
Vanderbilt's Kyle Shurmur completed just 19-of-46 passes for 158 yards and three interceptions. Even so, the Commodores briefly made things interesting, closing to 28-17 early in the fourth quarter.
But that's when Hines responded his big kickoff return to put the game out of reach.
The Commodores' offense took a step backward after some late-season improvement. Veteran running back Ralph Webb had another nice game with 111 yards rushing and a touchdown, but Shurmur's struggles throwing the ball were too much to overcome.
The Wolfpack end a frustrating season with an impressive win. They were fantastic on defense for most of the night and the Finley-to-Samuels connection couldn't be stopped by Vanderbilt.
Hawaii rallies past Middle Tennessee
in Hawaii Bowl
HONOLULU - Dru Brown threw for 274 yards and four touchdowns and Hawaii overcame an early deficit to beat Middle Tennessee 52-35 in the Hawaii Bowl on Saturday night.
The Rainbow Warriors (7-7) amassed 500 yards of total offense and their highest-scoring output this season to end the year on a three-game winning streak.
Brown completed 20-of-30 passes without an interception. He had a 2-yard touchdown run and was sacked just once. Brown has nine touchdowns to zero interceptions in his last two games.
Tight end Metuisela Unga caught two of Brown's scoring strikes, an 18-yarder in the first quarter for Hawaii's first score and a 12-yarder late in the third.
Diocemy Saint Juste ran for 170 yards on 25 carries.
Hawaii turned three Middle Tennessee turnovers into 21 points. It fell behind 14-0 just more than 5 minutes into the game, but scored the next 28 points and never relinquished the lead.
Brent Stockstill started at quarterback for the Blue Raiders (8-5) after missing the last three games with a broken collarbone. He finished 30-of-51 passing for 432 yards. Stockstill threw four touchdown passes - two to Richie James - and was intercepted twice.
James caught nine passes for 175 yards. It was his 14th game of 100 or more receiving yards in his career. Middle Tennessee posted 542 yards of total offense.
Hawaii took a 35-21 lead into halftime.
The Blue Raiders have now lost their last four bowl games. It was their 10th appearance in a bowl game in program history and the sixth in the FBS era. Their last postseason win came in the 2009 New Orleans Bowl, when they defeated Southern Miss 42-32.
The Rainbow Warriors improved to 6-5 overall in bowl games and 4-3 in the Hawaii Bowl in their first postseason appearance since losing to Tulsa 62-35 in the 2010 Hawaii Bowl. It is their first bowl win since beating Arizona State 41-24 in the 2006 edition of the Hawaii Bowl.