Josh Brown kept Nebraska’s slim Bowl Championship Series hopes alive Friday, kicking a 29-yard field goal as time expired to give the No. 9 Cornhuskers a 34-32 victory over Colorado.
“This is what you dream about,” Brown said.
Brown’s kick capped a drive that started at the Nebraska 41 with 44 seconds left after Colorado had taken the lead with a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
Eric Crouch led Nebraska, rushing for 125 yards in 19 carries and three touchdowns. He did not have a great day passing, finishing 11-for-17 for 139 yards, but he was nearly perfect in the final drive (3-of-4). Crouch’s 17-yard sideline pass to Bobby Newcombe with less than 10 seconds left set up Brown’s field goal.
Colorado appeared headed for victory after Craig Ochs’ touchdown pass and two-point conversion put the Buffaloes ahead 32-31 with 47 seconds left.
Nebraska (9-2, 6-2 in the Big 12) has won nine straight over Colorado, but the last five have been by a total of 15 points. The Huskers, who needed overtime to beat the Buffaloes 33-30 last year, are done until their bowl game, which probably won’t be determined until next weekend.
Colorado (3-8, 3-5) ended a disappointing season with an even more disappointing loss.
“This was not a moral victory,” Colorado coach Gary Barnett said. “That was last year. We just came up short. That’s all.”
Arizona St. 30, Arizona 17: Mike Barth kicked three field goals and ran 13 yards for a touchdown on a fake field-goal play as visiting Arizona State (6-5, 3-5 Pac-10) gave Bruce Snyder one more game as Sun Devils coach.
After the game Dick Tomey ended 14 seasons as head coach at Arizona by resigning. His last two teams went 6-6 and 5-6.
“I just told [the Wildcats players] that I didn’t think I could continue because the public debate has become so difficult for my family, for our team, for our coaches and their families,” Tomey said. “I have no other choice and that’s all I’m going to say. If I have something smarter to say I’ll say it later.”
Texas 43, Texas A&M 17: Chris Simms threw for 383 yards and three touchdowns–all to freshman receivers–at Austin.
Simms was 8-for-8 for 234 yards and threw all of his TD passes in a third quarter in which the No. 12 Longhorns (9-2, 7-1 Big 12) and No. 22 Aggies (7-4, 5-3) combined for 37 points.
B.J. Johnson had a 70-yard TD reception, and finished with 187 receiving yards to break the Texas freshman mark of 175 set earlier this season by Roy Williams.
Williams had a 40-yard scoring run and a 20-yard scoring catch and Sloan Thomas scored on a 55-yard pass play. Kris Stockton had field goals of 34, 31 and 30 yards to set a Texas single-season record with 22.
Arkansas 14, LSU 3: Quinton Caver returned an interception 33 yards for a touchdown on the first play by the No. 24 Tigers (7-4, 5-3 SEC) and Robby Hampton’s fourth-down completion set up another TD for the host Razorbacks (6-5, 3-5).
BYU 34, Utah 27: LaVell Edwards went out a winner, with Brandon Doman scoring on a 4-yard run with 23 seconds left to give the visiting Cougars (6-6, 4-3 Mountain West) a dramatic victory in the last game of Edwards’ 29-year coaching career.
Edwards ends his career ranked sixth on the NCAA’s victories list, with a 257-101-3 record, the 1984 national championship, 22 bowl games and 20 conference titles. He had only one losing season, a 5-6 mark in 1973, his second year.
Pitt 38, West Virginia 28: Kevan Barlow ran for 272 yards and four touchdowns as the host Panthers (7-4, 4-3 Big East) Pittsburgh beat the Mountaineers (6-5, 3-4) in Don Nehlen’s last regular-season game as the West Virginia coach.
