Colt McCoy threw two touchdown passes to tie a single-season record for freshmen and Texas rallied to beat Iowa 26-24 on Saturday in US college football's Alamo Bowl.
McCoy had been cleared to play just a week earlier after suffering a severely pinched nerve in his neck in both of Texas' last two games, which were both losses.
He also ran 8 yards on fourth down to set up a 2-yard scoring run by Selvin Young early in the fourth quarter that proved to be the game winner.
McCoy completed 26-of-40 pass attempts for 308 yards.
His 29 touchdown passes this season tied the US college football record set by Nevada's David Neill in 1998.
Texas (10-3), the 2005 national champion, won at least 10 games for the sixth straight season and avoided its first three-game losing streak since 1999.
Drew Tate passed for 274 yards and two touchdowns, both to Andy Brodell, for the Hawkeyes (6-7), who lost six of their last seven games.
The Longhorns were heavy favorites in front of an Alamo Bowl record crowd of 65,875 that was mostly a sea of burnt-orange.
No. 23 Boston College 25, Navy 24
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Steve Aponavicius kicked a 37-yard field goal on the final play and the Eagles won the Meineke Bowl for a seventh straight bowl win.
The US Naval Academy, which had 322 yards rushing, led 24-22 and seemingly had the game won. Boston College was out of timeouts and Navy only had to run out the clock.
But Reggie Campbell fumbled a pitch from quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada and BC's Jolonn Dunbar recovered at the Navy 40 with 1:43 left.
Matt Ryan then completed a long pass to tight end Ryan Purvis.
Aponavicius, who had replaced suspended field goal kicker Ryan Ohliger in midseason, calmly nailed the game winning kick, setting off a wild celebration on the Eagles' sideline.
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