E.J. Manuel threw a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to stop a South Carolina comeback and lead Florida State to a 26-17 victory over the turnover-plagued Gamecocks in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on Friday.
Chris Thompson ran for 147 yards and a touchdown, while Dustin Hopkins kicked four field goals for the Seminoles (10-4), who reached 10 wins for the first time since 2003. Hopkins tied his own school record for a bowl, and the four field goals also matched the Chick-fil-A Bowl record.
Manuel took over for senior quarterback Christian Ponder, who left early in the second quarter with a concussion. South Carolina lost running back Marcus Lattimore when he was hit hard on the Gamecocks’ first drive.
Photo: AFP
Manuel completed 11 of 15 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown and had seven carries for 46 yards. He was 7 for 7 passing on the fourth-quarter touchdown drive.
SUN BOWL
In El Paso, Texas, Brian Kelly became the first Notre Dame coach to win a bowl game in his first season, leading the Fighting Irish to a 33-17 victory over Miami.
Tommy Rees passed for 201 yards and two touchdowns to Michael Floyd, as Notre Dame (8-5) reached the end zone on three of their first four possessions.
Rees tossed touchdown passes of 3 yards and 34 yards to Floyd, while Cierre Wood broke free on a 34-yard scoring run before David Ruffer added field goals from 40 yards, 50 yards and 19 yards.
The Fighting Irish closed with four victories to cap an up-and-down season under Kelly. They beat Utah, Army and USC late, then handled Miami (7-6) easily for Notre Dame’s second straight postseason victory.
LIBERTY Bowl
In Memphis, Tennessee, Central Florida capped the best season in school history with the program’s first postseason victory with a 10-6 defeat of Georgia.
The Knights (11-3) had never won more than 10 games in a season and had lost their first three bowl games, including their last visit here in 2007.
Latavius Murray scored on a 10-yard touchdown run with 9 minutes, 1 second left to seal Central Florida’s win.
Meineke Bowl
In Charlotte, North Carolina, B.J. Daniels threw two touchdown passes and ran for a third as South Florida defeated Clemson 31-26.
Mo Plancher also ran for a score for the Bulls (8-5), who took control after Tigers quarterback Kyle Parker left at halftime with broken ribs. South Florida finished coach Skip Holtz’s first season with victory, secured their fifth straight eight-win season and earned their first bowl win over a team from a BCS automatic-qualifying league.
Clemson backup quarterback Tajh Boyd was picked off by JaQuez Jenkins on the first play of the fourth. His 48-yard return set up Daniels’ 8-yard touchdown run to make it 31-13 and gave the Tigers (6-7) their first losing season in 11 years.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite