ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Connor Cook threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Keith Mumphery with 17 seconds left to cap a three-touchdown, fourth-quarter comeback in Michigan State’s 42-41 victory over playoff-snubbed Baylor in the highest-scoring Cotton Bowl.
The Spartans (11-2) got the winning touchdown after Marcus Rush blocked Chris Callahan’s 43-yard field goal attempt with 1:05 left. When Baylor (11-2) got the ball back for one last try, Bryce Petty was sacked on consecutive plays before Riley Bullough’s clinching interception.
Petty completed 36 of 51 passes for a Cotton Bowl-record 550 yards and three touchdowns, two to KD Cannon and the other to 390-pount guard LaQuan McGowan that put Baylor up 41-21 late in the third quarter.
Jeremy Langford ran for 162 yards and three touchdowns for the Spartans, whose losses were to Pac-12 winner Oregon and the Big Ten champion Ohio State.
Langford’s 1-yard plunge with just under 5 minutes left got the Spartans to 41-35.
Callahan had a 46-yard field goal attempt that ricocheted off the right upright to start the fourth quarter. Michigan State then got Cook’s 8-yard TD pass to tight end Josiah Price and recovered an onside kick. Cook threw a 39-yard pass on the first play after the recovery, but was scrambling to avoid pressure on the next when he threw an awkward pass right to linebacker Taylor Young, who ran 84 yards to the end zone. Young’s apparent touchdown was wiped out by an illegal block, pushing Baylor back to its 43. After Petty’s fourth-down incompletion, Michigan State went 60 yards in nine plays for Langford’s final score.
OUTBACK BOWL
NO. 17 WISCONSIN 34, NO. 19 AUBURN 31, OT
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Melvin Gordon ran for an Outback Bowl-record 251 yards and three touchdowns and Rafael Gaglianone kicked a 25-yard field goal in overtime to lift Wisconsin past Auburn.
Gaglianone tied it with a 29-yarder with 7 seconds left in regulation. Athletic director Barry Alvarez coached the Badgers (11-3) following Gary Andersen’s move to Oregon State.
Gordon scored on runs of 25, 53 and 6 yards, bouncing back from a subpar performance against Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game to threaten Barry Sanders’ FBS single-season rushing record.
Gordon finished with 2,587 yards in 14 games — second most in FBS history. Sanders had 2,628 for Oklahoma State in 11 games in 1988, when the NCAA did not include bowl results in a player’s statistics.
Nick Marshall threw two touchdown passes for Auburn, which also got a pair of TDs on the ground from Cameron Artis-Payne. The Tigers were unable to move the ball in overtime, though, and lost when Daniel Carlson’s 45-yard field goal hit the right upright and bounced away.
CITRUS BOWL
NO. 16 MISSOURI 33, MINNESOTA 17
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Marcus Murphy ran for 159 yards, Russell Hansbrough added 114 yards and a touchdown and Missouri beat Minnesota in the Citrus Bowl.
Missouri (11-3) won its third straight bowl game to reach 11 victories for the fourth time in school history. Minnesota (8-5) trailed 19-17 entering the fourth quarter, but Missouri pulled away on Hansbrough’s 78-yard touchdown run and Maty Mauk’s 7-yard scoring pass to Bud Sasser.
Mauk settled down to throw two TD passes after interceptions on the Tigers’ first two possessions.
Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner was 21 of 31 for 258 yards and a touchdown.
Michigan State picks up Cotton Bowl win