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Bowl games round up

TAMPA, Fla. — From carrying couches to an All-American carrying a football. Now, Big Ten MVP Shonn Greene figures he’s ready for the next level.

The Iowa running back turned Thursday’s Outback Bowl into a farewell party, leading the Hawkeyes past South Carolina 31-10 and then announcing he intends to skip his senior season to enter the NFL draft.

“I don’t think there’s really a lot more I can do here,” Greene said. “People talk about the Heisman, but I think that’s a lot of politics. I don’t like getting caught up in all of that, so I just figure I’ll try my chances.”

Greene ran for 121 yards and three touchdowns. He rushed for more than 100 yards in all 13 of Iowa’s games, scored in all but one, and won the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s best running back.

“He’s been the same guy each and every week,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said, using words like “humble” and “modest” to describe the 235-pound junior, who worked at a furniture store and didn’t play football while attending community college to improve his grades.

Greene, of Sicklerville, N.J., finished with school single-season records of 1,850 yards and 20 TDs.

“I’m speechless right now. I never imagined this happening. All the success, all the accolades and stuff like that,” said Greene, who sat out the 2007 season after losing his scholarship because of academic problems.

He said earlier this week he planned to meet with his family and consider information from the NFL college advisory committee before making a decision on whether to turn pro.

His Outback performance sealed the deal.

“I’m proud of the way he’s handled his recognition and accolades. He’s going to be extremely valuable and a great asset to any team that’s smart enough to take him next year,” Ferentz said.

Iowa (9-4) won for the sixth time in seven games since losing three straight to fall to 3-3. South Carolina (7-6) lost three straight down the stretch while being outscored 118-30.

Greene scored on a pair of 1-yard runs to help Iowa build a 21-0 halftime lead, then added an 11-yarder to make it 31-0 late in the third quarter. South Carolina scored on Chris Smelley’s 10-yard TD pass to Jared Cook and Ryan Succop’s 48-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

After struggling offensively in lopsided losses to Florida and Clemson, Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier decided to start quarterback Stephen Garcia, a highly regarded redshirt freshman from Tampa who was the centerpiece of his recruiting class in 2007.

But Garcia, who nearly undermined his career by being arrested twice within his first month on campus, turned the ball over four times in the first half and was replaced by Smelley after going 9-for-18 for 79 yards and three interceptions.

“I thought he would play a little bit better, but maybe he just wasn’t ready,” Spurrier said. “Maybe that’s the answer.”

Capital One Bowl

Matthew Stafford gave the type of performance in the Capital One Bowl that’d make a fitting finale to his excellent Georgia career.

Whether this was his last game with the Bulldogs, the junior quarterback hasn’t decided.

Stafford threw three touchdown passes in the final 18 minutes against No. 19 Michigan State, hitting Knowshon Moreno for the clinching score in the 16th-ranked Bulldogs’ 24-12 victory Thursday at Orlando, Fla.

“It’s going to be an extremely hard decision,” Stafford said of his decision to enter the NFL draft. “My time at Georgia has been great, and the allure of coming back is something I’m considering. I’m 50-50 right now and I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m going to take these next few days and figure it out.”

Ranked No. 1 to start the season, the Bulldogs (10-3) gave coach Mark Richt his sixth bowl win in eight tries and put a happy ending on a season that didn’t live up to expectations.

The first half was ugly for Stafford, projected to be an early first-round NFL draft pick, and Georgia.

He was just 6-for-14 and an interception in the first half and Michigan State (9-4) led 6-3. In the second half, he looked more like the quarterback NFL teams covet. He completed 14 of his final 17 throws, including three TD passes.

Figuring out Stafford proved to be a tough task for the Spartans in the second half.

Stafford started the comeback by directing a 10-play, 96-yard drive midway through the third quarter. He went 6-for-6 for 92 yards and capped it with 35-yard touchdown toss to Michael Moore.

“The biggest thing was eliminating mistakes,” Stafford said. “The whole first half, first drive of the second half, we were making foolish mistakes—me not hitting guys, us not picking up blitzes, not finishing off drives.”

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio said Georgia made a very effective adjustment in the second half.

“We blitzed well in the first half, got after them,” Dantonio said. “They went to a more controlled passing game against our blitz package.”

Stafford was picked as the game’s MVP, completing his performance by showing a nice touch in threading a 21-yard TD pass to Moreno late in the fourth quarter. Stafford set a single-season school record with 25 touchdown passes.

Gator Bowl

Nebraska quarterback Joe Ganz was sprawled out on the ground, trainers huddled around him, teammates, coaches and fans wondering whether he would be able to continue playing.

Ganz eventually made his way to the sideline, cleared his head, got back in the game and ended up hoisting the Gator Bowl’s most valuable player trophy.

His comeback provided an appropriate ending for Nebraska’s season. After all, the Cornhuskers enjoyed one of college football’s best turnarounds.

Ganz shook off a horrible first half and a slight concussion, threw for two touchdowns and led Nebraska to a 26-21 victory against Clemson in the Gator Bowl, giving the storied program plenty of optimism following coach Bo Pelini’s first season.

“I’m proud of this group,” said Pelini, who replaced fired coach Bill Callahan after Nebraska finished 5-7 in 2007. “It’s been a tough 12 months, but there’s been a lot of hard work by a lot of people and it’s paid off. Now, we’ve got to keep it going.”

Nebraska (9-4) ended the season with a four-game winning streak, including a victory against rival Colorado, won six of its final seven games and had success in a January bowl game for the first time in nine years.

“We have some momentum going right now,” Pelini said. “People are excited, the kids are excited. It’s starting to show how good they can be as a football team. It’s fun to see. Now, we have to keep it going and pick that torch the seniors left and keep running with it.”

Cornhuskers fans might have wanted to run Ganz out of Jacksonville at halftime. The senior had a fumble late in the first half that was returned 28 yards for a touchdown and threw an interception in the final minute that was returned 63 yards and led to another score.

The Tigers (7-6) took a 14-3 lead into the locker room, but Ganz brought Nebraska back with a 20-point third quarter. He also bounced back from that bone-crushing hit. Although Nebraska didn’t score a touchdown after his return, Ganz’s value was clear when backup Patrick Witt fumbled on his first play.

Clemson picked up the loose ball and returned it for a touchdown and a 27-23 lead, but officials overturned the call after review. Ganz was back the next series.

Orange Bowl

For Virginia Tech, there was no mystery. The Hokies came into the Orange Bowl convinced that if the defense delivered, everything else would fall into place.

Oh, how right they were.

Darren Evans had 28 carries for 153 yards and a touchdown, Virginia Tech’s defense came up with four interceptions and the 21st-ranked Hokies beat the 12th-ranked Bearcats 20-7 on Thursday night to join Southern California and Texas as the only schools to win 10 games in each of the past five seasons.

“All year, all year, all year we’ve been the underdogs,” Hokies cornerback Victor ‘Macho’ Harris said. “All year. We had to scratch and claw our way to a victory. We had to scratch our way up to a victory. It says a lot about the character on our team.”

They were the underdogs again Thursday, plus were driven by the chance to avenge last year’s Orange Bowl loss to Kansas.

For the first 2 minutes, they seemed very much in trouble.

But the rest of the way was all Virginia Tech (10-4)—and coach Frank Beamer couldn’t remember too many sweeter wins than this.

“This game has special meaning for Virginia Tech,” Beamer said.

Pike—who wasn’t even on Cincinnati’s depth chart at the start of the season before blossoming into an all-Big East quarterback—threw for 239 yards and a touchdown, but had his night marred mightily by the four picks and getting stopped on a fourth-and-goal in the fourth quarter.

Mardy Gilyard had 255 all-purpose yards and a touchdown catch for Cincinnati (11-3), which had its six-game winning streak snapped.

“You work out in the summer and in preseason camp because you want to get to this point,” said Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, whose team was picked fifth in the Big East’s preseason poll. “But you want to finish it off, so there’s a lot of disappointment.”