Bowl season takeaways: Boise State’s win caps a seven-game Saturday
Bowl season is finally upon us! Our reporters are breaking down the best of the games from notable performances, breakout players and so much more.
Saturday, Dec. 17
Frisco Bowl: Boise State Broncos 35, North Texas Mean Green 32
In his first season at Boise State, freshman running back Ashton Jeanty had only crossed the 100-yard threshold in a game one time. On Saturday against North Texas, Jeanty exploded through that mark for 178 yards on the ground, 6.4 yards per carry and one touchdown. Jeanty’s performance, as well as two interceptions forced by the defense, keyed Boise State’s win over North Texas, after the Broncos were down 10-3 early. The victory gives the Broncos a 10-win campaign as well as a glimpse of what their offense could look like next season with Jeanty in the backfield as the team’s primary ball carrier. — Paolo Uggetti
New Mexico Bowl: BYU Cougars 24, SMU Mustangs 23
Cornerback Jakob Robinson saved the night for BYU by denying SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai‘s potential game-winning 2-point conversion with eight seconds left in regulation, preserving a one-point victory. The Cougars built a 14-point lead in the third quarter on a 76-yard pick-six from linebacker Ben Bywater and running back Christopher Brooks‘ 22-yard scoring run, only to see the Mustangs come back with 13 fourth-quarter points. The Cougars, buoyed by the efforts from Robinson and Bywater, won despite the Mustangs holding a 389-256 edge in total yards. Quarterback Sol-Jay Maiava-Peters and Brooks combined to run for 184 yards and two scores as BYU ran for at least 200 yards for the fourth time in its past five games (209) while ending the season with a fourth straight victory. — Blake Baumgartner
Lending Tree Bowl: Southern Miss Golden Eagles 38, Rice Owls 24
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Southern Miss takes home a LendingTree bowl victory thanks to Frank Gore Jr.’s 329 rushing yards and 3 total touchdowns.
Frank Gore Jr. established a new career high while rewriting Southern Miss’ bowl and school single-game record books in the process with 329 rushing yards in a 14-point victory. Gore ended his sophomore season with a bang by running for two touchdowns and throwing for another as he also broke Camerun Peoples‘ FBS single-game bowl rushing record. Spurred on by Gore, Southern Miss churned out a season-high 361 rushing yards and won its first bowl game since 2016. Senior linebacker Daylen Gill recorded three of Southern Miss’ five sacks. Rice freshman quarterback AJ Padgett (295 passing yards) threw three touchdown passes — two to senior wide receiver Isaiah Esdale — in the third quarter as the Owls erased a 14-point halftime deficit, taking a short-lived seven-point lead. — Baumgartner
Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl Presented by Stifel: Fresno State Bulldogs 29, Washington State Cougars 6
A 1-4 start to the season now feels like a lifetime ago. Fresno State hasn’t lost since then, beating Washington State to finish the year with a 10-4 record. Quarterback Jake Haener was sharp, completing 24 of 36 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. And Jordan Mims went off for the Bulldogs, rushing for a career-high 210 yards and two touchdowns on only 18 carries. But don’t forget the Bulldogs’ defense, which limited quarterback Cameron Ward and Washington State to just six points, the Cougars’ lowest total of the season. Fresno State picked off Ward — a 3,000-yard passer on the season — and held him to only 137 yards passing on 32 attempts. — Alex Scarborough
SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl: No. 14 Oregon State Beavers 30, Florida Gators 3
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Silas Bolden puts on his cape and dives to make an incredible snag for a Beavers first down.
A week after giving Jonathan Smith a six-year deal worth $30.6 million, the Oregon State coach went out and led his team to a dominating triumph over Florida, securing the Beavers’ first 10-win season in 16 years and their first-ever victory against an SEC opponent. It was a balanced, all-round effort for Oregon State, which threw for 189 yards and rushed for 164 yards — 107 of which came from junior running back Deshaun Fenwick. The defense allowed only 1.2 yards per rush. A 40-yard field goal by Adam Mihalek with less than a minute remaining avoided the shutout and extended the Gators’ streak of scoring in games to 436. — Scarborough
Cricket Celebration Bowl: NC Central Eagles 41, Jackson State Tigers 34 OT
In his final game as coach at Jackson State, coach Deion Sanders failed to complete an undefeated season as NC Central upset the Tigers 41-34 in a wild overtime finish. Shedeur Sanders threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Travis Hunter with no time left to send the game to overtime. But it was NC Central’s Davius Richard who did the scoring in the extra period. NC Central reached 10 wins, the third team in program history to reach double-digit wins in a single season. NC Central had 276 yards rushing. Richard had 177 passing yards, 97 rushing yards and 3 total touchdowns. But all eyes were on Jackson State and what would happen as Deion Sanders exits for Colorado. It was a back-and-forth game throughout. Shedeur Sanders finishes the season with 46 total touchdowns. With one chance left to send the game into a second overtime, he threw an incompletion to end the game. Jackson State finishes 12-1, the most wins in a season in program history. — Andrea Adelson
Wasabi Fenway Bowl: Louisville Cardinals 24, Cincinnati Bearcats 7
Louisville claimed the Keg of Nails trophy in the renewal of its rivalry with the Bearcats, using a dominant defense and run game to win 24-7 — its first bowl victory since 2019. The game featured two interim coaches — Kerry Coombs at Cincinnati for Luke Fickell (who left for Wisconsin) and Deion Branch for Louisville, after Scott Satterfield left to replace Fickell. Satterfield was not at the game, instead hosting recruits in Cincinnati. But his former team played hard without him, and its aggressive defense — No. 2 in the nation in sacks — made play after play, making it a long day for Cincinnati quarterback Evan Prater. Louisville, playing without quarterback Malik Cunningham (opt out) was far from perfect on offense but had a season-high 287 yards on the ground — getting 100-yard rushing performances each from reserve running backs Maurice Turner and Jawhar Jordan. — Adelson
Friday, Dec. 16
Hometown Lenders Bahamas Bowl: UAB 24, Miami (Ohio) 20
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UAB LB Reynard Ellis makes the game-saving tackle at the 2-yard line to secure the victory for the Blazers in a 24-20 thriller vs. the RedHawks.
Junior running back Jermaine Brown Jr.’s big day led the way as UAB secured a 24-20 victory over Miami (Ohio), giving incoming head coach Trent Dilfer some momentum to build off heading into 2023. Brown ran 24 times for 116 yards and two touchdowns to help the Blazers win without the services of FBS-leading rusher DeWayne McBride, who opted out of the game. Brown’s fourth-down touchdown run with 1:33 left in the game put UAB in front to stay — the game’s fourth lead change in the second half. Despite losing the turnover battle (3-0), UAB pulled out the victory with the help of six players combining for four sacks.
— Blake Baumgartner
Duluth Trading Cure Bowl: No. 24 Troy 18, No. 25 UTSA 12
What a finish for Troy first-year head coach Jon Sumrall, closing out a 12-2 season by scoring 18 unanswered points to beat UTSA on Friday for the Trojans’ 11th straight win. Troy had just 153 total yards and did not cross midfield in the first half, but five takeaways — including two interceptions and a forced fumble on UTSA quarterback Frank Harris, who was sixth in the FBS in passing coming into the game — was too much to overcome for the Roadrunners. The Trojans became the first team to win a bowl game with less than 175 yards of offense since UCLA in the 2002 Las Vegas Bowl against New Mexico. — Dave Wilson
Sports
Wyshynski’s NHL trade deadline Big Board: From superstar shocks to pending free agents to glue guys
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Greg Wyshynski
The rise of the salary cap changes everything in the NHL.
On Jan. 31, the league and the NHLPA announced an agreement to create “increased predictability” about the salary cap over the next three seasons, provided there’s a new collective bargaining agreement beyond the 2025-26 season. The upper limits for the cap are projected as:
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2025-26: $95.5 million
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2026-27: $104 million
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2027-28: $113.5 million
It’s a shrewd negotiating tactic, giving the players a sense of the league’s prosperity and their own future earning potential under a skyrocketing cap. But it also materially changed how teams could approach the March 7 NHL trade deadline.
“I think this is going to be an interesting deadline. Everybody’s like, ‘We’re going to have money next year.’ So I wonder if you might see some actual contracts move,” one NHL team executive said. “I think teams might be looking at free agency this summer and wondering what they’re actually going to get out of it. So maybe they’re willing to trade for Seth Jones or something at the deadline.”
With that salary cap bump on the horizon, here’s a look at the players who could move before the NHL trade deadline on March 7 at 3 p.m. ET, from the shocking possibilities to the pending free agents to the players with low-cost contracts who could be the difference in winning the Stanley Cup.
This list was compiled through conversations with league executives and other sources, as well as media reports. ESPN insiders Kevin Weekes and Emily Kaplan added their input in its creation. Salary figures are from Cap Wages and PuckPedia.
Let’s begin with the biggest names.
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Kyle Bonagura
The Mountain West and Pac-12, along with Boise State, Colorado State and Utah State, have agreed to enter mediation related to the ongoing lawsuits related to school exit fees and a poaching penalty the Mountain West included in a scheduling agreement with the Pac-12, sources told ESPN.
It is a common step that could lead to settlements before the sides take their chances in court, however, a source told ESPN that, as of Wednesday evening, it was an informal agreement. The Mountain West initiated the talks, a source said.
In September, the Pac-12 filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the legality of a “poaching penalty” included in a football scheduling agreement it signed with the Mountain West in December 2023. As part of the agreement, the Mountain West included language that calls for the Pac-12 to pay a fee of $10 million if a school left the Mountain West for the Pac-12, with escalators of $500,000 for each additional school.
Five schools — Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Utah State and San Diego State — announced they were leaving the Mountain West for the Pac-12 in 2026, which the Mountain West believes should require a $55 million payout from the Pac-12.
In December, Colorado State and Utah State filed a separate lawsuit against the Mountain West, seeking to avoid having to pay exit fees that could range from $19 million to $38 million, with Boise State later joining the lawsuit. Neither Fresno State, nor San Diego State has challenged the Mountain West exit fees in court.
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Mike Reiss
Nebraska is hiring New England Patriots director of pro personnel Patrick Stewart as the football program’s new general manager, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Wednesday.
Current Nebraska general manager Sean Padden — who oversaw top recruiting classes in this cycle in high school recruiting and in the NCAA transfer portal — will move to a new role of assistant AD for strategic intelligence, sources told Thamel. Padden’s role will include ties to the salary cap, contract negotiations and analytics, while Stewart will run the personnel department.
Under second-year coach Matt Rhule, Nebraska finished 7-6 last season, capping its year with a 20-15 win over Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl. The Cornhuskers were 3-6 in the Big Ten.
In New England, Stewart’s departure comes at a time in which the Patriots are in transition under first-year coach Mike Vrabel. The hiring of Vrabel has had a ripple effect on the front office with the addition of vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden, who had worked with Vrabel with the Tennessee Titans for five seasons (2018 to 2022).
The Patriots’ personnel department is still led by executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf, who had tapped Stewart as director of pro personnel last year. Sam Fioroni had served as the Patriots’ assistant director of pro personnel in 2024. Others on staff could also be eyed for a promotion or new role.
Stewart, who graduated from Ohio State, began his professional career in the college ranks with the Buckeyes (2000 to 2004), Western Carolina (2005) and Temple (2006) before breaking into the NFL with the Patriots in 2007 as a scouting assistant. He then split time between college and pro scouting with the organization over the next 10 seasons.
Stewart was a national scout for the Philadelphia Eagles (2018-19) before working for the Carolina Panthers as director of player personnel (2020) and then vice president of player personnel (2021-22). He returned to the Patriots in 2023 as a senior personnel adviser.
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