Dec 30, 2019 5 min read

Western Kentucky freshman kicker Cory Munson ran onto the field, then off and then back on. All of that before kicking a career-long 52-yard field goal with no time left after a rules review moved him five yards closer to the goal posts.

And Munson, who’d sliced a 29-yarder wide right on the final play of the first half, closed the game with the kick that gave the Hilltoppers a 23-20 victory over Western Michigan in the First Responder Bowl on Monday in Dallas.

“I was just breathing and saying to myself: ‘You got this. Don’t worry about the last kick. You got this one. Just stay calm,’ and I just swung through it,” Munson said. “Next thing I knew, it was up there.”

The Hilltoppers (9-4) drove 36 yards in 27 seconds before Munson kicked his third field goal in four tries. The game appeared headed to overtime when Ty Storey’s desperation heave was knocked down by the Broncos. But the Broncos were hit with a five-yard defensive substitution penalty and Munson was awarded an untimed down after a video review determined that Western Michigan had 12 players on the field as it switched between its field-goal unit and regular defense.

“We knew we could make the kick when we saw they had 12 men on the field and might get penalized,” first-year Western Kentucky coach Tyson Helton said. “I wanted our true freshman Cory Munson to get a chance to kick it, and he did. It was a great kick.”

Munson had tied the score at 20 on a 31-yarder with 1:36 to play. He also kicked a 26-yarder.

Louisville 38, Mississippi State 28: Micale Cunningham threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 81 more, and Louisville capped coach Scott Satterfield’s debut season by beating Mississippi State 38-28 in the Music City Bowl in Nashville.

The Cardinals (8-5) rallied from a 14-point deficit by scoring 31 straight to finish their big turnaround from 2-10 last season. Louisville also finally beat Mississippi State on the field for the first time in six tries, though the series now is tied 3-3 thanks to a pair of forfeits by the Bulldogs in the 1970s.

Mississippi State (6-7) had been trying to finish the season with a three-game winning streak for the first time since 2013 and only the third time since the end of World War II. Instead, the Bulldogs go home having lost a bowl game in each of coach Joe Moorhead’s two seasons.

The Cardinals had four sacks and recovered two fumbles, one returned 31 yards for a TD by safety Khane Pass.California 35, Illinois 20: Chase Garbers threw four touchdown passes and ran for another score, leading California to a 35-20 win over Illinois in the Redbox Bowl.

Christopher Brown Jr. ran for 120 yards on 20 carries, and Makai Polk caught five passes for a season-high 105 yards as Cal (8-5) won its first bowl game since 2015.

Brandon Peters passed for 273 yards and one touchdown for Illinois (6-7) in his return after sitting out the regular-season finale with a concussion. Peters, who was shaken up again after diving out of bounds following a scramble late in the fourth quarter, completed 22 of 37 passes and added a team-high 68 rushing yards.

Clemson in familiar role: No. 3 Clemson is an underdog – again.

Once more, the defending national champions have to deal with being labeled second best when they face No. 1 LSU for the College Football Playoff title in New Orleans on Jan. 13.

“I mean, you can say we’re pretty comfortable with it,” said linebacker Chad Smith, the defensive MVP of Clemson’s 29-23 Fiesta Bowl victory over Ohio State last Saturday night.

It’s a role Clemson (14-0; No. 3 CFP) and coach Dabo Swinney – 4 1-2 point underdogs by oddsmakers – have embraced much of the season.

The Tigers started as the preseason No. 1. Yet, early on, looked ragged on offense and in particular, at quarterback. Last year’s freshman star Trevor Lawrence had thrown five interceptions his first three games – more than the four he’d thrown in all his national championship winning debut.

“Trevor threw a couple of interceptions and that sort of became the narrative,” Swinney said Monday.

The tipping point came in a 21-20 late escape at North Carolina on Sept. 28. Despite the win, the Tigers fell from the top spot and kept sliding – they were No. 5 in the first CFP rankings.

“The story was more about who we played,” Swinney said. “Trying to create how bad (the Atlantic Coast Conference is) rather than who we are.”

Clemson, however, kept rolling and defeated each of their last eight opponents heading into the Fiesta Bowl by 29 points or more. Lawrence found his game again, too, with 26 touchdowns and just three interceptions in that stretch.

The quarterback laughs off the early criticism, remembering how last January after his bravura championship game many commentators said he should withdraw from school and spend the next two years prepping for the NFL.

Dobbins leaving OSU for NFL: Record-breaking Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins is leaving school early to enter the NFL draft.

Dobbins’ decision was expected. He announced it in a Twitter post Monday in which he thanked everyone at the university and said “coming to Ohio from Texas has been nothing short of a dream.”

Dobbins became the first Ohio State player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. He finished with 2,046 yards and could have had a lot more but sat for the second half of most regular-season games because they were early blowouts. He was a 1,000-yard rusher in each of his two seasons with the Buckeyes.