Philadelphia – Tired of hearing the gap with its biggest rival had closed, Navy made a statement.
Adam Ballard had 192 of the Midshipmen’s 490 yards rushing, leading Navy to a 42-23 victory over Army in the 106th meeting between the service academies.
Next up for Navy is the inaugural Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 22 (8:30 p.m., ESPN2) in San Diego against Colorado State (6-5). The Middies and Rams have never met, although they share Air Force as a common opponent. Navy beat the Falcons 27-24, and CSU won 41-23.
Navy quarterback Lamar Owens added 99 yards rushing and three TDs, Ballard scored twice, and Reggie Campbell had a 54-yard TD run.
The Midshipmen (7-4) have won four straight against Army to take a one-game lead in the series at 50-49-7.
“I would’ve been satisfied with a one-point victory, but we wanted to prove that we’re on a different level,” Owens said. “That’s a team that was calling us out, saying they were better than us for whatever reason. We listened to that for two weeks.”
Zac Dahman tossed three touchdown passes and had 255 yards passing for Army (4-7), which had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Navy captured the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy outright for the third straight year, a first in school history.
Fighter jets and helicopter gunships roared over the stadium before kickoff, electrifying the sellout crowd of 69,322 at Lincoln Financial Field.
Carlton Jones finished with 80 yards rushing and became the second player for Army to run for 1,000 yards twice in his career. Mike Mayweather did it in 1989-90.
No. 12 West Virginia 28, South Florida 13
Tampa, Fla. – Pat White ran for 177 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Mountaineers (10-1, 7-0 Big East) over the Bulls (6-5, 4-3) in their final tuneup before a Bowl Championship Series appearance.
Nine days after running for 220 yards against Pittsburgh to break the Big East rushing record for a quarterback, White was just as impressive in helping the conference champions finish unbeaten in league play for the first time since 1993.
The victory was the sixth straight for West Virginia and gave the Mountaineers at least 10 wins in a season for the first time since 1993 and just the fifth time in school history.
No. 16 Louisville 30, Connecticut 20
East Hartford, Conn. – Michael Bush rushed for three touchdowns in his first appearance since missing two games with a sprained foot, and Hunter Cantwell threw for 271 yards and a score to lead the Cardinals (9-2, 5-2 Big East) over the Huskies (5-6, 2-5).
The Big East rushing leader finished with 121 yards to go over the 1,000-yard mark for the season. His 23 rushing touchdowns set a single-season school record.
Tulsa 44, Central Florida 27
Orlando, Fla. – Tarrion Adams had three touchdowns, two of them rushing, and Tulsa’s defense shut UCF out in the second half as the Golden Hurricane claimed its first league title in 20 years with a victory in the inaugural Conference USA championship game before 51,978 at the Citrus Bowl.
The win sends Tulsa (8-4) to the Liberty Bowl against Fresno State. UCF (8-4), which lost for the second time in 10 games and had a major turnaround season under coach George O’Leary, is expected to play in the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24.
Tulsa’s Garrett Mills had eight catches for 152 yards – giving him 1,183 for the year, an NCAA record for most receiving yards by a tight end in a season.
