NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt used to be called the worst team in the Southeastern Conference.
Vanderbilt won a bowl game for the first time in exactly 53 years, with Bryant Hahnfeldt kicking a 45-yard field goal with 3:26 left Wednesday for a 16-14 win over Boston College in the Music City Bowl.
Vandy hadn’t even played in a bowl since 1982 — the SEC’s longest drought. The victory gave the Commodores (7-6) their first winning season since that season.
“I guess everybody can figure out we’re pretty happy,” coach Bobby Johnson said. “We’re thrilled to win the Music City Bowl right here in Nashville in our hometown. . . . We kept our composure and made some big plays when we had to.”
This is just the fourth time in the past 50 years that Vanderbilt has won seven games in a season.
Boston College (9-5) had won eight straight bowl games, the nation’s longest active streak.
Playing in a bowl for the 10th straight season, the Eagles also missed a chance at finishing with at least 10 wins for a third straight season. BC lost despite giving up only 200 yards and allowing Vandy to convert only one of its 15 third downs.
“Congratulations to Bobby for the bowl win,” Boston College coach Jeff Jagodzinski said.
The Eagles got the ball twice after Hahnfeldt’s third field goal. They had to punt the first time, then Myron Lewis picked off Dominique Davis with 1:36 left after having been beaten for the TD that put Boston College up 14-13.
“I felt like the game was over, and we won it,” Lewis said after his interception.
Vanderbilt had some of its stars of seasons past cheering from the sideline, including Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler.
Kansas 42, Minnesota 21
TEMPE, Ariz. — Dezmon Briscoe caught a game-record 14 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns, and Todd Reesing threw for four scores in the Insight Bowl.
Reesing completed 27-of-35 passes, hitting on a school-record 14 straight passes in the first half. He threw for 313 yards and improved to 20-6 as a starter, and he was intercepted once.
Kerry Meier caught one touchdown pass and threw another for the Jayhawks (8-5), who have won three straight bowl games for the first time.
Reesing said KU’s plan was simple.
“See, here’s what happens: They call a play, and Briscoe gets open, and if I can throw it to him, then it works out,” Reesing said. “And it seemed to work out a whole lot of times, and the same thing with Kerry. So we just kept doing it. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?”
Eric Decker caught eight passes for 149 yards and a touchdown for the Golden Gophers (7-6), who finished the season on a five-game losing streak and have lost their past three bowl games.
LSU 38, No. 14 Georgia Tech 3
ATLANTA — The Tigers (8-5) outscored the Yellow Jackets 28-0 in the second quarter and led 35-3 at halftime of the Chick-fil-Bowl.
A year after winning the national championship, LSU lost three of its last four regular-season games but regrouped for its dominant bowl win.
Georgia Tech (9-4) was denied its first 10-win season since 1998.
The Yellow Jackets lost three turnovers, including a fumble by quarterback Josh Nesbitt on a fourth-down run from the LSU 10 with 2:37 remaining.
Oregon St. 3, Pittsburgh 0
EL PASO — Justin Kahut’s 44-yard field goal late in the first half of the Sun Bowl was enough in the lowest-scoring major bowl game in a half-century.
The defensive struggle included 20 punts and nine sacks. Pitt kicker Conor Lee tried a 58-yard field goal in the closing minutes but the ball, helped by a steady wind, dropped just short of the crossbar.
“I had more confidence in a 58-yard field goal try than going for it on fourth-and-8,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “I wanted to give our team a chance. I really thought he could kick it.”
Not since Air Force and TCU played to 0-0 standoff in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1959, had a bowl produced so few points.
The Beavers (9-4) improved to 5-0 in bowls since coach Mike Riley began his second stint as their coach in 2003. Pitt (9-4) managed just 178 total yards.
“That’s the game we were in,” Riley said. “We played that game. We ended up winning it. Some people will call it ugly, but I can’t.”
The Associated Press
