NEW YORK — Justin Jackson ran for 224 yards and three touchdowns to power Northwestern to its third bowl victory, 31-24 over No. 22 Pittsburgh in the Pinstripe Bowl on Wednesday night.
The victory at Yankee Stadium followed wins in the 1948 Rose Bowl and 2012 Gator Bowl victories in the program’s oft-futile history.
Jackson had TD runs of 8 and 16 yards in the second quarter, then went deep on a 40-yard burst in the third that left one defender face down on the turf and gave the Wildcats (7-6) a 21-17 lead.
Rallying without injured quarterback Nathan Peterman and running back James Conner, Pitt yanked the lead away in the fourth on a short TD pass before it collapsed the rest of the quarter.
The Wildcats turned a fourth-and-1 into a 21-yard play-action TD pass from Clayton Thorson to Garrett Dickerson that made it 28-24 and a hit late field goal for a seven-point lead.
The Panthers (8-5) had time to spoil Northwestern’s upset bid with a late drive for the tying score. Scott Orndoff failed to hang on to backup quarterback Ben DiNucci’s strike in the end zone on third down. DiNucci had his fourth-down pass picked off by Jared McGee, who helped bust up the previous pass play.
RUSSELL ATHLETIC BOWL
MIAMI 31, NO. 14 WEST VIRGINIA 14
ORLANDO, Fla. — Brad Kaaya tied a career best and Miami bowl record with four touchdown passes, and the Hurricanes beat West Virginia to snap a 10-year bowl drought.
Kaaya completed 24 of 34 passes for 282 yards for Miami (9-4), which had lost its last six bowl appearances. Kaaya already held Miami’s career record in yards and took over the school’s No. 1 spots in completions and attempts. He was selected the game MVP.
The Hurricanes punted on their first six possessions, then scored on their next five. Kaaya connected with Ahmmon Richards, Malcolm Lewis and Braxton Berrios for touchdowns in the final 6:30 of the first half, and found David Njoku for another touchdown on the first possession of the second half.
Skyler Howard passed for 134 yards and ran for a touchdown for West Virginia (10-3).
TEXAS BOWL
KANSAS STATE 33, TEXAS A&M 28
HOUSTON — Jesse Ertz threw for 195 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more scores in Kansas State’s victory over Texas A&M.
Ertz had a 79-yard touchdown pass and scoring runs of 1 and 5 yards to help give Kansas State its fourth straight win and first bowl victory since the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.
The Wildcats (9-4) led by five when Ertz bulled into the end zone on a 1-yard run that made it 33-21 with nine minutes left. Ertz set up the score with a 20-yard run two plays earlier.
The Aggies (8-5) cut it to 33-28 on Josh Reynolds’ 15-yard TD reception about a minute later.
Texas A&M attempted to convert a fourth-and-8 with about two minutes left, but Trevor Knight’s pass was short, to give Kansas State the ball back and allow the Wildcats to run out the clock.
Reynolds had a Texas A&M bowl-record 12 receptions for 154 yards and two touchdowns and Knight threw for 310 yards with three touchdowns and one interception as A&M dropped its second straight bowl game.
FOSTER FARMS BOWL
UTAH 26, INDIANA 24
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Joe Williams ran for 222 yards and a touchdown and Andy Phillips kicked a 27-yard field goal with 1:24 to play to lead Utah to its 14th victory in its past 15 bowl games.
Tyler Huntley ran for another score and the Utes (9-4) forced three turnovers to spoil Tom Allen’s coaching debut at Indiana and improve Utah coach Kyle Whittingham’s bowl record to 10-1. Allen took over the Hoosiers (6-7) after Kevin Wilson’s sudden resignation this month.
The Hoosiers rallied from 10 points down to take a 24-23 lead early in the fourth quarter on Devine Redding’s 3-yard run following a fumble by Utah’s Zach Moss. Williams then lost a fumble on the next drive for the Utes, but Griffin Oakes missed a 40-yard field goal attempt with 5:34 left to prevent the Hoosiers from adding onto the lead. That proved costly when Williams ran for 64 yards on the ensuing drive to help set up Phillips’ fourth field goal of the game to make it 26-24.