SAN DIEGO — A tough month for the Iowa Hawkeyes ended with a rousing Holiday Bowl victory over Southern California that would have made Hayden Fry and Bump Elliott proud.
Ihmir Smith-Marsette scored on a 6-yard run, a 98-yard kickoff return and a 12-yard reception — all in the second quarter — to lead No. 19 Iowa to a 49-24 rout of No. 22 USC on Friday night.
Senior Nate Stanley threw two touchdown passes and the Hawkeyes (10-3) won their fourth straight game for their sixth 10-win season in coach Kirk Ferentz’s 21 years.
The Hawkeyes honored both Fry, the former coach who died Dec. 17 at age 90, and Elliott, a former athletic director who died Dec. 7 at 94.
“It’s been a really challenging month in Iowa athletics with the passing of Bump and Coach Fry,” said Ferentz, who was an assistant under Fry. “When you think about both of those men, what they stood for and what they taught, was competing at a high level and doing it with great competitiveness, but also with integrity.
“That’s one of the reasons I’m just so proud to be at Iowa and hopefully this is one they both enjoyed tonight, and more importantly their families.”
The Hawkeyes even did the Hokey Pokey during a locker room celebration, continuing one of many traditions Fry started during his tenure from 1979-98.
“We felt to honor him, we would do that,” Stanley said.
Smith-Marsette, the offensive player of the game, was late getting into the locker room because of the trophy presentation. “I thought we were going to sing the fight song, and all you hear is, ‘Put your right foot in … ‘ Just being able to part of that, like Nate said, it was a tradition for Coach Fry. It was a special thing.”
TEXAS BOWL
TEXAS A&M 24, OKLAHOMA STATE 21
HOUSTON — Kellen Mond ran for a career-high 117 yards and threw a touchdown pass as Texas A&M scored 24 straight points to overcome an early deficit and beat Oklahoma State in the Texas Bowl.
Mond ran 67 yards to give the Aggies (8-5) a 21-14 lead early in the fourth quarter. Mond cut to the right to avoid a couple of defenders and outran everyone else. Tre Sterling had a shot to tackle him around the 25, but Mond ran away from his diving attempt.
The Cowboys (8-5) went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Texas A&M 34 on their next possession, but Spencer Sanders was stopped for no gain.
The Aggies added a 24-yard field goal to make it 24-14 with about three minutes to go.
Oklahoma State cut the lead to three on a touchdown reception by Braydon Johnson with about a minute left. The Cowboys attempted an onside kick, but A&M recovered it to secure the victory.
Chuba Hubbard, who finished the regular season as the nation’s leading rusher, ran for 158 yards, and Johnson had 124 yards receiving and two touchdowns for the Cowboys.
Hubbard finished the season with 2,094 yards rushing to become the second player in school history to reach 2,000, joining Barry Sanders, who did it in 1988 when he won the Heisman Trophy.
CHEEZ-IT BOWL
AIR FORCE 31, WASHINGTON STATE 21
PHOENIX — Kadin Remsberg ran for 178 yards and stretched to the pylon for a 3-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter, lifting No. 24 Air Force over Washington State in the Cheez-It Bowl.
The Falcons (11-2) had their triple option working to near perfection, grinding out 371 yards rushing while setting a Cheez-It Bowl time of possession record of 43:24.
Donald Hammond III scored two touchdowns and Remsberg had his fourth-down TD confirmed by review to help the Falcons close the season on an eight-game winning streak.
Anthony Gordon, the FBS passing leader, kept the Cougars within reach, throwing for 351 yards and three touchdowns. He hit Brandon Arconado on a 13-yard TD early in the fourth quarter to pull Washington State (6-7) within 24-21, but the Cougars had no answer for Air Force’s triple-option attack.
PINSTRIPE BOWL
MICHIGAN STATE 27, WAKE FOREST 21
NEW YORK — Brian Lewerke threw for 320 yards and a touchdown and ran for a score in Michigan State’s victory over Wake Forest in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium.
Lewerke threw a 10-yard pass to wide receiver Cody White in the third quarter to put the Spartans (7-6) ahead 27-21 and they survived down the stretch to give embattled coach Mark Dantonio his sixth bowl victory.
Wake Forest (8-5) missed a chance to win nine games for just the third time in program history.
Michigan State tried to give away the game twice in the fourth, the first time on Lewerke’s shovel pass to tight end Trenton Gillison inside the 10 that was stripped and recovered by linebacker Ja’Cquez Williams at the 6.
The Deamon Deacons failed to score on the drive, and handed Michigan State another chance to seal the victory. Again, the Spartans couldn’t put it away when Matt Coghlin was wide left on a 28-yard field goal attempt with 3:03 left Wake Forest’s last chance ended on an incomplete pass on its own 16.
Lewerke passed Connor Cook (9,403) to become Michigan State’s career leader in total offense and was the bowl MVP. White finished with 97 yards receiving, and Elijah Collins had 96 yards rushing.
Jamie Newman did all his damage for the Demon Deacons in the first half, throwing three touchdown passes for a 21-20 halftime lead.
MILITARY BOWL
NORTH CAROLINA 55, TEMPLE 13
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Freshman Sam Howell threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns and caught a scoring pass in North Carolina’s victory over Temple in the Military Bowl.
Howell completed 25 of 34 passes and ran for 53 yards on three carries to help the Tar Heels (7-6) to their first bowl victory since 2013. Temple (8-5) has gone to a bowl five years in a row — and lost four of them.
Howell threw two first-half touchdown to stake the Tar Heels to a 20-6 lead. They pulled in the third quarter, scoring two touchdowns in a 12-second span, the last on Storm Duck’s 20-yard interception return.
Howell completed the third-quarter blitz by catching a 2-yard TD pass from wide receiver Rontavius Groves at the end of a razzle-dazzle reverse to make it 41-6. Howell threw 38 touchdown passes this season, the most by a true freshman in FBS history.
