White threw for 332 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to Alric Arnett midway through the fourth quarter that sent West Virginia to a 31-30 win over North Carolina on Saturday in the Meineke Bowl.
The senior quarterback was voted MVP of a bowl for the third straight year and finished his career 4-0 in postseason games, helping the Mountaineers (9-4) overcome Hakeem Nicks’ big day for North Carolina.
Nicks caught eight passes for 217 yards and three touchdowns for the Tar Heels (8-5), but T.J. Yates was intercepted by Pat Lazear with under 2 minutes left to end Butch Davis’ hopes of a bowl win in his second year at North Carolina.
White made sure he ended his college career on a winning note. He completed 26 of 32 passes and threw one interception. The NCAA’s all-time rushing leader among quarterbacks added 55 yards on the ground to finish with 4,480.
“I’m sitting by the greatest winner in college football today,” first-year West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said of White. “He’s the greatest to ever wear the old gold and blue. It’s a fitting tribute that this man’s the MVP.”
And while there are questions about whether White can play quarterback in the NFL, he was dominant when he needed to be Saturday.
After J.T. Thomas recovered Shaun Draughn’s fumble at the West Virginia 30, White threw a 41-yard pass over the middle to Jock Sanders, picked up 9 yards on a run. then rifled a pass between two defenders to Arnett for the go-ahead touchdown with 7:14 left.
Yates couldn’t find the dynamic Nicks on the Tar Heels’ final drive, eventually throwing his first interception of the day.
“It’s disappointing to lose this game, but I’m very proud of this football team and the strides we’ve made,” said Davis, whose team was 4-8 last year and playing in its first bowl since 2004.
The comeback spoiled a remarkable day by the 6-1 Nicks that left NFL scouts drooling as the junior contemplates whether to turn pro after this season.
He’d already set three school receiving records and shattered his career-high in yards receiving - with 10:37 left in the second quarter. It was part of a dizzying offensive display by both teams that produced six touchdowns in the game’s first 20 minutes.
Nicks’ first TD was the most bizarre. Yates’ deep heave over the middle was underthrown and nearly intercepted by Ellis Lankster, but the ball went through his hands and Nicks caught it behind him, then started to celebrate about 15 yards shy of the end zone. That allowed Keith Tandy to catch up, but Nicks wrestled away from him for the 73-yard touchdown, his school-record 10th of the season.
Three minutes later, Nicks caught a 66-yard TD pass from receiver Cooter Arnold on a trick play, setting North Carolina’s career TD record with his 20th.
Nicks’ 25-yard TD catch from Yates early in the second quarter was his 178th career reception - another school record - and gave North Carolina a 23-21 lead.
White was doing his best to keep up in a game that didn’t have an incomplete pass or punt until midway through the second quarter.
“Knowing that this is the last time I’m going to put on this uniform, I definitely wanted to go out on top,” White said. “We accomplished that.”
White completed 14 of his first 15 passes and threw two first-half touchdowns, including a remarkable one-handed grab by Arnett for a 44-yard score.
“He was on target on everything,” Arnett said. “That’s the type of player he is. He’s going to make a play with his arm or with his legs.”
White was intercepted in the end zone at the end of the first half by Duenta Williams, who had earlier tackled Noel Devine for a safety.
CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Derek Nicholson and Dekoda Watson returned fumbles for touchdowns and Christian Ponder threw two TD passes as Florida State routed Wisconsin 42-13 Saturday in the Champs Sports Bowl.
The Seminoles (9-4) finished with more than eight wins for the first time since 2004. Florida State, playing in its NCAA-best 27th straight bowl game, improved coach Bobby Bowden’s career postseason record to 21-10-1.
“It looked like the old Florida State out there,” Bowden said. “Not that we’re there, but we looked like we used to.”
Nicholson had two fumble recoveries, including one he returned 75 yards for a first-quarter touchdown. Punter Graham Gano averaged 48.2 yards on five punts, had three downed inside the Badgers’ 5-yard line and was named MVP.
“Once we got our feet on the ground, we were almost unstoppable out there,” said Ponder, who was 18-of-31 for 199 yards. “We got into a groove and everyone was making plays.”
P.J. Hill ran for 140 yards on 15 carries for the Badgers (7-6), who rarely threatened. Wisconsin quarterback Dustin Sherer completed only four of nine attempts for 55 yards in the first three quarters. His fumble early in the fourth quarter was returned 51 yards for a score by Watson to put FSU up 35-6.
“I was disappointed in everything out there,” Sherer said. “I didn’t make the plays we needed. They made it tough on us early with the punts, but we really kind of shot ourselves in the foot and allowed them to do that.”
It was an ugly finish to a disappointing season for Wisconsin, which was ranked as high as No. 8 early in the year.
Hill broke runs of 46 and 43 yards, both setting up Philip Welch field goals. But he fumbled deep in FSU territory late in the third quarter and Nicholson recovered to end the threat.
Antone Smith scored on a 6-yard run off right tackle to put the Seminoles up 21-6 in the third quarter, forcing the Badgers to go to the air to catch up.
With the Badgers threatening to break a scoreless tie at the Seminoles 19, Sherer took a one-step drop and tried to hit Hill on a quick screen. The ball, clearly a lateral, was deflected by end Neffey Moffett and picked up by Nicholson, who ran 75 yards for a score, high-stepping the last 20. FSU led 7-0 with about 12 minutes left in the first half.
“I kind of saw it coming,” Nicholson said. “I went for the interception, but when I missed it, I wasn’t sure what happened, so I just picked up the ball and started running with it. When we scored, it changed things a little bit.”
Nicholson’s celebration was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and after a short squib kick, Wisconsin took over at the Seminoles’ 46. Sherer, though, was sacked by Moffett on third-and-2 at the 38 and the Badgers had to punt.
Wisconsin appeared to have regained the momentum after Welch’s second field goal when they recovered a Bert Reed fumble at the Seminoles’ 28. Replays showed Reed’s knee was down before he lost the ball and the call was changed.
“That was a huge play,” Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said. “I didn’t think they would overturn it.”
EMERALD BOWL
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Zack Follett forced a fumble by Jacory Harris deep in Miami territory with 3:28 left, and Anthony Miller scored the go-ahead touchdown on his first career catch moments later to push California to a 24-17 victory in the Emerald Bowl on Saturday night.
Jahvid Best rushed for a game-record 186 yards and two touchdowns, yet the Golden Bears (9-4) still needed a big defensive play and an unlikely hero to hold off the Hurricanes (7-6) in front of a Bay Area crowd teeming with screaming Cal fans.
Harris, a freshman, played well in his second career start, going 25-of-41 for 194 yards and two TDs while subbing for the suspended Robert Marve. Harris had won 31 straight starts dating back to his high school career in South Florida, but his fumble cost the Hurricanes in their first bowl game under coach Randy Shannon.
Cal quarterback Nate Longshore shook off a dismal 10-for-21 performance in his final college game with the sharp scoring pass to Miller. The Golden Bears won for the fifth time in a school-record six consecutive bowl appearances under coach Jeff Tedford.
Laron Byrd and Thearon Collier caught Harris’ scoring passes for Miami, which tied it on Matt Bosher’s 22-yard field goal with 9:13 to play.
After Cal’s Giorgio Tavecchio missed a 34-yard field goal with 4:24 left, Follett knocked the ball away from Harris while tackling the quarterback from behind on third down. Cameron Jordan recovered and returned it to the Miami 2, where Longshore connected with Miller, a freshman who hardly played this season.
Tedford chose Longshore, the oft-booed senior, to start his final college game instead of Kevin Riley, the Bears’ starter for most of this year and the hero of last season’s comeback victory in the Armed Forces Bowl. If Riley is injured, the Bears didn’t acknowledge it - and Longshore struggled all the way until his final throw.
Marve was among five Miami players suspended in the days leading up to the game for violating team rules, and starting tight end Dedrick Epps was a last-minute scratch from the lineup with a bruised leg. Graig Cooper rushed for 63 yards and Lee Chambers added 60 for Miami, and tight end Craig Zellner made eight catches for 48 yards in Epps’ place.
Bay Area fans clad in blue and gold filled all but a few thousand spots in the sold-out San Francisco Giants waterfront ballpark. The Bears’ campus is roughly 12 miles from San Francisco, yet the team stayed in a hotel in the city during its week of preparation, crossing the Bay Bridge for daily practice in Berkeley.
Best finished the season with 1,580 yards rushing, the second-highest total in Cal history.
Longshore started two of Cal’s four regular-season losses and was far less effective overall, but Riley wasn’t sharp enough to win over Tedford, who then promoted Longshore for the Emerald Bowl after a few good practices.
Verran Tucker, the junior receiver who surprisingly claimed a starting spot for Cal this season, took a short slant pass 74 yards to the Miami 2 midway through the first quarter, setting up Best’s 1-yard TD run. The pass was the longest ever allowed by Miami in its lengthy bowl history.
A few minutes later, Best doubled back on an interior run and sprinted past the Hurricanes’ fleet-footed defense for a 42-yard score. But Harris replied with a scoring drive culminating in Byrd’s TD catch.
Harris led a 10-play, 69-yard drive after halftime that ended with Collier’s short TD catch to tie it at 14.
