Font ResizeDavid Ash threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, the last a 36-yard strike to Marquise Goodwin with 2:24 left, to give Texas a 31-27 comeback victory over No. 15 Oregon State in the Alamo Bowl on Saturday night in San Antonio.
The Longhorns (9-4) never led before Goodwin scored his second touchdown on a deep post pattern, just a down after Texas converted a fourth-and-1 play to keep its chances alive.
Storm Woods ran for 118 yards and scored two touchdowns for Oregon State (9-4). The Beavers left stunned after looking as though they would wrap up their first 10-win season since 2006.
Down 20-10 at halftime, Texas coach Mack Brown said he told his players they would win.
"I told them it wasn't going to be easy, but I told them this game was ours and we would win it," Brown said. "This one is really special."
The victory was a dose of much-needed good news for Texas after coming into the game under a cloud of questions after the suspensions of backup quarterback Chase McCoy and injured linebacker Jordan Hicks.
Ash, who has been pulled at times for McCoy this season, was 21 of 33 for 241 yards. Ash sputtered until the fourth quarter, when he went 9 for 11 for 146 yards.
Oregon State quarterback Cody Vaz was 15 of 28 for 194 yards. The Beavers had negative 4 yards in the fourth quarter as they were muffled by the Longhorns defense that was led by Alex Okafor, who finished with 41/2 sacks.
TCU (7-6) took a 16-14 lead on Jaden Overkrom's 53-yard field goal with 2:42 left but left Conroy too much time for his second straight postseason game-winner.
Pinstripe Bowl: Prince-Tyson Gulley ran for 217 yards and had three touchdowns, Syracuse scored twice on safeties and the Orange bid a snow-covered farewell to the Big East with a 38-14 victory over West Virginia.
Syracuse (8-5) will enter the Atlantic Coast Conference on a roll after finishing this season with six wins in its last seven games, capped by its second postseason victory at Yankee Stadium in the last three years.
In a bowl game played in a baseball stadium with weather better suited for a playoff game in Green Bay, the team that plays in a dome ended up being better equipped to handle the elements.
The Orange leaned on their running game to plow through former Big East rival West Virginia (7-6) and the snow. Jerome Smith added 158 yards rushing.
"The football gods brought snow," said Smith, who carried a season-high 30 times. "The football gods from Syracuse brought us some snow, and it changed even West Virginia's game. They had to run a little bit more than they were used to."
Armed Forces Bowl: Freshman quarterback Driphus Jackson threw for 264 yards in relief of Rice's hurt starter, including two touchdown passes to Jordan Taylor, and the Owls beat Air Force 33-14 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Jackson's first series after taking over for Taylor McHargue ended with a bad pitch for a fumble near the goal line only 2 seconds before halftime, when the Owls (7-6) trailed 14-7.
But Jackson made up for it after halftime, when Rice scored 26 unanswered points. Taylor caught nine passes for 153 yards, with a 16-yard TD from McHargue in the first quarter.
"I couldn't get down (after the fumble). The guys had all the confidence in the world in me," Jackson said.
McHargue never returned because of an apparent head injury after a helmet-to-helmet collision with about 5 minutes left in the first half.
Air Force (6-7), which scored on consecutive drives in the second quarter with backup quarterback Kale Pearson in the game, was held to a season-low 214 total yards.
USC: The Trojans, already without quarterback Matt Barkley for the Sun Bowl, finished practice Saturday with receiver Marqise Lee and running back Curtis McNeal in question for the game Monday against Georgia Tech.
Lee, an All-American who won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver, was held out of most of USC's final workout after apparently hurting his left knee during a drill. McNeal, a senior, sat out for a second consecutive day.
Notre Dame: Coach Brian Kelly says the top-ranked Fighting Irish will have an early curfew every night they are in Miami preparing to play second-ranked Alabama for the national title.
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.
