Bowl roundup: Michigan State rallies past Baylor in Cotton Bowl

Connor Cook threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Keith Mumphery with 17 seconds left to cap a three-touchdown fourth-quarter comeback that gave Michigan State a 42-41 victory over playoff-snubbed Baylor on Thursday in the Cotton Bowl at Arlington, Texas.

The Spartans (11-2), No. 8 in the final College Football Playoff ranking, got the winning touchdown after Marcus Rush blocked Chris Callahan’s 43-yard field-goal attempt with 1:05 left.

When No. 5 Baylor (11-2) got the ball back for one last try, Bryce Petty was sacked on consecutive plays before Riley Bullough’s clinching interception.

Petty completed 36 of 51 passes for a Cotton Bowl-record 550 yards with three touchdowns, two to speedy freshman KD Cannon and the other to 390-pount backup guard LaQuan McGowan that put Baylor up 41-21 late in the third quarter.

Jeremy Langford ran for 162 yards and three touchdowns for the Spartans, whose losses were to Pac-12 winner Oregon and the Big Ten champion Ohio State.

Langford’s one-yard plunge with just under five minutes left got the Spartans to within 41-35. That came the play after Cook’s 11-yard scramble was initially called a touchdown but ruled short after a replay review.

Callahan had a 46-yard field-goal attempt that ricocheted off the right upright to start the fourth quarter. Michigan State then got Cook’s eight-yard touchdown pass to tight end Josiah Price and recovered an onside kick.

Cook threw a 39-yard pass on the first play after the recovery, but was scrambling to avoid pressure on the next play when he threw an awkward pass right to linebacker Taylor Young, who ran 84 yards to the end zone. However, Young’s apparent touchdown was wiped out by an illegal block, pushing Baylor back to its 43. After Petty’s fourth-down incompletion, Michigan State went 60 yards in nine plays for Langford’s final score.

Michigan State won its fourth consecutive bowl game, this one the highest-scoring Cotton Bowl game ever. The Spartans were only the second Big Ten team in a game that has been played 79 times.

No. 18 Wisconsin 34, No. 19 Auburn 31 (OT): Melvin Gordon ran for an Outback Bowl-record 251 yards and three touchdowns and Rafael Gaglianone kicked a 25-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Badgers (11-3) over the Tigers (8-5) in Tampa, Fla.

Gaglianone tied it with a 29-yarder with seven seconds left in regulation for the Badgers, who were coached by Athletic Director Barry Alvarez following Gary Andersen’s move to Oregon State.

Gordon scored on runs of 25, 53 and six yards, bouncing back from a subpar performance against Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game to threaten Barry Sanders’ FBS single-season rushing record.

Gordon finished with 2,587 yards — second most in FBS history — in 14 games. Sanders had 2,628 for Oklahoma State in 11 games in 1988, when the NCAA did not include bowl results in a player’s statistics.

No. 16 Missouri 33, Minnesota 17: Marcus Murphy ran for 159 yards, Russell Hansbrough had 114 yards and a touchdown and the Tigers (11-3) pulled away to beat the Golden Gophers (8-5) in the Citrus Bowl at Orlando, Fla.

Missouri won its third straight bowl game to reach 11 victories for the fourth time in school history. Minnesota (8-5) trailed 19-17 entering the fourth quarter, but Hansbrough’s 78-yard touchdown run and Maty Mauk’s seven-yard scoring pass to Bud Sasser put the Tigers out of range.