Ball State upset by Buffalo in title game

Ball State fumbled away its perfect season.

The 12th-ranked Cardinals coughed up the ball four times and Buffalo scored off each turnover, routing the previously unbeaten team, 42-24, Friday night in the Mid-American Conference championship game at Ford Field in Detroit.

“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” defensive end Brandon Crawford said. “They capitalized off the opportunities.”

Ball State (12-1) finished the regular season undefeated for the first time since 1949 but entered the game without much of a shot to break into the Bowl Championship Series because it trailed Utah in the standings.

The Bulls returned fumbles 92 and 74 yards for touchdowns on consecutive Ball State possessions late in the third quarter to take a 28-17 lead.

Buffalo (8-5) won its first MAC title, capping the program’s first bowl-eligible season since joining college football’s top tier of teams in 1999.

Nutt agrees to extension

Houston Nutt, who turned around a moribund Mississippi program in one year, came to terms on a contract extension that will keep him in Oxford until 2012, at a reported salary of about $2.5 million a year.

There had been speculation that Nutt, who has coached Ole Miss to an 8-4 record this season, was a candidate for the Auburn vacancy.

Petersen says he’ll stay

Boise State Coach Chris Petersen said he was not interested in the Mississippi State coaching job, which came open when Sylvester Croom resigned last Saturday. Mississippi State Athletic Director Greg Byrne and Petersen are longtime friends.

Etc.

Oklahoma State Coach Mike Gundy, 9-3 this season and 27-22 in four years at his alma mater, was given a new seven-year contract that will pay him $15.7 million. . . . Louisville Coach Steve Kragthorpe said he has no plans to leave and wants to rebuild the team after its first losing season since 1997. Kragthorpe is 11-13 in two years at Louisville and hasn’t come close to replicating the success of Bobby Petrino, who led the Cardinals to the 2007 Orange Bowl. Louisville was 5-7 this season. . . . Kansas (7-5) accepted a bid to the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz. The Jayhawks will face a Big Ten opponent in the Dec. 31 game.