Missouri turns to Temple for victory

Colorful confetti flip-flopping around him, fans in black and gold chanting his name, Tony Temple and his Missouri teammates were basking in a terrific ending to a magical season.

Only one thing was wrong -- the setting. See, this was the Cotton Bowl, not the national championship game they were a win away from reaching, and it wasn’t the Orange, Fiesta or Sugar Bowl like they thought they deserved.

Motivated instead of deflated, the guys from the “Show-Me State” did their best to prove they belonged in the Bowl Championship Series by routing Darren McFadden and Arkansas, 38-7, on Tuesday in Dallas. Temple led the way, rushing for 281 yards and four touchdowns, both records in the 72-year history of the Cotton Bowl.

“We were upset for a couple of days,” said Martin Rucker, Missouri’s All-American tight end. “We just felt we’d deserved, we’d earned to be in the BCS. But the Cotton Bowl is a great bowl and we were honored to be in it.”

Missouri (12-2) was ranked No. 1 after beating Kansas in the regular-season finale, then lost badly to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game -- so badly that the Jayhawks wound up with an at-large berth in the Orange Bowl.

Properly focused, the only thing left for the Tigers was figuring out that No. 25 Arkansas (8-5) had loaded its defense with cornerbacks and safeties to neutralize Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel.

Temple cracked the code pretty early, finding no linebackers after he broke the line of scrimmage in the first half. He had three carries of 22 yards, a 38-yarder and a 41-yarder as part of his 159 yards and two touchdowns by halftime.

Temple pulled a hamstring in the third quarter and missed several series, but said he was ready to return about the same time Coach Gary Pinkel heard Temple was close to the record.

He went back for only one play -- a spinning, tackle-breaking 40-yard run into the end zone, then rode back to the bench on the arms of Daniel and a lineman.

The lift was part-celebration, part-transportation because Temple tweaked his hamstring around the five-yard line.

“It was one of the best runs I’ve ever seen,” Daniel said. “That was awesome.”

Temple’s final run broke the Cotton Bowl rushing record of 265 yards set by Rice’s Dicky Maegle in 1954, a performance that’s best remembered for him being awarded a touchdown when Alabama’s Tommy Lewis came off the bench and tackled him on a breakaway run.

Outback Bowl, No. 16 Tennessee 21, No. 18 Wisconsin 17 -- Erik Ainge threw for 365 yards and two touchdowns at Tampa, Fla., to keep the Badgers (9-4) from joining Michigan as the only Big Ten teams to beat SEC opponents in bowl games three consecutive seasons.

Ainge completed 25 of 43 passes without a turnover to help the Volunteers (10-4) erase unpleasant memories of a 10-point loss to Penn State in last year’s Outback game.

Antonio Wardlow sealed Tennessee’s first 10-win season since 2004 when he intercepted Tyler Donovan’s deep throw intended for Paul Hubbard in the end zone in the final minute.

Receiver Gerald Jones took a direct snap from center and scored on a three-yard run, then Ainge tossed scoring passes of 29 yards to Josh Briscoe and 31 yards to Brad Cottam to help Tennessee build a 21-7 lead.

Donovan’s four-yard touchdown pass to Andy Crooks trimmed Wisconsin’s deficit to 21-14 at the half. The Badgers pulled to within four on Taylor Mehlhaff’s 27-yard field goal in the closing seconds of the third quarter.

Gator Bowl, Texas Tech 31, No. 21 Virginia 28 -- Alex Trlica kicked a 41-yard field goal with seven seconds left to give the Red Raiders (9-4) a come-from-behind victory over the Cavaliers (9-4) at Jacksonville, Fla.

Tech overcame pivotal penalties and a fumble to come back from a 28-14 fourth quarter deficit. Its aggressive pass offense couldn’t score much for three quarters, but Graham Harrell still managed to completed 44 of 69 passes for 407 yards, all records, plus three touchdowns.

The comeback started when Harrell found Michael Crabtree for a touchdown -- despite an interference call.

Tech scored its next touchdown after knocking the ball out of backup Virginia quarterback Peter Lalich’s hands at the four-yard line. Tech recovered and Aaron Crawford’s four-yard run a play later tied it at 28-28.

The Red Raiders overcame a tremendous effort by Virginia tailback Mikell Simpson, who ran for 170 yards in 20 carries -- including a NCAA bowl-record 96-yard touchdown run -- and caught another touchdown.

Virginia starting quarterback Jameel Sewell was 14 for 23 for 78 yards and a touchdown before being lost to an injury in the fourth quarter.