Recap: Bowl Week 1

LET'S PARTY. WHO'S LSU?

The holiday season for college football has just started, and already we had some tight finishes and some interesting match ups. The first and opening week of the bowl season started off with a bang, and then finished with an unlikely upset. Let's get onto the bowls.

New Mexico Bowl: Temple 37, Wyoming 15

Temple came out swinging against Wyoming, jumping to a 21-0 lead in the first half of the Gildan New Mexico Bowl on Saturday. After that, there wasn't much Wyoming could do.

Bernard Pierce ran for two early touchdowns and Coyer threw for 169 yards and the touchdown to help Temple overwhelm Wyoming 37-15 in the New Mexico Bowl -- the first bowl game of the season.

The Owls (9-4) had three interceptions -- tying a New Mexico Bowl record -- en route to the second bowl victory in school history. The first interception came at the start of the second quarter when Temple's Kee-arye Griffin picked off Smith's pass to setting up Matt Brown's 1-yard touchdown run that gave the Owls a 21-0 lead, and just about the rest of the game.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl: Ohio 24, Utah State 23

Tyler Tettleton's late heroics helped Ohio erase decades of misery in the postseason. After such a disappointing collapse in the MAC Championship, the Bobcats turned their fortune into their own, finally winning their first ever bowl game.

The sophomore calmly led a 61-yard drive in the final 2:02 and scored on a 1-yard keeper with 13 seconds left to give Ohio its first bowl victory, 24-23 over Utah State on Saturday in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

Ohio had been winless in five bowl appearances, including setbacks the last two seasons. Tettleton changed all that, going 3 of 4 passing in the final drive, including a 14-yard completion to LaVon Brazill on fourth down to give Ohio a first down inside the 1 with 37 seconds left.

After getting stuffed on his first attempt to punch the ball in, Tettleton rolled right on the next play and outran two defenders to cap the comeback and set a new course for Ohio's postseason future. Tettleton and Brazill were the MVP's of this game, without a doubt. Ohio continued to somehow find a way and head coach Frank Solich has really turned this Bobcat team into something to watch. 

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl: LA-Lafayette 32, San Diego State 30

Perhaps the closest game thus far, it ended with an upset. Blaine Gautier's record-setting passing and a long clutch kick by Brett Baer gave Louisiana-Lafayette fans the kind of thrills they haven't had since Jake Delhomme was playing for the Ragin' Cajuns.

Gautier passed for 470 yards and three scores, and Baer kicked a 50-yard field goal as time ran out, lifting Louisiana-Lafayette to 32-30 victory over San Diego State in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl on Saturday night.

Before the kick had even sailed through the uprights, Baer was off and running in celebration and briefly jumped into the first row of the Superdome stands before teammates caught up with him and lifted the kicker onto their shoulders.

Playing in their first bowl game as a Division I FBS team, the Ragin Cajuns (9-4) led most of the way but fell behind 30-29 when Aztecs quarterback Ryan Lindley connected with Colin Lockett on a 12-yard touchdown strike with 35 seconds to go. Gautier drove Louisiana-Lafayette 44 yards to the Aztecs 38 to set up what was initially a 55-yard attempt, but a pre-snap penalty on SDSU (8-5) for trying to bait the Cajuns into a false start moved the winning kick 5 yards closer.

Gautier finished with 2,958 yards passing and 23 TDs on the season, breaking Delhomme's single-season school records. Delhomme held those records since 1996, when he passed for 2,901 yards and 20 TDs.

Gautier's passing total also shattered the New Orleans Bowl record for yards passing, set a season ago when Troy's Corey Robinson passed for 387.