No. 18 Oklahoma upends No. 6 Oklahoma State in Big 12 finale
Oklahoma receiver Jalen Saunders scores the first of his two touchdowns on the day on a 64-yard punt return against Oklahoma State in the first half Saturday. (Brett Deering / Getty Images / )
STILLWATER, Okla. -- Blake Bell threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Saunders with 19 seconds remaining to help No. 18 Oklahoma spoil rival Oklahoma State's Big 12 championship and BCS bowl game hopes with a 33-24 win.
Bell, playing in place of an injured Trevor Knight, led the Sooners (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) on the game-winning 66-yard drive - going 5-of-8 for 57 yards on the drive.
Eric Striker ended the game by recovering a fumble for a touchdown for Oklahoma, which has now won at least 10 games in four straight seasons.
Sooners coach Bob Stoops is now 8-1 in his career against Cowboys coach Mike Gundy.
Desmond Roland led No. 6 Oklahoma State (10-2, 7-2) with 144 yards rushing and accounted for three touchdowns.
No. 15 Central Florida 17, Southern Methodist 13
DALLAS -- Blake Bortles threw for 242 yards and ran for two touchdowns as No. 15 Central Florida celebrated a BCS bid already in hand by rallying to beat Southern Methodist, 17-13, in front of just a few hundred fans who braved a brutal ice storm.
With the school's first BCS berth secured by Louisville's win at Cincinnati Thursday, the Knights were sluggish before recovering for a school-record eighth straight win and the outright title in the first year of the American Athletic Conference.
UCF (11-1, 8-0 AAC) has both of the 34-year-old program's 11-win seasons in the past four years. The Knights went 11-3 in 2010 and beat Georgia in the Liberty Bowl.
SMU (5-7, 4-4) saw its record bowl streak end at four seasons in the coldest home game in school history - 24 degrees at kickoff. It matched the 1983 Sun Bowl in El Paso as SMU's coldest game. It was UCF's coldest game by far.
SMU quarterback Neal Burcham had 222 yards passing and a touchdown to Keenan Holman, who had 91 yards on six catches.
Rice 41, Marshall 24
HOUSTON -- Rice clinched its first outright conference title since 1957, running over Marshall, 41-24, in the Conference USA championship game.
The Owls (10-3) relied on their bruising ground attack to subdue the Herd (9-4), with running backs Charles Ross and Luke Turner delivering via versatility. Rice gained 250 of its 489 yards on the ground.
Ross rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns, upping his season total to 14 and matching the program single-season mark set by Trevor Cobb in 1991. Turner passed for two touchdowns, doubling his career total.
The Owls' defense was exceptional, limiting the Herd to 371 yards and just 4.8 yards per play. Marshall averaged 53 points during the five-game winning streak it carried into its first C-USA Championship Game appearance. Herd quarterback Rakeem Cato passed for 265 yards and two touchdowns in the loss.
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