Southern California was ranked No. 1 at the beginning of the season, and Matt Barkley was a strong contender for the Heisman Trophy. The year ended with Barkley on the sideline as the Trojans lost to Georgia Tech in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.
Tevin Washington threw a touchdown pass and ran for another score to lead the Yellow Jackets (7-7) to a 21-7 victory on Monday in front of a crowd of 47,922 at Sun Bowl Stadium.
Barkley, the first three-time captain in team history, injured his right shoulder in a loss to UCLA and was not cleared to play. He clapped as the Trojans (7-6) took the field to face the Yellow Jackets.
Max Wittek tossed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Silas Redd in the second quarter, but also threw three interceptions. Redd also had 88 yards rushing on 17 carries.
The Trojans struggled to contain Georgia Tech's triple-option attack. The Yellow Jackets rushed for 294 yards on 63 carries while stopping a seven-bowl losing streak.
Vanderbilt 38, North Carolina State 24 - Jordan Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score as the Commodores capped their best season in nearly a century by beating the Wolfpack (7-6) in Nashville.
Vanderbilt, coached by Langhorne native James Franklin, finished 9-4 for their best record since going 9-1 in 1915.
"When you're throwing out dates like 1915, you know that's a very, very, very long time," Franklin said. "We also currently have the longest win streak in the SEC, which we're very, very proud of."
Tulsa 31, Iowa State 17 - Trey Watts rushed for 149 yards, Alex Singleton ran for three scores and the Golden Hurricane (11-3) beat the Cyclones in Memphis, avenging a season-opening loss to Iowa State (6-7).
Seven years after Barry Alvarez left the Wisconsin sideline, he's getting one more shot at the Rose Bowl. The longtime Badgers coach said he can't provide any master game plan to beat No. 8 Stanford (11-2) in Wisconsin's third straight trip to Pasadena.
Instead, Alvarez's players say he offers perspective, inspiration and even a little swagger while he bridges Wisconsin's one-game gap between Bret Bielema and Gary Andersen in Tuesday's game.
The Badgers (8-5) hope it's enough to knock off the favored Cardinal.
