Associated Press
The bowl roundup …
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. ó For anyone who thought it might be difficult for Matt Grothe and South Florida (8-5) to get excited about playing what amounted to an extra home game, the Bulls and their dual-threat quarterback answered with a dominating performance in the first St. Petersburg Bowl.
Grothe moved ahead of West Virginia’s Pat White as the Big East’s career total offense leader, throwing for 236 yards and three touchdowns to on the way to a 41-14 victory over Memphis (6-7) on Saturday.
Grothe and White, a senior who will finish his season in the Meineke Bowl on Dec. 27, are the only players in league history to amass more than 10,000 yards total offense. White has 10,142 in 49 games, and Grothe, who also rushed for 82 yards on 15 carries Saturday, finished the night with 10,214 in 39 games.
LAS VEGAS
LAS VEGAS ó Willie Tuitama threw for 322 yards and two touchdowns as Arizona won its first bowl game in 10 years, 31-21 over No. 17 BYU.
The Wildcats stifled BYU quarterback Max Hall throughout the game.
Arizona (8-5) kept the ball in the air most of the game. Tuitama threw a 71-yard pass to Terrell Turner that set up the first score, a 37-yard touchdown to Delashaun Dean that gave the Wildcats the lead for good, and a 24-yard strike to Chris Gronkowski that sent Cougars fans toward the exits
NEW MEXICO
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. ó Gartrell Johnson rushed for a career-high 285 yards and scored two touchdowns as Colorado State rallied for a 40-35 victory over Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl.
TOADY’S GAME
NEW ORLEANS ó Southern Mississippi (6-6) takes on Troy (8-4).
Troy, the Sun Belt Conference champion, seeks its second New Orleans Bowl victory in three seasons, having beaten Rice 41-17 in 2006. Southern Miss, after starting 2-6, needs one more victory to finish with a winning record in coach Larry Fedora’s first season.
Troy’s spread offense, which has racked up 421 yards per game this season, will be tested by a Southern Miss defense that has given up a combined 21 points in its last three games.