Kansas State tight ends Ben Sinnott, right, and Sammy Wheeler celebrate Sinnott’s touchdown in the first half of the Big 12 championship game Saturday against TCU in Arlington, Texas. Kansas State won in overtime, 31-28. LM Otero/Associated Press
ARLINGTON, Texas — Ty Zentner kicked a 31-yard field goal in overtime as 13th-ranked Kansas State beat No. 3 TCU 31-28 in the Big 12 championship game Saturday, leaving the Horned Frogs to wait another day to find out if they had already done enough to get into the four-team College Football Playoff.
The Wildcats set up the winning field goal after TCU had the opening possession of overtime and Kendre Miller was stopped short on consecutive plays from inside the 1.
Deuce Vaughn ran for 130 yards and a touchdown and Will Howard threw two TD passes for the Wildcats (10-3, No. 10 CFP), who six weeks earlier had jumped out to a 28-10 lead early in the second quarter before TCU scored the game’s last 28 points.
That was one of five games the Horned Frogs (12-1, No. 3 CFP) won when trailing after halftime. But they couldn’t do it again with the chance to guarantee being the first Big 12 team other than Oklahoma to make the playoff.
“We got beat today and now it’s out of our hands. That’s something that we wanted to do is be in control,” TCU quarterback Max Duggan said. “All we can do is kind of watch.”
TCU, the first Big 12 team to complete a regular season undefeated since Texas in 2009, could still get into the playoff. While their case was helped when fourth-ranked Southern California (11-2) lost 47-24 to Utah in the Pac-12 championship game Friday night, the Frogs now have to wait until the final CFP rankings come out Sunday.
“I think we’re certainly deserving. I think the league is one of the best leagues in the country to go through, undefeated in the league, certainly we ought to get in,” first-year TCU Coach Sonny Dykes said. “And I don’t think we should be punished for coming to the Big 12 championship game.”
Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark said before the game that TCU, with first-year coach Sonny Dykes, already deserved to be in the playoff.
“You look at their strength of schedule. You think about how they’ve performed all year long,” Yormark said. “I think regardless, they should be in, for sure.”
Kansas State Coach Chris Klieman agreed after his team reached 10 wins for the first time since 2012, when the Wildcats won the Big 12 title when there was no championship game.
“TCU should be in the CFP, they’re one of the best four teams,” Klieman said. “We went toe to toe with them. I thought we could go toe to toe with them and find a way to win. It was an exceptional football game.”
Duggan, who went from losing his job as TCU’s starting quarterback going into the season to now being a potential Heisman Trophy finalist, threw for 251 yards and a touchdown, and also ran for 110 yards with an 8-yard score with 1:51 remaining in regulation.
Duggan was stopped just short when stretching for another touchdown when TCU had the ball in overtime. The spot was upheld after a replay review, and two plays later the quarterback was standing alone well behind the play with his hands on his helmet when Miller, who had a 6-yard TD earlier, was stopped short to give the ball to K-State.
(1) GEORGIA 50, (11) LSU 30: With all sorts of turmoil behind them in the rankings, the Bulldogs (13-0, No. 1 CFP) left no doubt about the top team heading into the College Football Playoff, dismantling LSU (9-4, No. 14 CFP) in the Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta.
Stetson Bennett’s threw a season-high four touchdown passes in another stellar postseason performance, while Christopher Smith gave the Bulldogs an early spark with a heads-up play that turned a seemingly harmless blocked field goal into a 96-yard TD.
Not that any fortuitous breaks were needed, but Georgia caught a big one when a deflected pass bounced off an LSU receiver’s helmet and wound up being picked off by the Bulldogs, setting up a score that contributed to a 35-10 lead by halftime.
LSU’s hopes of denying the reigning national champs their first SEC title since 2017 were further dampened by quarterback Jayden Daniels re-injuring a sore right ankle late in the first half. Not that backup Garrett Nussmeier played poorly, guiding the Tigers to three second-half touchdowns.
It wasn’t nearly enough.
Georgia heads into the playoff assured of a return trip to Atlanta for a de facto semifinal home game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, just 75 miles from its Athens campus.
HOLY CROSS 35, NEW HAMPSHIRE 19: Matthew Sluka accounted for three touchdowns, Peter Oliver ran for 175 yards and scored twice, and the Crusaders (12-0) eliminated the Wildcats (9-4) in the second round of the FCS playoffs at Worcester, Massachusetts.
The Crusaders advance to play top-ranked South Dakota State.
Oliver’s 39-yard touchdown run with 7:27 left in the first quarter finished a six-play, 63-yard drive set up when Crusaders safety Walter Reynolds came up with the first of three interceptions.
Holy Cross led 7-5 at halftime and pulled away with two touchdowns in both the third and fourth quarters.
TROY 45, COASTAL CAROLINA 26: Gunnar Watson passed for 318 yards and three long touchdowns to lead the Trojans (11-2) past the Chanticleers (9-3) in the Sun Belt Conference championship game at Troy, Alabama.
Troy raced ahead 31-0 in the first half en route to its Sun Belt-record seventh league title.
FRESNO STATE 28, BOISE STATE 16: Jake Haener threw for 184 yards and a touchdown, Nikko Remigio returned a punt 70 yards for a score, and the Bulldogs (9-4) defeated the Broncos (9-4) to win the Mountain West Conference championship in Boise, Idaho.
Fresno State overcame a 1-4 start to the season and a rash of injuries to win its final eight games, claiming the program’s third Mountain West crown.
(18) TULANE 45, (22) UCF 28: Michael Pratt accounted for 442 total yards and five touchdowns, Tyjae Spears highlighted his 199 yards rushing with a 60-yard score, and the Green Wave (11-2) defeated the Knights (9-4) in the American Athletic Conference championship game in New Orleans.
The victory virtually assured Tulane will play in the Cotton Bowl – its first major New Year’s Day bowl since the 1939 season – only one season after going 2-10.
TOLEDO 17, OHIO 7: Dequan Finn passed for a touchdown and rushed for 86 yards on 18 carries as Toledo (8-5) captured its first Mid-American Conference championship since 2017 by defeating Ohio (9-4) in Detroit.
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