New Year’s Day bowl game highlights: Oregon rolls in Fiesta Bowl; LSU, Tenn pick up wins

After a one-day pause, college football‘s bowl season resumed on Monday for one of the biggest days of the year in the sport. 

The College Football Playoff semifinals are finally here! But before those games began, three other bowl games helped continue the tradition of bowl season on New Year’s Day. 

First, No. 17 LSU defeated Wisconsin, 35-31, in a dramatic game in the Reliaquest Bowl. The Tigers, who were without Heisman winner Jayden Daniels, took their first lead of the game when they scored what would be the game-winning touchdown with just over three minutes remaining. 

Elsewhere, No. 8 Oregon cruised to an easy victory in the Fiesta Bowl after a slow start, defeating No. 23 Liberty 45-6. In his final college football game, Bo Nix threw for 363 yards and five touchdowns, playing the majority of the game before departing in the fourth quarter. No. 21 Tennessee put up a dominating performance in the Citrus Bowl, shutting out No. 17 Iowa, 35-0, to end its season on a high note.

Here are the top plays from Monday’s early slate of games!

Fiesta Bowl: No. 8 Oregon 45, No. 23 Liberty 6

Flamin’ hot start for Liberty

The Flames made an early case to show that they belonged with the Ducks on Monday, scoring on the game’s first drive to take an early 6-0 lead. Kaidon Salter threaded a pass between two Oregon defenders to Bentley Hanshaw for a 17-yard touchdown.

Bo knows

Following some initial struggles in the first quarter, Oregon found the end zone for the first time of the day just over two minutes into the second quarter. Nix tossed a pass to Gary Bryant Jr. in the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown pass, giving Oregon a 10-6 lead.

Nix not falling

The Oregon QB used his feet to help get off his second touchdown pass of the day, evading Liberty’s pass rush before tossing a pass to Terrance Ferguson for a 2-yard score to give the Ducks a 17-6 lead.

Bo makes history

Oregon’s star quarterback etched his name again in the school’s record books with his third touchdown pass on Monday. Nix’s touch pass touchdown was his 43rd passing touchdown of the season, giving him the school record for the most passing touchdowns in a single season. 

Sneaking one in before halftime

Nix added to his single-season passing touchdown record right before halftime hit, tossing a pass to Traeshon Holden for a 17-yard score to give the Ducks a 31-6 lead at the break. 

Bucky adds to the Ducks’ lead

Oregon continued its second-quarter dominance into the third quarter. After it scored on its opening drive of the second half, Oregon added its second touchdown of the half just under a minute into the fourth quarter when Bucky Irving rushed for a 1-yard score. The touchdown gave Oregon a 45-6 lead and Irving his 20th touchdown of the season.

Citrus Bowl: No. 21 Tennessee 35, No. 17 Iowa 0

The mascot makes its entrance

Cheez-It, which is the sponsor name of the Citrus Bowl, isn’t taking a page out of the Pop-Tarts Bowl. A few days after the mascot of the Pop-Tarts Bowl was eaten, the mascot for the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, “Ched-Z,” had one ask: Don’t eat me. 

It also made a dramatic entrance for Monday’s game. 

Tennessee scores first

Following a scoreless first quarter, Tennessee scored on the opening play of the second frame when Nico Iamaleava rushed for a 19-yard touchdown to make it a 7-0 game. 

Running for two

Iamaleava added his second rushing touchdown of the day in the second quarter, but his second rushing score came a bit easier as he only needed to rush from a few yards out to give the Vols a 14-0 lead.

Tennessee’s defense Volunteers to help score

The Vols’ defense stepped up in the second half in more ways than one. James Pearce strip-sacked Deacon Hill just in front of Iowa’s goal line, giving Tennessee the ball at the 2-yard line before scoring a touchdown two plays later to make it, 21-0. 

Pearce was at it again in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. He picked off Hill’s pass and ran it all the way back for a 52-yard pick-six that gave Tennessee a 28-0 lead.

Adding one through the air

After getting a hat trick of rushing touchdowns, Iamaleava added a passing touchdown to his impressive day, tossing an 18-yard pass to McCallan Castles to help cap off a strong day for the Volunteers.

Reliaquest Bowl: No. 17 LSU 35, Wisconsin 31

The first TD of 2024

The Badgers opened up the scoring in Monday’s Reliaquest Bowl when Tanner Mordecai found Bryson Green in the back corner of the end zone. The Wisconsin wide out climbed up the ladder to make the leaping grab over an LSU defensive back, coming down with a touchdown that gave the Badgers a 7-0 lead following their first drive.

To the house!

Wisconsin was able to find the end zone for the second time in Monday’s game in the final minutes of the quarter when Will Pauling took Mordecai’s pass over the middle 52 yards for a touchdown. The score gave Wisconsin a 14-0 lead.

Letting the defensive player score

LSU’s first touchdown came from one of their defensive stars, but not as he was playing defense. Harold Perkins took a sweep along the goal line and barred through Wisconsin’s defense to get a rushing touchdown that cut Wisconsin’s lead in half, 14-7. 

Jackson nukes away for 6

Following Wisconsin’s missed field goal, LSU took advantage, moving quickly down the field before Kaleb Jackson‘s 12-yard touchdown run tied the game up late in the first half. 

Pauling scores again!

Wisconsin shrugged off LSU’s game-tying score by responding with a touchdown itself. After it took just four plays for Wisconsin to get to LSU’s 9-yard line, Mordecai found his trusty receiver again, hitting Pauling in the back of the end zone to give it a 21-14 lead going into halftime. 

Over the top to Thomas

After Wisconsin scored on its opening drive of the second half, LSU responded with a long score. Garrett Nussmeier found Brian Thomas Jr. open deep down the field for a 38-yard touchdown to make it a 28-21 game. 

Going to Hilton for a nice stay in the end zone

LSU tied the game up with just under five minutes left in the third when Nussmeier connected with Chris Hilton in the back of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown pass, making it 28-28.

Back to Brian

Trailing 31-28, LSU was pinned at its own 2-yard line with just over six minutes left as it looked to get the possible game-tying or winning score. But that was no problem for the Tigers, who needed just six plays to get within Wisconsin’s 10-yard line before Nussmeier tossed a touchdown pass to Grant. The score gave LSU a 35-31 lead with just over three minutes remaining.

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