USC throttles Penn St.

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Southern California made a strong case of its own to be No. 1.

JoePa certainly recognized what a talented team the Trojans were — and that was before they beat up Penn State in the Rose Bowl.

Mark Sanchez passed for 413 yards and four touchdowns, USC dominated on defense and the fifth-ranked Trojans defeated the No. 6 Nittany Lions 38-24 Thursday.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno watched from the press box, where he’s been for most of the season because of hip problems. He couldn’t have liked what he saw.

Out of the BCS championship mix, the Trojans could only wonder what might have been had they not lost at Oregon State 27-21 on Sept. 25.

“With all due respect, those are two great programs, I don’t think anybody can beat the Trojans,” USC coach Pete Carroll said. “I just think we can beat anyone we played. That’s happened a lot to us late in the season. This is a terrific finishing program. There are so many things we can do. We’re just hard to beat right now.

Capital One Bowl No. 16 Georgia 24, No. 19 Michigan State 12

ORLANDO, Fla. — Matthew Stafford threw three touchdown passes in the second half, hitting Knowshown Moreno for the clinching score to lead No. 16 Georgia past No. 19 Michigan State 24-12.

Stafford was just 6-for-14 and an interception in the first half. After that, he looked more like the quarterback that NFL teams covet — if he decides to pass up his senior season — in going 14-for-17 and the three scores in a span of 18 minutes.

Gator Bowl Nebraska 26, Clemson 21

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Joe Ganz threw for two touchdowns, Alex Henery kicked four field goals and Nebraska beat Clemson.

Nebraska (9-4) ended the season with a four-game winning streak, including a victory against Colorado.

Outback Bowl Iowa 31, South Carolina 10

TAMPA, Fla. — Shonn Greene rushed for 121 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Hawkeyes trounce South Carolina.

Greene, who sat out the 2007 season because of academic problems, ran for more than 100 yards in all 13 of Iowa’s games and scored in all but one. He finished with school single-season records of 1,850 yards and 20 TDs.

Sun Bowl No. 24 Oregon State 3, No. 18 Pittsburgh 0

EL PASO, Texas — In the lowest-scoring major bowl game in a half-century, No. 24 Oregon State beat No. 18 Pittsburgh 3-0 in the Sun Bowl on Justin Kahut’s 44-yard field goal late in the first half Wednesday.

The defensive struggle included 20 punts and 10 sacks. Pitt kicker Connor Lee tried a 58-yard field goal in the closing minutes but the ball, helped by a steady wind, dropped just short of the crossbar.

Chick-fil-A Bowl LSU 38, No. 14 Georgia Tech 3

ATLANTA — Charles Scott ran for three touchdowns and LSU took advantage of Georgia Tech’s special teams mistakes in a surprisingly easy victory.

LSU outscored the No. 14 Yellow Jackets 28-0 in the second quarter and led 35-3 at halftime. Scott, who had 65 yards rushing, had two touchdowns in the decisive quarter.

Music City Bowl Vanderbilt 16, Boston College 14

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt won a bowl game for the first time in exactly 53 years, beating Boston College on Bryant Hahnfeldt’s 45-yard field goal with 3:26 left.

Vanderbilt hadn’t even played in a bowl since 1982 and the win gave the Commodores (7-6) their first winning season since then, too.

Armed Forces Bowl Houston 34, Air Force 28

FORT WORTH, Texas — Case Keenum ran for two touchdowns and threw for another score and Houston (8-5) wrapped up Kevin Sumlin’s first season by beating Air Force (8-5) for its first bowl win since 1980.

Houston ended an eight-game bowl losing streak, avoiding a record the Cougars didn’t want to share with Notre Dame. The Irish won the Hawaii Bowl last week to end an NCAA-record bowl losing streak at nine.

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