After a one-day pause, college football‘s bowl season resumes 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 kick off, three other bowl games will continue the tradition of bowl season on New Year’s Day.
First, Wisconsin (7-5) battles No. 17 LSU (9-3) in the Reliaquest Bowl. The Tigers won’t have Heisman winner Jayden Daniels for their bowl game as the quarterback is preparing for the NFL Draft.
An hour after the Reliaquest Bowl begins, two more games kick off. No. 23 Liberty (13-0) and No. 8 Oregon (11-2) meet in the Fiesta Bowl, the final non-College Football Playoff New Year’s Six bowl game. The Ducks will have Bo Nix on the field one last time for Monday’s game. Elsewhere, No. 17 Iowa (10-3) meets No. 21 Tennessee (8-4) in the Citrus Bowl.
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Here are the top plays from Monday’s early slate of games!
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.
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.
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.
