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SAN
ANTONIO (AP) - No. 15 Baylor pulled out a thrilling Alamo Bowl victory
in the highest-scoring bowl game in history, beating Washington 67-56 in
a record-smashing shootout Thursday night.
If this was RG3's final showcase before jumping to the NFL, it was a
gripping goodbye to watch. One of the nation's most electrifying players
was upstaged by an even more exciting game that shattering the previous
record for points in regulation set in the 2001 GMAC Bowl.
Griffin had an unremarkable night, throwing just one touchdown pass and
running for another (video). But Terrance Ganaway starred ably in his place,
rushing for 200 yards and five touchdowns.
His last was a 43-yard run with 2:28 left to seal Baylor's first 10-win
season since 1980 (video).
Griffin wasn't the star, but a crowd overwhelmingly in favor of Baylor
that was left breathless by five lead changes and three touchdown plays
of 50 yards or longer still treated him like one.
"One more year! One more year!" fans chanted as Griffin darted around
the field in celebration.
Asked when he'll make his decision on whether to forgo his senior year,
the AP Player of the Year said, "Pretty soon here, probably."
The previous bowl record for a regulation game was 102 total points set
in the 2001 GMAC Bowl between Marshall and East Carolina. That game went
to double overtime and ended with a combined 125 points - which still
stands as the overall bowl record.
Baylor and Washington (7-6) also set a bowl record for total offense in
a game with 1,377 yards.
Washington quarterback Keith Price outplayed his Heisman counterpart,
going 23 for 27 with 438 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for
another three scores (video).
Griffin was 24 of 33 for 295 yards - and his only touchdown throw came
on the game's opening drive.
Blown out in four other games against ranked opponents this season, the
Huskies finally made one interesting. Not that it started that way after
Baylor ran up 245 yards of offense alone in the first quarter - awful
even by the standards of Washington's defense, which is among the
nation's worst.
Then the most award-winning QB in the country suddenly stopped looking
like even the best one in the Alamodome.
Price, a sophomore who threw a school-record 29 touchdowns in his first
year as the starter, began cutting into a 21-7 deficit with a 12-yard
scoring strike to James Johnson. Seven minutes later he tied the game
when Devin Aguilar somersaulted over the goal line after catching a
1-yard lob.
The overwhelming crowd of Baylor fans - decked in green-and-gold Heisman
shirts and armed with signs such as "Superman wears RG3 socks" - stood
in stunned silenced. That gave way to disbelieving gasps on the next
series, when the typically sure-handed Griffin fumbled after getting
popped by Andrew Hudson.
After that, it was practically a free-for-all of big plays.
A 56-yard touchdown dash by Polk (video). An 80-yard touchdown catch by
Washington's Jermaine Kearse two plays into the second half (video). An 89-yard
scoring rumble by Baylor's Terrance Ganaway (video). Kearse again, catching and
darting for 60 yards before getting dragged down, setting up Price's
fourth touchdown toss the next play.
Back and forth, back and forth. One after another. In all, five plays
covered 50 or more yards, three of them for scores.
For an Alamo Bowl short on drama and light on matchups in recent years,
it was a thrilling scoring spree that overshadowed the mere novelty of
featuring the Heisman winner. And that in itself was a rarity for a bowl
of this stature: Not since Ty Detmer took BYU to the Holiday Bowl in
1990 had a Heisman winner played in a bowl before New Year's Day.
Plenty came to see this one.
Anticipating a surge of Heisman gawkers, Alamo Bowl officials added 800
temporary seats and opened up others with obstructed views that required
ticket-buyers to sign a form acknowledging the poor sightlines. Those
seats sold, anyway, and the announced attendance of 65,256 was the
fifth-largest in the bowl's history.
Others had better seats.
That includes Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland, who kicked
for Baylor in the late 1980s but was here on business scouting Griffin
in case the fourth-year junior enters the draft. Griffin's parents, two
sisters and fiancee watched the nail-biter with front-row seats.
Griffin acknowledged this week his parents are looking at his draft
prospects but denies having any substantial talks with them.
Win or lose, it was an impressive finale for Washington after stumbling
into the postseason losing four of its last six. Particularly against a
ranked team after then-Top 25 opponents Nebraska, Stanford, Oregon and
USC all crushed the Huskies by an average of 24 points.
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Attendance: 65,256
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
BU-
Wright 11 yard pass from Griffin III (Jones kick)
UW- Price 5 run (Folk kick)
BU-
Salubi 36 run (Jones kick)
BU- Griffin III 24 run (Jones kick)
Second
Quarter
UW- Johnson 12 yard pass from Price (Folk kick)
UW- Aguilar 1 yard pass from Price (Folk kick)
UW- Price 15 run (Folk kick)
UW- Polk 56 run (Folk kick)
BU- FG Jones 42
Third
Quarter
UW- Kearse 80 yard pass from Price (Folk kick)
BU- Salubi 7 run (Jones kick)
BU- Ganaway 89 run (Monk pass from Griffin III)
UW-
Aguilar 13 yard pass from Price (Folk kick)
BU- Ganaway 1 run (Jones kick)
BU- Ganaway 1 run (Jones kick)
Fourth
Quarter
UW- Price 8 run (Folk kick)
BU- Ganaway 4 run (Jones kick)
BU- Ganaway 43 run (Jones kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
UW-Polk 30-156, Price 5-39
BU- Ganaway 21-200, Reese 2-101, Salubi 5-101, Griffin III 18-74, Wright
4-28
Passing
UW-
Price 23-37-438
BU- Griffin III 24-33-295
Receiving
UW- Kearse 5-198, Aguilar 5-90, Seferian-Jenkins 5-59, Williams 3-19,
Johnson 2-36, Polk 2-8, Callier 1-28
BU- Wright 7-91, Williams 6-62, Reese 5-66, Sampson 3-25, Norwood 1-23,
Monk 1-15, Salubi 1-13
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