Thompson finished 19 for 34, gaining 265 yards. He threw two touchdowns and only one interception. All told, this was by far his best performance of the year. Not bad for a quarterback who was expected to be a wide receiver during spring practice.
His counterpart, Zac Taylor, did not have as great a day. Taylor threw three interceptions, which were just the beginning of the issues for Nebraska who had 5 turnovers, a title game record.
The game was also record setting for a few players. Malcolm Kelly, who caught both touchdowns for Oklahoma, had 142 yards receiving, breaking the title game record. The Nebraska punter also set a record. Dan Titchener hit 6 punts inside the 20, a testament to how poor the offense was for the Cornhuskers, but also a lesson in great kicking.
With the victory, Oklahoma will go on the Fiesta Bowl to play Boise State. Nebraska gets a trip to the Cotton Bowl to face the Auburn Tigers.
Conference USA
It was well worth the wait for the Houston Cougars.
Kevin Kolb threw for two scores and ran for another to lead his team to its first Conference USA championship since 1996 with a 34-20 win over Southern Miss. Senior Brian Ealy was the benefactor of Kolb's touchdown passes as the Cougars put up 448 yards of total offense.
The 34 points tied Florida for the second most points scored against CUSA's stingiest defense all year. Only Virginia Tech (36) had more.
The Cougars (10-3) will take a six game winning streak to the Liberty Bowl against South Carolina from the SEC in a game that should be full of scoring. The Golden Eagles (8-5), who beat Houston in the regular season, will play MAC runner-up Ohio in the GMAC Bowl.
Three other teams from the conference are also headed to the post season. Rice will meet Troy in the New Orleans Bowl, East Carolina plays South Florida in the Papajohns.com Bowl and Tulsa will face Utah in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Mid-American
Central Michigan and Ohio has been TiVo-blogged.
Pac-10
In many ways, the Pac-10 season ended like it has every year for the past five - with USC on top. However, that is pretty much the only familiar outcome that remained intact on Saturday, as UCLA ended an eight seven-game losing streak against their crosstown rival by pulling off a stunning 13-9 upset over the mighty Trojans.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
"UCLA ended an eight-game losing streak against their crosstown rival"
Seven, 1999-2005.
2 - M.D. Sandwasher
The Pac-10 proved to be pretty PACthetic this year.
3 - Sammy
I don't know. The PAC 10 had some sexy developments. For example, check this out: