Dec 28, 2017 4 min read

Backup quarterback Zach Abey scored five touchdowns, Malcolm Perry ran for 114 yards and two scores and Navy beat Virginia 49-7 in a surprisingly lopsided Military Bowl Thursday.

After Virginia’s Joe Reed took the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, the Midshipmen (7-6) got two TDs apiece from quarterbacks Perry and Abey in taking a 28-7 halftime lead.

Perry left in the third quarter with a foot injury, leaving Abey to score on runs of 5 and 20 yards to make it 42-7 in a game Navy entered as a 1½-point favorite.

Abey added a 1-yard touchdown with 11:11 remaining, then sat for the remainder of the game.

The Midshipmen rolled up a Military Bowl-record 452 yards rushing, including 101 by Chris High and 88 by Abey, who began the season as the starter before losing the job.

Playing in their first bowl since 2011, the Cavaliers (6-7) could not contain Navy’s triple option and had no success moving the ball.

Oklahoma State 30, Virginia Tech 21: Mason Rudolph threw for 351 yards and a pair of touchdowns, James Washington became Oklahoma State’s career receiving yards leader and the 17th-ranked Cowboys beat No. 22 Virginia Tech 30-21 in the Camping World Bowl.

Washington caught five passes for 126 yards, giving him 4,472 for his career and passing Rashaun Woods for the school mark. Justice Hill ran for 120 yards and another score for the Cowboys (10-3), who have won 10 games in each of the last three seasons – another Oklahoma State first.

Josh Jackson ran for two scores and threw for another for the Hokies (9-4), including a rush that got Virginia Tech within 27-21 with 5:40 remaining. Deshawn McClease ran for 124 yards, a Virginia Tech season-best, but the Hokies were hurt by two turnovers in Oklahoma State territory.

Cotton has Rosy look: Coach Urban Meyer could have easily stoked a debate about expanding the four-team College Football Playoff after his Buckeyes were the first team left out this season.

Instead, he focused – as much as he could – on the Cotton Bowl matchup Friday night against Southern California, another conference champion.

“We’re on the outside looking in twice. We’re in the playoff twice, and twice we’re right on the edge of not being in it. If they extended the playoff … but I don’t see that happening,” Meyer said Thursday. “College football is just hitting on all cylinders right now, so I don’t know how much I’d change.”

The Big Ten-winning Buckeyes won the first championship in the four-team CFP era three years ago. That game was at AT&T Stadium, where Ohio State (11-2) returns Friday night to play Pac-12 champion and No. 8 Southern California (11-2) in the second Cotton Bowl for both teams.

USC coach Clay Helton mostly agreed with Meyer after initially deferring to Ohio State’s coach with CFP experience to first answer the question posed about if it was time to consider an eight-team playoff.

“The playoff system has been great for our game,” Helton said. “You’re talking about two teams that were in that controversy and in that discussion right down to the end, and have the ability to have this game against two really premier teams in the country. That’s what you focus on.”

Had the Rose Bowl not been a CFP semifinal this season, the Trojans and Buckeyes almost certainly would have been spending this week in Pasadena, Calif. The Rose Bowl traditionally hosts the Big Ten and Pac-12 champions, but this year will host Oklahoma and Georgia for a bid in the Jan. 8 title game.

Instead, the two powerhouse programs with more than 1,700 wins combined meet in another traditional bowl. The Cotton Bowl is being played for the 82nd time, the ninth since moving from its namesake stadium to the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

This is the eighth time Ohio State and USC have played in a bowl game. The first seven were all in the Rose Bowl, the last coming 33 years ago.

“This is just a classic, classic matchup on every level,” Helton said, mentioning the schools, teams and bands. “I think it’s great for college football for this to be able to happen and to happen right here in the Cotton Bowl.”