USC’s Helton fires 4 assistants, including Wilcox

As a result, the Seminoles are headed to the Peach Bowl, where they will meet Houston, champions of the American Conference, after their 24-13 win over Temple.

Stanford got runner-up billing itself, finishing No. 6 in the CFP standings and the No. 5 Hawkeyes, the match-up of playoff-caliber teams that didn’t actually go to the playoff. It might not have been a Big Ten championship campaign, but 10-3 is a nice consolation prize – especially if there’s an actual win of note to finish it all up.

“We got some hurt kids in that locker room, they gave a tremendous effort to get to this point”, said Helton. McCaffrey also threw an 11-yard TD pass to QB Kevin Hogan as the Cardinal pulled away for a 41-22 victory over USC and a Rose Bowl berth. “He caught the ball, he ran the ball… he did everything”.

“It takes time”, USC linebacker Su’a Cravens said. “He’s just a special guy”. “In my opinion, he should win the Heisman”. USC had no answer for McCaffrey and the Cardinal kept feeding him the ball, watching him run through not only USC’s defense but also to the top of Heisman voting. Stanford allowed just three USC first downs before halftime. “It’s an extremely exciting feat for me”. Do you know anything?’ And I said, ‘Honestly, coach, you couldn’t say anything bad about him.’ He’s going to come up to you, no matter who you are, and he’s going to be respectful. I love this team. Sure-handed receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster has 74 receptions for 1,302 yards and 10 touchdowns for USC (8-4). Haden announced the move during a team meeting and the reaction from the USC players is priceless.

But there were powerful forces at work outside of records, not the least of which is the first Holy War game at a bowl game which will cut through national story lines and likely draw a lot of eyeballs to ABC on December 19.

Former USC quarterback Carson Palmer lost a bet. Then things started going downhill when they lost running back Devontae Booker for the year and finished 9-3. “If not, we’ll go to Pasadena and have a great time”. “I think it’s good for college football the way it is right now”. “But our defense bailed us out”.

As it stands, the new record for the most all-purpose yards in a single season is now 3,496. LeMichael James previously held he record with 288 yards.

Blake Martinez, playing with a bum ankle, then sacked Kessler and caused a fumble on the next possession that Thomas scooped up and ran in for the score that made it 27-16.

Shaw, the son of longtime college football and NFL assistant coach Willie Shaw, has won three Pac-12 titles in his five years. The NCAA made the decision last week that 5-7 teams should be selected according to the Academic Progress Rate (APR) in 2013-14.

Third play: USC pulled back to within five points midway through the fourth quarter when McCaffery found himself wide open across the middle again, this time carrying the Hogan pass into the end zone for a 28-yard score that essentially clinched it.

It didn’t take long for Stanford to reclaim the lead.

“That’s a huge honor…That’s a guy I grew up with posters of on my wall”, McCaffrey said of Sanders. “I can’t talk enough about the O-line and the holes, especially in the first half”. “I know (Sanders) did it in a couple less games (11)”.