Mims helps Fresno State beat UTEP 31-24 in New Mexico Bowl

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Jordan Mims ran for 165 yards and two touchdown and caught five passes for 71 yards and another score to help Fresno State beat UTEP 31-24 on Saturday in the New Mexico Bowl. Fresno State (10-3) won the bowl game for the first time in three tries. Jake Haener was 26 of 41 for 286 yards and a touchdown. His status had been somewhat in doubt when he briefly entered the transfer portal after coach Kalen DeBoer took the job at Washington. Mims’ 22-yard catch and run late in third quarter gave the Bulldogs a 26-17 lead. The Miners (7-6) pulled to 26-24 early in the fourth quarter on Calvin Brownholtz’s 51-yard touchdown pass to Trent Thompson. But Fresno State got a field goal, followed by a UTEP safety, before the Bulldogs ran out the clock. UTEP’s Gavin Hardison threw for 252 yards and a touchdown. BOCA RATON BOWL WESTERN KENTUCKY 59, APPALACHIAN STATE 38 BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) – Bailey Zappe capped his record-setting season by passing for 422 yards and six touchdowns and Western Kentucky handed Appalachian State its first bowl loss, beating the Mountaineers in the Boca Raton Bowl. Zappe finished the season with 5,977 yards and 62 touchdowns for the Hilltoppers (9-5). He topped the previous marks of 5,833 yards set by Texas Tech’s B.J. Symons in 2003 and 60 touchdowns set by LSU’s Joe Burrow in the Tigers’ run to the national championship in the 2019 season. Jerreth Sterns caught 13 passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns, finishing his season with 150 catches for 1,902 yards. Mitchell Tinsley had two TD catches for the Hilltoppers and Noah Whittington needed only seven carries to rush for 150 yards – 86 of those on a third-quarter scoring run. Chase Brice passed for 317 yards and four touchdowns for Appalachian State (10-4) before leaving in the fourth quarter with a right leg injury. It was the first loss in seven bowl games for the Mountaineers. CELEBRATION BOWL SOUTH CAROLINA STATE 31, JACKSON STATE 10 ATLANTA (AP) – Cory Fields threw for four touchdowns, three to Shaquan Davis, to lead South Carolina State past Jackson State in the Celebration Bowl in a game considered to be the national championship of historically Black colleges and universities. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion South Carolina State (7-5) topped the HBCUs for the first time since 2009. Southwestern Athletic Conference winner Jackson State (11-2) hasn’t won the title since 1996.