SAN ANTONIO – With Penn State down two touchdowns early, victory for Joe Paterno in his 500th game looked bleak.

Paterno said his confidence never wavered, and the Nittany Lions ended the Alamo Bowl like most of Paterno’s 499 other games: with a Penn State win.

Evan Royster broke a tie with a 38-yard touchdown run, Deon Butler caught a debatable 30-yard TD pass and Penn State erased an early two-touchdown deficit to beat Texas A&M; 24-17 on Dec 29, 2007 at the Alamo Bowl.

Paterno, college football’s leader in bowl appearances (34), led the Nittany Lions (9-4) in a thriller that brought him his record 23rd postseason win.

“When you’re down 14-0, you don’t feel great,” Paterno said. “I knew we had work ahead of us, but I knew we could get it done.”

Penn State’s Rodney Kinlaw ran for 143 yards on 21 carries and Royster finished with 65 on nine carries.

It looked rough early for Penn State after falling behind 14-0 on two touchdown runs in a 12-second span in the first quarter by A&M;’s Mike Goodson. A sea of maroon-clad fans that made up most of the record crowd of 66,166 at the Alamodome roared its approval in hopes of ending a distraction-filled season on a high note.

It wasn’t to be, and the Nittany Lions rallied for their ninth win in the their last 11 bowl games. It was Penn State’s largest win.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Lloyd Carr’s players surrounded him on the sideline, started jumping up and down, waving their helmets and screaming his name.

Carr laughed through the whole thing.

It was one of the many memories he’ll cherish from his final game at Michigan.

Chad Henne threw for a career-high 373 yards and three touchdowns, Mike Hart ran for 129 yards and two scores and the Wolverines upset No. 9 Florida 41-35 on Jan. 1 in the Capital One Bowl to send Carr out a winner.

Michigan’s senior class won its first bowl game in four tries and Carr ended his coaching career on a high note.

“It was an amazing feeling for us to send him out the right way,” said Henne, who completed 25 of 39 passes.

Henne, Adrian Arrington and Mario Manningham torched Florida’s secondary all game. Arrington caught nine passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns and Manningham added five catches for 78 yards and a score.

Playing with a broken bone in his non-throwing hand and facing constant blitzes, Tim Tebow was 17-of-33 for 154 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for 57 yards and a score.

The Gators, using a fake punt, tied the game at 28 following Hart’s second fumble. They capitalized on Henne’s second interception and took a 35-31 lead with 5:49 to play.

NEW ORLEANS – Les Miles unleashed an ear-piercing whoop, then leaned back and exhaled as if he had been holding his breath all night.

“I just had to do that,” the LSU coach said.

Easy for him to say, now that he has the BCS national championship trophy.

The second-ranked Tigers danced, dodged and darted their way into the end zone on Jan. 7 for a 38-24 victory, turning the title game into a horrible replay for No. 1 Ohio State.

They made it look easy with Matt Flynn throwing four touchdown passes.

In a season of surprises, this was hardly an upset: Ohio State once again fell apart in college football’s biggest game. A year after the Buckeyes were routed by Florida 41-14, they barely did better.

But this was unprecedented. Playing at their home-away-from-home in the Big Easy, the Tigers (12-2) became the first two-loss team to compete for the title.

Shouts of “SEC! SEC!” bounced around the Superdome as the Tigers won their second BCS crown in five seasons.

“My team is the No. 1 team in the land,” said All-American defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, who passed up the NFL draft to return for his senior season.

LSU rallied from an early 10-0 deficit, taking a 24-10 halftime lead that held up.

Ohio State (11-2) had little to celebrate.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan was the last player to leave the Citrus Bowl, signing autographs, shaking hands and even posing for some pictures.

He didn’t want it to end.

Ryan capped his college career with three touchdown passes and a 24-21 win over Michigan State in the Champs Sports Bowl on Dec. 28, 2007, a victory that made coach Jeff Jagodzinski’s first season one of the best in school history.

The Eagles (11-3) extended the nation’s longest bowl winning streak to eight and won 11 games for the first time since 1940.

Ryan completed 22 of 47 passes for 249 yards. All-American safety Jamie Silva had two interceptions, including one in the end zone, and was the game’s most valuable player.

The game was close – not surprising since Michigan State has played so many tight ones this season – thanks mostly to Ryan’s fumble.

Leading 24-13 in the fourth, Ryan fumbled as he was sacked by Greg Jones. Oren Wilson recovered at the Boston College 37.

Brian Hoyer took advantage of the good field position, rolling right, releasing the ball just before he stepped out of bounds and finding Deon Curry open in the back of the end zone. The Spartans also made the 2-point conversion, cutting the lead to 24-21 with 6:04 remaining.

State got the ball back twice.

DETROIT – Curtis Painter and Dan LeFevour combined for another show.

This time, more people were watching.

Painter threw 546 yards for a school-record, three touchdown passes and set up Chris Summers’ 40-yard kick as time expired in the Motor City Bowl to give Purdue a 51-48 win over Central Michigan on Dec 26, 2007.

LeFevour threw for 292 yards and four scores and ran for 114 yards and two TDs, feeding off the energy from the pro-Chippewa crowd of 60,624 that created more noise than most Detroit Lions games in the same venue.

The 99 points tied the second-highest total in a bowl game that ended in regulation, trailing only the 2003 Insight Bowl where California beat Virginia Tech 52-49.

“It’s big for us to get a win here after losing our last three games,” said Painter, whose passing total ranked third in a bowl game. “It feels good to get all of the statistics, but the best statistic is in the win column.”

Purdue receivers Greg Orton, Jake Standeford and Dustin Keller had at least 112 yards receiving apiece.

Painter, who broke the Purdue yardage mark shared by Drew Brees and Kyle Orton, was 4-for-5 for 42 yards on the winning drive.

“It was a heck of a college football game and it might go down as one of the best bowls,” Central Michigan coach Butch Jones said.

TEMPE, Ariz. – Back in September, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy made headlines by ranting “I’m a man!”

But Zac Robinson is the man for the Cowboys.

Robinson threw three touchdown passes and ran for two more scores, leading Oklahoma State to a 49-33 Insight Bowl victory over Indiana on Dec. 31, 2007. A sophomore making his 11th college start, Robinson piloted a near-flawless attack in the first half as the Cowboys scored touchdowns on their first five possessions.

“In our preparation, we knew what they were going to line up in pretty much every time,” Robinson said. “It was just executing and not turning the ball over.”

Robinson completed 24 of 34 passes for 302 yards, and threw an interception. Robinson also ran for 70 yards.

Dantrell Savage ran for 100 yards and a touchdown for the Cowboys (7-6, 4-4 Big 12), who matched their season-high point total. Dez Bryant caught nine passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns.

The loss capped an emotional year for the Hoosiers (7-6, 3-5 Big Ten), whose coach, Terry Hoeppner, died of complications of a brain tumor in June. Kellen Lewis passed for 204 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 83 yards and another touchdown for the Hoosiers in their first postseason appearance since 1993.