Kentucky’s Lynn Bowden Jr.Nell Redmond/Associated Press
Through the first 25 bowl games, there weren’t many box-score heroes as far as rushing is concerned. Heading into New Year’s Eve, Penn State’s Journey Brown (202 yards) was the leading rusher and the only player with at least 180 yards in a game.
By the time the ball dropped in NYC, though, Brown had fallen into fourth place thanks to Lynn Bowden Jr., Malcolm Perry and Xazavian Valladay.
After a knee injury to Terry Wilson and a few games of ineffectiveness from Sawyer Smith, Bowdenpreviously a wide receiver and a return specialistbecame Kentucky’s full-time “quarterback” in mid-October. But aside from Georgia (with some help from a torrential downpour), no one could figure out how to slow him down. Bowden averaged 162.3 rushing yards and had a combined 13 rushing and passing touchdowns over his final seven regular-season games.
He saved his best for last, responding to a pregame scuffle with 233 rushing yards, 73 passing yards and three touchdowns in a 37-30 Belk Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. Not only was he great, but he was also clutch, leading the Wildcats on an 18-play, eight-minute, game-winning drive that included a nine-yard completion on 4th-and-7, a two-yard run on 4th-and-1 and a 13-yard touchdown pass with 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
As that game was wrapping up in Charlotte, North Carolina, another rushing quarterback began doing his thing in Memphis.
Navy’s Malcolm Perry needed 196 yards to become the first quarterback in FBS history with at least 2,000 rushing yards in a single season, and he got there shortly after a 59-yard scamper early in the fourth quarter. He ended up with 213 yards on the ground as well as 57 through the air with a touchdown.
Even though Perry had more rushing yards than Kansas State had yards of total offense (170), the Midshipmen needed some late trickery to win the Liberty Bowl. Facing 4th-and-3 around midfield in a tie game with less than a minute remaining, Perry pitched the ball to CJ Williams on a sweep. Williams stopped and attempted just the fourth pass of his career, connecting with Chance Warren for a 41-yard gain to set up the game-winning chip shot.
Last but not least, Xazavian Valladay had a field day in Wyoming’s 38-17 Arizona Bowl victory over Georgia State.
The sophomore didn’t become the featured back for the Cowboys until after both Trey Smith (ankle) and Titus Swen (knee) suffered what ended up being season-ending injuries, but Halladay was a freight train in the second half of the season, averaging 127 rushing yards over Wyoming’s final six regular-season games.
Fittingly, he was unstoppable in the second half of this game. At halftime, he had 15 carries for 57 yards with one eight-yard catch. But he would add a 63-yard reception, a 62-yard run and a 55-yard run on his way to finishing the night with 204 rushing yards, 91 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns, leading all players in the game in all three categories.