Notre Dame beats Miami in Sun Bowl

| January 1, 2011 8:00 PM

• SUN BOWL

Freshman Tommy Rees passed for 201 yards and two touchdowns to Michael Floyd as Notre Dame (8-5) beat Miami 33-17 in the Sun Bowl on Friday in El Paso, Texas, making Brian Kelly the first Fighting Irish coach to win a bowl game in his first season.

The Hurricanes (7-6) trailed 30-3 going into the fourth quarter.

Notre Dame reached the end zone on three of its first four possessions. Rees tossed TD passes of 3 and 34 yards to Floyd and Cierre Wood broke free on a 34-yard scoring run before David Ruffer added field goals from 40, 50 and 19 yards.

The Irish closed with four victories to cap an up-and-down season under Kelly. After a 1-3 start, they endured the death of the team's student videographer and the loss of quarterback Dayne Crist to a season-ending injury during a stunning 28-27 loss to Tulsa in South Bend, Ind.

• MEINEKE BOWL

South Florida 31, Clemson 26: B.J. Daniels threw two touchdowns passes and ran for a third and South Florida (8-5) finished coach Skip Holtz's first season with a victory over Clemson (7-6) in Charlotte, N.C.

Mo Plancher also ran for a score for the Bulls, who took control after Tigers quarterback Kyle Parker left at halftime with broken ribs. South Florida secured its fifth straight eight-win season and earned its first bowl win over a team from a BCS automatic-qualifying league.

• LIBERTY BOWL

Central Florida 10, Georgia 6: At Memphis, Tenn., Latavius Murray scored on a 10-yard touchdown run with 9:01 left, and Central Florida (11-3) held on to beat Georgia (6-7) and cap the best season in school history with the program's first postseason victory.

The Knights had never won more than 10 games in a season and had lost their first three bowl games, including their last visit here in 2007. The Conference USA champs made this win even sweeter by knocking off a Southeastern Conference team in the process.

• CHICK-FIL-A BOWL

No. 23 Florida State 26, No. 19 South Carolina 17: At Atlanta, EJ Manuel threw a fourth-quarter touchdown pass to stop a South Carolina (9-5) rally and lead Florida State (10-4) over the turnover-plagued Gamecocks.

Chris Thompson ran for 147 yards and a touchdown and Dustin Hopkins kicked four field goals for the Seminoles, who reached 10 wins for the first time since 2003.

Manuel took over for senior quarterback Christian Ponder, who left early in the second quarter with a concussion.