Liberty Bowl

Arkansas 20, East Carolina 17, OT

Memphis, Tenn. — Alex Tejada kicked the ball through the uprights, turned around and ran toward the opposite end of the field. His Arkansas teammates chased him all the way to the end zone amid a wild scene of celebration and relief.

Tejada’s 37-yard field goal in overtime gave Arkansas a victory in the Liberty Bowl on Saturday night after East Carolina’s Ben Hartman missed two field-goal attempts late in regulation and another in the extra session. Tejada, who missed an overtime kick in a loss to LSU to end the regular season, redeemed himself by helping the Razorbacks overcome the upset-minded Pirates.

“I was pretty confident,” Tejada said. “I felt like the wind was blowing really favorably that way, so going into overtime I felt good about our chances to win the game. Once I stepped up, I had all the confidence that it was going to go through.”

Papajohns.com Bowl

Connecticut 20, South Carolina 7

Birmingham, Ala. — Andre Dixon rushed for 126 yards and a touchdown, and resilient Connecticut ended a trying season with a victory over South Carolina.

The Huskies (8-5) are 3-1 in bowl games since moving up to Div. I-A (now FBS) in 2002. They won their final three regular-season games and overcame the October death of cornerback Jasper Howard to reach a bowl.

UConn made the most of the trip. The nation’s 95th-rated pass defense throttled South Carolina (7-6) and quarterback Stephen Garcia while relying on Dixon’s 33 carries to control the ball.

Dixon was the Most Valuable Player and joined teammate Jordan Todman as 1,000-yard rushers, the first time two UConn backs have surpassed that mark in the same season.

Garcia completed just 16 of 38 passes for 129 yards while gaining 56 yards on 15 carries. He lost a fumble and was intercepted once.

International Bowl

S. Florida 27, N. Illinois 3

Toronto — Mike Ford ran for a career-high 207 yards and scored one touchdown, B.J. Daniels threw two scoring passes to A.J. Love, and South Florida beat Northern Illinois.

Carlton Mitchell caught six passes for 94 yards for the Bulls, who won back-to-back bowls for the first time.