December 2005 in Sports - 30 December 2005 (Friday)

30 December 2005 (Friday)

• NFL
  • The league and the New Orleans Saints announced that the franchise will return to the state of Louisiana for the 2006 NFL Season.
  • Tony Dungy will return to coach the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday (January 1, 2006) against the Arizona Cardinals a week after his son's death.

• NCAA College Football
  • Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl presented by Bridgestone: Virginia 34, Minnesota 31: The ACC Cavaliers, the replacement for the SEC who didn't field enough teams who had six wins, needed a 39-yard field goal by Connor Hughes with 1:08 left to beat the Big Ten's Golden Gophers at The Coliseum in Nashville.
  • Vitalis Sun Bowl: UCLA 50, Northwestern 38: In the sole Big Ten-Pac 10 matchup this bowl season, the Bruins defeated the Wildcats thanks to two on-side kick returns for touchdowns by Brandon Breazell and three touchdown passes by Drew Olson after he had a bad first quarter, throwing three interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns in an anomaly, considering that Olson threw a total of three pickoffs in the regular season.
  • Independence Bowl: Missouri 38, South Carolina 31: The Big 12 Tigers roared back from a 28–7 deficit thanks to four Brad Smith touchdowns to beat the SEC Gamecocks in Shreveport, Louisiana.
  • Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: LSU 40, Miami (FL) 3: The ACC's Hurricanes scored the first three points, but the SEC's Bayou Bengals scored the final forty points thanks to 282 yards rushing in the last game using the "Peach Bowl" name, as beginning next year, the game becomes the "Chick-fil-A Bowl." The post-game was marred by a fight between players from both sides.

• Cricket
  • South Africa in Australia: At Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia (355 & 321–7d) completed their 184-run victory in the second Test against South Africa (311 & 181) just after lunch. (Cricinfo)