December 2005 in Sports - 31 December 2005 (Saturday)

31 December 2005 (Saturday)

• NFL Week 17
  • Denver Broncos 23, San Diego Chargers 7: Tatum Bell scored three touchdowns for the Broncos, but could muster only 52 yards, leaving him short of a 1,000 yard season, missing out on joining teammate Mike Anderson.
  • New York Giants 30, Oakland Raiders 21: Tiki Barber had a 95-yard touchdown run, the longest in Giant history; Plaxico Burress caught a 78-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning; and the Giants won the NFC East title, ending the four-year reign of the Philadelphia Eagles, and also clinched a playoff berth for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the process.
• NCAA College Football
  • Meineke Car Care Bowl: NC State 14, South Florida 0: The ACC's Wolfpack shuts out the Big East's Bulls for the first time since the USF program began in 1997.
  • AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Tulsa 31, Fresno State 24: Golden Hurricane QB Paul Smith scored the winning touchdown for the C-USA champions over the WAC Bulldogs.
  • EV1.net Houston Bowl: TCU 27, Iowa State 24: Peter LoCoco's 44-yard field goal was the margin of victory for the MWC Champion Horned Frogs in their win over the Cyclones, who were the Big 12 representatives. On January 3, 2006, three days after their triumph in Houston, TCU's freshman kicker, Kasey Davis, is found shot to death in the parking lot of an apartment complex.
• NCAA College Basketball
  • (21) Ohio State 78, LSU 76: In, what is called by same, the best comeback of the year thus far, the Buckeyes keeps their perfect record intact going to 10–0. The disappointing loss for the Tigers sends them to 7–4. The winning shot was taken by Matt Sylvester, who also made the shot in March of last year that ended Illinois' bid for a perfect season. Ohio State trailed by 15 points with just over 5½ minutes left and was down by 10 with 2½ minutes to go, but managed to come back and get the win. They are one of eight undefeated teams left.
  • Arizona 96, (7) Washington 95 (2 OT): Unranked traditional powerhouse Arizona pulls off a gutsy win in a Pac-10 thriller that lasted 50 minutes, two overtimes. With 5.1 seconds to go Kirk Walters made a free throw to give Arizona the lead. It ended Washington's best start to a season since 1975 and also ended the longest current home-winning streak, at 32 games. The new leader is Gonzaga at 30. Washington is another undefeated team to fall, as they go to 11–1. Arizona improves to 9–3, and 2–0 in the Pac-10.
  • (14) Oklahoma 68, Alabama 56: The Crimson Tide lose yet another chance to beat a ranked team as they fall to the Sooners and Kevin Bookout's 18 points and 8 rebounds. They were bouncing back from an upset loss to West Virginia the previous week, and now move to 8–2, likely holding on to their top 15 spot, if not moving up. Alabama's season has been disappointing to say the least, as they now move to 6–5.
  • (1) Duke 102, UNC-Greensboro 69
  • (10) Louisville 58, Miami (FL) 43
  • California 68, (11) UCLA 61
  • (3) Villanova 75, Temple 53
  • (8) Gonzaga 102, St. Joseph's 94
  • Pittsburgh 73, (24) Wisconsin 64