The first two bowl games of the day went down to the wire before Mississippi State and Boston College earned victories.

Nelson Adams blocked Nick Dowd’s 37-yard field goal attempt with five seconds left to preserve the Bulldogs’ 17-16 win over Miami of Ohio in the St. Petersburg Bowl. Dowd was trying to help the RedHawks end the season on a seven-game winning streak following an 0-6 start. He also had an extra point blocked in the first half.

Quarterback Nick Fitzgerald rushed for 142 yards and two scores as Mississippi State finished the season 6-7.

Boston College stopped Maryland on downs in the closing seconds and played stingy defense on the Terrapins’ last three possessions to complete a 36-30 victory in the Quick Lane Bowl at Detroit. Boston College was ahead 29-13 at halftime after Patrick Towles threw a 49-yard TD pass to Michael Walker. Towles threw for two TDs and grabbed a 20-yard scoring pass while the 7-6 Eagles were building a 23-point lead.

Maryland got near the goal line twice in the final 4:02 but came away with just one field goal to finish the year 6-7.

Monday’s final bowl game was a rout by North Carolina State as Jaylen Samuels caught three touchdown passes from Ryan Finley in a 41-17 throttling of Vanderbilt at the Independence Bowl. Nyheim Hines returned a kickoff 100 yards for a TD to help the Wolfpack finish the year 7-6. Finley completed 19 of 30 passes for 235 yards.