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UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas -- The BYU Cougars made their seventh straight bowl appearance Friday and took on the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl.
The Cougars were trying to win their third straight bowl game, something that's never been done before, and Tulsa was hoping to finish the season with only four losses, all to top 10 teams.
Tulsa started the game strong and it appeared BYU didn't even show up.
"Can someone tell the BYU offense that the game started already," tweeted @JanandGunther.
"Tulsa pressing receivers on defense, daring Nelson to throw. BYU refuses to run up middle and Nelson can't make quick decisions," @CougarStats.
Nelson didn't have a great game, but he made plays when it counted, especially the game winning drive in the final seconds. A few weeks ago ksl.com made a comparison between Nelson and Tebow. We were ripped apart for it, but after the bowl game those comparisons came pouring in.
"Now, BYU is ranked in the Top 25, Nelson is Tim Tebow, & Doman is Norm Chow. BYU's defense won the game. Good win for BYU," tweeted @TrevorAmicone.
"Riley Nelson looked like Tebow lol," wrote @MR84118.
"Nelson is like Tebow, probably doesn't deserve credit, but he finds a way. Excited to see his senior year!" Tweeted @Bemorte.
"Riley Nelson is the new Tebow," commented @jeff_hofmann.
"QB Nelson frm BYU is da next Tebow," tweeted @_JHughes23_.
I could go on for pages with these.
While Nelson had a great final drive and found a way to win, the game should go to two different players, Kyle Van Noy and Cody Hoffman.
"Hoffman is player of the game, but Kyle Van Noy was equally as valuable," tweeted KSL NewsRadio's Andrew Adams.
"Kyle Van Noy with big pressure on 3rd down, wrapping up the MVP for the Cougs in my mind," tweeted @MonsonandJake.
"Hoffman makes Sportscenter's top 10 again IMO. The Reynolds block + Hoffman's stretch=TV gold," tweeted @jaromjordan, referencing Hoffman's first TD of the day.
It wasn't clean, but the Cougars pulled out a third straight bowl win to cap another 10 win season.
