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UNDATED (AP) — Jacoby Brissett threw for 262 yards and one touchdown, and Matt Dayes scored on runs of 24 and 15 yards to help North Carolina State beat Central Florida 34-27 in the Bitcoin Bowl at St. Petersburg. Houston Bates recorded 4 1/2 sacks against his former team and Kenneth Dixon scored one of his two touchdowns on an 80-yard reception to lead Louisiana Tech past Illini 35-18 in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Josh Hicks ran for 202 yards and a touchdown to power Rutgers past North Carolina 40-21 in the inaugural Quick Lane Bowl at Detroit.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith is expected to miss about six weeks after the team discovered he has a lacerated spleen. That leaves the offense in the hands of career backup Chase Daniel for Sunday's important game against San Diego. The Chiefs need to beat the Chargers and hope that Baltimore loses to Cleveland and Houston falls to Jacksonville to reach the postseason for the second straight year.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao (VAR'-eh-zhow) has undergone season-ending surgery to repair a torn left Achilles tendon. Varejao injured himself as he was battling for a rebound in Tuesday's win at Minnesota. Varejao has missed 166 games the past four seasons with injuries.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The New Jersey Devils have fired head coach Pete DeBoer (deh-BOHR') with the team in danger of missing the playoffs the last three seasons. The Devils are five games under .500 and haven't won consecutive games since early last month, going 3-8-5 in its last 16. Team president and general manager Lou Lamoriello (lam-oh-REH'-loh) won't say who will be the next coach until he speaks Saturday with the players.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Add forward Steve Downie and goaltender Thomas Greiss (GRYZ) to the list of Pittsburgh Penguins dealing with the mumps. The team says that both tested positive for the virus and will remain in isolation. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, forward Beau Bennett and defensemen Olli Maatta (MAH'-tah) had previously been diagnosed with the ailment that has hit several NHL teams.
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