SEC West QBs help lead South to Senior Bowl win

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Saturday, February 20, 2016

MOBILE, Ala. -- SEC West quarterbacks Dak Prescott, Jake Coker and Brandon Allen all led scoring drives to help lead the South to a 27-16 win over the North in Saturday's Senior Bowl.

Arkansas's Allen passed for a game-high 106 yards, including a couple of on-target deep balls. Mississippi State's Prescott threw for 61 yards and a touchdown with both teams rotating their four quarterbacks after each quarter.

Both were 7-of-10 passing.

Baylor's 6-foot-7 defensive end Shawn Oakman loomed large on the North defense. He racked up two first-half sacks and a forced fumble.

The game's top quarterback prospect, North Dakota State's Carson Wentz, had a mostly quiet first quarter. He completed 6 of 10 passes for 50 yards and the North didn't score.

Ohio State quarterback-turned-receiver Braxton Miller also didn't produce big plays on offense.

Miller, whose play got a lot of attention during the week in practice, had two catches for 8 yards and a 5-yard run while dropping a short pass. He did have a 31-yard kick return, one of the few roles he didn't play at Ohio State.

Each quarter had a two-minute warning to give more quarterbacks a chance to run the offense in that situation.

The game's rule switching possession after each quarter helped keep the North benefiting more from a huge special teams play.

USC's Cody Kessler couldn't get the North into the end zone before the third ended after a long blocked kick return and the South got the ball right back. Kessler couldn't hit an open Miller in the end zone.

Wisconsin's Joe Schobert blocked a field goal attempt and West Virginia's K.J. Dillon returned it 73 yards in the final seconds of the quarter.

That came after Allen's best drive.

He threw a pretty deep ball to Kansas State tight end Glenn Gronkowski -- younger brother of New England Patriots star Rob -- late in the third quarter. Then he fired another pass to Paul McRoberts, the first player from FCS Southeast Missouri to make the game.

McRoberts, who caught a 5-yard touchdown from Prescott, gained 46 receiving yards and returned a punt 27 yards.

Ohio State tight end Nick Vannett led North players with three catches for 58 yards.

For the South, North Carolina State's Jacoby Brissett, a Florida transfer, got into the act with a touchdown drive in the fourth.

He and former Gators teammate Jeff Driskel -- who played his final season at Louisiana Tech -- matched up in the final quarter. Driskel's wobbly throw on the final play went for a 29-yard touchdown to Aaron Burbridge of Michigan State.

Alabama's Coker, a Mobile native who led the Crimson Tide's national champion run in his lone season as starter, played the first quarter and helped set up a 25-yard touchdown scamper by TCU's Aaron Green.

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