In the coldest Panini Senior Bowl in at least 40 years, the American team scored two early touchdowns and held on for a 17-9 victory over the National at windswept Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile on Saturday.

Quarterback Garrett Nussmeier of LSU led both of the first-quarter touchdown drives — running for one score and throwing a two-point pass after the other. He took home game Most Valuable Player honors after going 5-for-8 passing for 57 yards with an interception while playing only the first three series.

“We had a very good showing from the offensive line,” Nussmeier said. “We were able to kind of maul some guys off the line of scrimmage and get the run game going early. And so, that helps a lot when you’re playing a football game.”

After cool but sunny temperatures most of the week during practice, things took a decidedly arctic turn on Friday night into Saturday. Temperatures were in the mid-30s, with wind chill factor in the low 20s, at the time of the 1:30 p.m. kickoff.

Only the 1985 Senior Bowl — with a “feels-like” temperature of 11 degrees for a noon kickoff — matched this year’s game in frigidity. Senior Bowl officials reported ticket sales of 23,934, but perhaps a third of that was in attendance on Saturday due to the inhospitable weather.

“Definitely the coldest game I ever played in,” American team defensive tackle Tim Keenan of Alabama said. “Especially when you were by that [drinking] water and stuff, it made it way colder.”

The American team took the opening kickoff and drove 68 yards for a touchdown, facing little resistance. Nussmeier completed passes of 11 and 12 yards, then executed a read option fake before keeping for a 3-yard touchdown. After a failed two-point conversion, the American led 6-0 at the 8:09 mark of the first quarter.

The National team fumbled on its second play from scrimmage, setting up the American at the 50. Running backs did the heavy lifting on this drive, which featured runs of 14 and 24 yards by J’Mari Taylor of Virginia before Jaydn Ott of Oklahoma scored on a 5-yard run.

Nussmeier then found wide receiver Malachi Fields of Notre Dame in the back of the end zone for two points. With 4:03 left in the first quarter, the American team led 14-0.

The National team had trouble getting anything going early, managing just 43 yards of total offense in the first half. American team kicker Will Ferrin of BYU booted a 40-yard field goal with 3:02 left in the half to make the score 17-0 at the break.

“Everything that we applied from a teaching standpoint, a mindset standpoint, an ability to put declared intensity out there on the field that in my eyes, it flashed right away in the first couple series there,” American team head coach Joel Thomas said. “I’m going to use some of those O-line finishes and the runners and the receivers — everybody — as far as teach tape, the fact that you can have six hours of practice with a group of guys that have never met each other or never played with each other and apply principles that we continually teach and preach at our level.”

1/37

Panini Senior Bowl

The National team did all the scoring in the second half, getting on the board with a 52-yard field goal by Drew Stevens of Iowa at the 9:11 mark of the fourth quarter. Quarterback Cole Payton of North Dakota State led a 67-yard scoring drive in the final four minutes, with running back Kejon Owens scoring from a yard out with 1:30 to play.

Payton failed on a two-point run, leaving the score at 17-9. Because Senior Bowl rules prevent onside kicks, the American team was able to run out the clock for the victory.

“Like I keep saying, it was an honor,” Payton said. “It was a blast to come out here. This is what you dream of, especially being a small-school kid, just trying to represent NDSU and continue that lineage of NDSU guys to come out here and play well and represent NDSU the right way and go on to the National Football League.”

Payton earned National team player of the game after completing five of 10 passes for 72 yards and rushing for 22 yards. Receiver Donaven McCulley of Michigan — added to the game on Friday — led all receivers with four catches for 50 yards.

Quarterback Diego Pavia had a solid game for the National team, going 10-for-13 passing for 76 yards but not doing much as a runner. However, he did have a forced fumble and a tackle for loss during a first-quarter play that included two fumbles by the American defense.

“You always hear things coming in that he has a lot of confidence in himself,” National team head coach Clint Hurtt said. “So sometimes you have a preconceived notion that he could be a little loud and whatnot. He actually was not like that. He was really locked in during the week of meetings, really asked all the right questions, really good with getting all the guys together. So I enjoyed being around him from an every-day standpoint.”

Nussmeier was the only American team quarterback to pass for more than 21 yards. The American team ran for 128 yards — 45 on eight carries by Kaelon Black of Indiana, 42 on eight carries by Ott and 41 on three attempts by Taylor.

Defensive standouts for the National team were defensive ends Nadame Tucker of Western Michigan (two sacks, three tackles for loss, forced fumble) and Vincent Anthony of Kentucky (sack, forced fumble, two fumble recoveries). Defensive back Deshon Singleton of Nebraska had an interception.

Defensive ends LT Overton of Alabama, Keyon Crawford of Auburn and Quintayvious Hutchins of Boston College (a former Bessemer City standout) each had sacks for the American team, while Hutchins had three tackles for loss. Northwestern cornerback Fred Davis added an interception, while defensive end Zion Young of Missouri had two tackles and a fumble recovery to earn American team player of the game honors.

Saturday’s win was the second straight in the Senior Bowl for the American team, though the National team leads 4-2 since game organizers scrapped the traditional North vs. South format ahead of the 2021 contest.