The BCS Bowl games were announced Sunday night, which included the Sugar Bowl inviting the Oklahoma Sooners (10-2) to face back-to-back defending national champions Alabama next month. The Sugar Bowl opted to pick the Sooners over the higher ranked Oregon (10-2) squad, who was a favorite to play in the national title game just a month ago.
After a record-low attendance in last year’s Sugar Bowl between Florida and Louisville, bowl reps wanted a game between traditional powers that will travel well, all due to greed. The quality of the game is of no importance to them. Football purists might love the match-up but these are not your daddy’s Oklahoma teams of the past.
The Sugar Bowl had a chance to give us an Alabama-Oregon match-up, who many believed was going to be the national championship game all season-long and had fans debating back and forth about the contrast of playing styles, conference strength, and who would ultimately come out on top. But instead we get …Oklahoma?
Nick Saban will use the game as a pre-draft workout for his stars and this will turn into a laugher by the first half.
Am I being too hard on the Sooners? Absolutely not!
Oklahoma ranks 49th in average points scored (31.8) while Oregon ranks 3rd with 46.8 ppg.
In passing, Oregon ranks 20th with 294 yards a game while Oklahoma ranks 99th, and isn’t even averaging 200 yards per game.
Rushing? Oregon ranks 9th while Oklahoma ranks 18th.
Well, Oklahoma must be a defensive team and Oregon is just a gimmick offense, right? Nope. Both teams are giving up 21 ppg on average. But these statistics and banter aside, they’re not the main reason why everyone should be sick of seeing Oklahoma in BCS games.
Oklahoma is 1-5 in their last six BCS bowl games dating all the way back to the 2003 season. In their five BCS bowl losses during that stretch, they have been outscored 191-117, which means on average, they are losing by at least two touchdowns. Their only win during that stretch was against the lowly Big East automatic qualifier, UConn, which finished the season 8-5 in 2010.
We have seen this song and dance before. Why rob college football fans of an entertaining game against two better programs all in the name of ‘tradition?’
Joshua Caudill is a writer for CraveOnline Sports, a surfing enthusiast, a college basketball fanatic, and an expert on all things Patrick Swayze. You can follow him on @JoshuaCaudill85 or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
Photo Credit: Getty
