I didn’t even watch the Thunder game last night as college football was center stage for me. Wisconsin beat Western Michigan in the Cotton Bowl as expected to somewhat give the battered Big 10 some semblance of a consolation prize as Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State all lost their bowl games.
The Rose Bowl was expected to be a great game and it was as USC won at the horn with a field goal to survive Penn State by a 52-49 score in one of the greatest Rose Bowl games ever. Just a great game by two teams who came into the bowl season on a run and who both would have been fun to watch if the playoff field had eight teams instead of four. Neither is on a par with Clemson or Alabama, but Penn State did beat Ohio State and USC did beat Washington so there’s that to consider in hindsight.
The two semifinal games on Saturday were horrible as both Alabama and Clemson easily won to advance to the national championship game. The same thing happened last season as Alabama crushed Michigan State and Clemson crushed OU to easily advance. The field needs to expand to eight teams or else there’s no reason for a non Power 5 non-champion like Ohio State to be included in the field of four.
OU beat Auburn in the Sugar Bowl by a 35-19 score in a game in which none of Auburn’s three quarterbacks showed much of anything doing anything of consequence. Auburn became one dimensional and OU can defend one dimensional teams. Two dimensional quarterbacks not so much. Where OU has trouble is in defending teams with QBs who can get on the corner and run as well as throw the ball. Fortunately for Auburn and Gus Malzahn, Baylor transfer Jarrett Stidham from this point forward is Auburn’s quarterback.
Baker Mayfield, Joe Mixon, Lincoln Riley, and Brent Musberger all had nice games for OU. I had no idea Brent was on payroll in OU media relations, but now I know. Joe Mixon as usual was good catching the football as something of a hybrid back coming out of different Lincoln Riley alignments as a wide receiver inside of a running back’s body. Think about what Green Bay is currently doing with Ty Montgomery and it doesn’t take much imagination to see a coach like say Pete Carroll in Seattle doing the same type of thing with Joe Mixon for a very cheap price tag since Mixon has devalued himself with the assault video. Anyway, Mixon should move on to the NFL as Tyreek Hill did and get on with his life as a pro.
Putting aside the score and the horrid Auburn quarterback play, it was a dark night for college football at the Sugar Bowl. Brent Musberger appeared clueless and was bombarded on social media for his stupid comments regarding Joe Mixon. OU players further embarrassed themselves by jokingly punching Mixon on the sidelines after a scoring drive. And the perfect touch for a dismal evening was climaxed by Auburn fans chanting ‘He hits women.’ I’m fairly certain David Boren doesn’t want that Auburn chant included in his next OU ad where he waxes of national merit scholars at OU.
So, basically, one entire year has passed and nothing changed in college football from last season when Alabama outlasted Deshaun Watson in a 45-40 thriller in the national championship game. The two best teams in college ball will be playing each other once again next Monday night in Atlanta for the trophy. Hope the Thunder aren’t playing on Monday night or I’ll be missing my second Thunder game of the season.