Sooners' bowl scenarios intriguing
The Sooners’ 35-20 win over Iowa State raised their record to 6-2 and qualified them for bowl eligibility. If OU keeps winning, a BCS berth is a possibility.
The Sooners have Baylor, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, and TCU remaining. Win out and it could be interesting. Lose a game or two and it’s off to a bowl with less prestige.
Some of the websites that make projections each week are hinting at some fun match-ups:
*The Sporting News and ESPN’s Brad Edwards have the Sooners playing South Carolina, with TSN projecting the Cotton Bowl and Edwards saying the Sugar. The media loves to put a label on everything, so I can see this being called the “Visor Bowl.” Steve Spurrier versus Bob Stoops. The “Ol' Call Coach” butting heads against his former defensive coordinator.
The Gamecocks are currently 7-2 and have games remaining against Arkansas, Wofford and Clemson. OU and South Carolina have never met on the gridiron.
*CollegeFootballNews.com and ESPN’s Mark Schlabach have the Sooners playing LSU, but in different bowls. CFN has OU and the Tigers in the Cotton Bowl, but Schlabach has them matched up in the Sugar Bowl.
It would be interesting to see a show of hands of those in Oklahoma who like Les Miles. He coached at Oklahoma State for four years and had the Cowboy faithful full of hope by turning the program into a winner. In the 11 years prior to his arrival in Stillwater, the Pokes were a paltry 48-83-3 with only one winning season and bowl appearance (1997). Miles was 28-21 during his four-year tenure with three winning seasons and three bowl games. He pissed off the Poke fans when he left to take the LSU job in 2005. He hacked off Sooner fans with his arrogance.
Miles won his first two meetings against the Sooners in 2001 and 2002. Prior to the ’03 game, OU was ranked atop all the polls with an 8-0 record and OSU was 14th in the BCS poll with a 7-1 mark. In his weekly press conference, Miles was quoted as saying that OU was the best team in college football “so we’re told." He also added: “Next Saturday two teams are going to play. One is maybe the best team in college football and the other one is a darn good football team. We’re going to play to figure out which one is which.”
The Tigers have Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Arkansas remaining on their schedule.
*CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm and Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel have picked the Sooners to meet Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Of course, the media will be all over this with highlights of the 2008 national championship game, which Florida won, 24-14. I think Sooner fans have seen enough of Tim Tebow for a while.
The Gators are currently 8-1 with Louisiana-Lafayette, Jacksonville State and Florida State waiting in the wings.
*Jason Kersey, OU beat writer for The Oklahoman, wrote that if OU becomes BCS-eligible, the Sooners could face Kansas State or Notre Dame in a rematch in the Fiesta Bowl. This scenario would be a stretch, since college football’s brass doesn’t like rematches.
*One scenario that has been mentioned would be OU-Nebraska in the Rose Bowl. This would be fun as the media would be all over it with replays of past meetings between the historic rivals. Since the inception of the Big 12, OU-Nebraska lost some of its luster even before the Cornhuskers left for the Big Ten.
The Huskers are 7-2 with Penn State, Minnesota, and Iowa left on their schedule.