Shortly after TCU or Wisconsin takes a knee to seal a victory in the “Granddaddy of Them All”, Connecticut and Oklahoma will kick off in this year’s version of the Fiesta Bowl.
Oklahoma got to this point by finishing 10-2, winning the Big XII South, and then defeating Nebraska 23-20 to get the conference’s automatic BCS bid.
Connecticut got here by winning five straight games after starting the season 3-4. They got here because of a contractual obligation to include the winner of the Big East every year but it’s somewhat difficult to debate (in a perfect world) that they belong here. In the regular season, 20 teams won 10 or more games and another 6, including one in their own conference (9-3 West Virginia) won 9 games. Of those 26 teams, 17 of them are not going to play in a BCS bowl.
My goal here is not to slight the achievement of the Huskies football team this year. My goal is much more to put a shot across the bow of the BCS and ask, yet again, why a sub-par team from what is currently a sub-par conference allowed to play in one of the most prestigious bowl games in the country? The answer, of course, is money. While that is true, it doesn’t make the pill any easier to swallow.
BY THE NUMBERS
Oklahoma has huge advantages offensively and only concedes a little defensively to UConn’s ranks. While the Sooners ranked 4th in passing offense and 13th in total offense, Connecticut ranked 112th and 96th, respectively, in those categories. How did the Huskies win 8 games? With their ground game, which ranked 31st in the country, and their defense, which ranked only 48th in yards allowed but 23rd in points allowed per game.
UConn will need to take the air out of the ball and keep Oklahoma’s offense off the field or this game could get ugly.
CONNECTICUT WILL WIN BECAUSE…
Jordan Todman will put the entire team on his back and carry them to victory. He rushed for 1,574 yards this season (with a per game average of 143.1 yards per game which ranked second in the country to Oregon’s LaMichael James) and 14 touchdowns. He carried the ball more than 25 times for more than 100 yards in each of the Huskies’ last five games, all UConn wins. Their only hope against the Sooners is to keep the score low and hope that they are able to force turnovers.
KEY STAT: Connecticut is ranked 91st in net punting this year at 34.75 yards per punt.
OKLAHOMA WILL WIN BECAUSE…
They have a dynamic offense led by sophomore Landry Jones. Their defense is passable (63rd against the run, 51st against the pass, 58th overall) but they were in the top ten in net punting and turnover margin, showing a bend-but-don’t-break trend on defense.
In his second full season as a starter, Landry Jones made great strides, increasing his passer rating from 130.8 to 145.2 while throwing for 4,289 yards with a completion percentage of 65.3%. Behind him, DeMarco Murray rushed for 1,121 yards and 14 touchdowns which included four 100 yard performances.
THE VERDICT
This one is pretty easy. Oklahoma should be a big favorite and much like their fellow Big East champion of several years ago (Pittsburgh), they are going to find themselves outmatched.
Oklahoma 31, Connecticut 14
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment