After Baylor and TCU were snubbed by the Playoff Committee when the final matchups for the national championship were announced, one would understand the Big XII having a massive chip on its shoulder and eager to take advantage of every opportunity to prove itself. On Monday, the Big XII was involved in all three bowl games that were played – the Liberty Bowl (West Virginia), Florida Citrus Bowl (Oklahoma), and the Texas Bowl (Texas), and this was a great chance on a national stage for the conference. Unfortunately, all three teams lost. The WVU Mountaineers were the only team that was competitive and gave the conference a slim chance in pulling out a W.
Liberty Bowl
West Virginia matched up against Texas A&M in the early game. The Mountaineers came in with their back-up quarterback due to Clint Trickett forced into retiring from football due to concussions. The game was a very exciting football game that showed great offensive power (combined, they racked up more than a 1,000 yards) and some terrible defenses that struggled to figure out how to slow down the high-octane offenses. In the end, WVU, the Big XII representative, fell short 45-37.
Kyle Allen had an impressive afternoon. He was 22-of-35 for 294 yards and 3 TDs. In addition to his arms, he used his legs for 10 carries. On those carries, he gained 33 yards and had 1 TD running the ball. When he threw the ball, he had two targets who stood out: Malcome Kennedy and Josh Reynolds. The Mountaineers could not stop them, as Kennedy had 7 receptions for 84 yards and 2 TDs while Reynolds had 5 catches for 80 yards and 1 TD.
The Texas A&M Aggies also ran the ball, and they not only ran, but they ran the ball well. They rushed the ball 48 times for 235 yards. Tra Carson led the way. He gained 133 yards on 25 carries for a 5.6 yard average.
For the Mountaineers, they came in with Skylar Howard, starting a game for only the second time in his career. At times, he looked rattled and over-excited and as a result, he overthrew his receivers constantly. However, at the same time, he kept the Mountaineers in the game with the following stats: 20 of 45 for 346 yards and 3 TDs. Howard was smart to look for Kevin White most of the game. White finished with seven catches for 129 yards and a touchdown for West Virginia.
Everyone was expecting a shootout and the game lived up to its hype, with a high-scoring affair between the two fast-paced offenses. The teams came in scoring over 30 points per game, and this game wound up as the second-highest scoring day in the Liberty Bowl’s 56-game history, behind only Louisville’s 44-40 victory over Boise State in 2004.
With the win, Texas A&M has won four straight bowl games. This is the first time in school history that the Aggies have done this after winning the Chick-fil-A Bowl last year, the Cotton Bowl in 2012, and the Texas Bowl in 2011. They are looking forward to next year and their potential with a young team coming back.
Florida Citrus Bowl
Can you say blow-out ?
This game got ugly quickly. After the first quarter, the game was already 17-0 in favor of Clemson, and the Tigers did not let up. Following the first quarter, they kept scoring and kept Oklahoma from scoring; it was 27-0 at half time and then it was 40-0 by the end of the third quarter. Oklahoma finally scored in the fourth quarter, but their touchdown midway through the fourth did not even make the scoreline respectable. The only area that the Sooners looked good at was their run defense, holding Clemson to 68 yards on 42 carries.
The star of the game was clearly Cole Stoudt. He was 26-of-36 for 319 yards and 3 TDs. He did not have a INT and had a fantastic QB rating of 174.2. Stoudt had two main receivers throughout the game. He found Artavis Scott eight times and Mike Williams nine times. Scott had 114 yards and Williams had 112 yards. Both of them found the end zone one time each. It was a great way to end his college football career.
On the other hand, the Oklahoma Sooners struggled all afternoon, and QB Trevor Knight could not move the ball. He had a terrible day throwing, finishing 17-of-37 for only 103 yards. He did not throw a TD but had 3 INTs and a woeful QB rating of 53.1. Unfortunately for Knight, the phone calls did not work.
The Tigers (10-3) reached double-digit victories for the fourth consecutive season. Their records in the prior three years were as follows: 10-4 in 2011, 11-2 in 2012 and 11-2 in 2013 to go with this year’s 10 wins.
Texas Bowl
Do the Texas Longhorns have an offense ?
The Arkansas Razorbacks absolutely humiliated the Texas Longhorns, whose offense did not show up and turned in one of their ugliest performances ever. No mincing words here. If you did not watch the game, just take a quick glance at these offensive numbers. The Longhorns did the following:
They had 59 yards for the game – YES, 59 for the game. That is not a misprint.
They had 2 yards rushing on 18 carries, that is 0.1 yards a carry.
They had 57 passing yards on 25 plays.
The Razorback defense completely smothered the Longhorns. Tyrone Swooopes was 13-of-25 for 57 yards with 1 INT. The Longhorns leading rusher was Malcolm Brown, who managed 25 yards on 7 carries. The low rush total was due to Swoopes rushing the ball 5 times for NEGATIVE-32 yards.
Now, the Razorbacks did not light up the scoreboard with fantastic numbers, but they played solid football. Brandon Allen managed the game well and finished the game with 160 yards passing on 12-of-23 throwing with 2 TDs. On the ground, the Razorbacks used two running backs: Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins. Williams carried the ball 23 times for 105 yards and Collins rushed the ball 17 times for 76 yards.
It was a disastrous night for the Longhorns and the Big XII. Hopefully, Baylor and TCU can have better results for the conference, as the middle-of-the-pack teams did nothing for the conference. They will all need to recruit some defensive standouts because neither of the three defenses showed any promise whatsoever. If the conference wants more respect, then their teams will have to earn it the old-fashioned way – on the field of play.