Three interesting games today! Here’s a quick recap of what you need to know from a day most of us didn’t see coming, a day in which all three Big XII teams – all given at least some chance to win their match-up – lost:
Liberty Bowl
Sadly, the 45-37 Texas A&M victory over a plucky West Virginia Mountaineers team that featured a quarterback, Skyler Howard, making only his second career start, will likely be overshadowed and tarnished by the ridiculous and stupid actions of a student assistant on the Texas A&M staff, a former player named Michael Richardson.
The game was chippy right from the outset, with Aggie defender Howard Matthews ejected early for a vicious hit that was deemed helmet-to-helmet contact by the on-field officials and upheld under replay scrutiny. But that is absolutely no excuse for the Richardson’s actions. He was seen, twice, to physically interfere with West Virginia players. The first time, he threw an elbow at WVU running back Andrew Buie, who had run out of bounds. Then, there was something even more shocking: a blatant punch to the head – helmet, actually – of cornerback Daryl Worley, who was also well out of bounds.
When Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin learned of these indiscretions, he ensured Richardson didn’t return to the sidelines for the second half, and we can only hope that the former linebacker has his position on the Aggie staff terminated as soon as possible. There’s no room for that behaviour in football.
Richardson’s actions were a blight on an otherwise positive day for the Aggies, and for freshman quarterback Kyle Allen, who was named the Liberty Bowl MVP for what was, other than one bad throw resulting in a defensive touchdown for the Mountaineers, a poised and polished game. He threw four touchdowns and ran for a fifth, helping the Aggies out of a 10-point hole to post pretty good numbers: 22-35 for 294 yards and the four passing scores.
Allen’s favourite target was senior receiver Malcome Kennedy, who snagged two touchdown passes and running back Tra Carson had a career day, rushing for 133 yards on 25 carries. Trey Williams ran for 86 and a touchdown.
With so many freshmen on an A&M squad that struggled mightily at times, the future in College Station looks pretty bright.
Russell Athletic Bowl
Not sure where to start with this, except to say that Oklahoma were terrible and Clemson, who were excellent in every possible way a football team can be, made them pay for insipid, uninterested and sloppy play en route to a 40-6 victory that actually probably flattered the Sooners a little.
Basically, Clemson did whatever they wanted inside the renovated Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando and Oklahoma either couldn’t stop them, or simply weren’t interested in doing so. The irony is rich, given that it was the Sooners who took advantage of an Alabama team who obviously didn’t want to be playing in last year’s Sugar Bowl and scored an impressive, dominating win. Now, the shoe is on the other foot, and Bob Stoops’ men know how the Tide felt in New Orleans last January. Coming on the heels of West Virginia’s loss, the Big XII took a big hit.
Clemson QB Cole Stoudt took full advantage of five Oklahoma turnovers and played the game of his life, in a season where the Clemson quarterback situation has chopped and changed like the pages of a calendar. It was all Stoudt all the time in the Citrus Bowl tonight, and he was brilliant. It started with a 65-yard receiver screen for a touchdown on their very first offensive snap. That was the tenor of the night set right there.
Stoudt threw for 306 yards, and three touchdowns and even ran another in, delighting the rabid Tigers fan-base down from Clemson, South Carolina. I mean, he looked like Peyton Manning out there, making all the throws, leading Clemson to their third-straight ten-win season.
As for Oklahoma, whose own quarterback Trevor Knight played terribly, throwing three picks and completing just 17 of 36 passes, the drubbing ends a disappointing season in which expectations were through the roof after the afore-mentioned Sugar Bowl triumph over Alabama, but this loss and the previous one, to in-state rivals Oklahoma State, will leave a sour taste in the mouths of Sooner players, coaches and fans over summer. So much for the Sooners being a Top 5 team. Not a good way to go out.
Independence Bowl
Speaking of horrible, the University of Texas offense just about re-wrote the book on horrible in NRG Stadium tonight. The Longhorns were only able to amass – and, my friends, I use that word loosely – 59 yards of offense as they fell to Arkansas 31-7.
No, that’s not a mistype. Read that again. Let it sink in. Texas managed only fifty-nine yards. Their only touchdown came on an eight-play, 44-yard drive late in the second quarter, that had been set up by a good kick return. The yardage totals for their other possessions? 2, 11, 3, -4, -3, -4, -19, -8, -7, -2, -4 and 29.
Every drive after the sole Longhorn possession went backwards until the last drive of the day, one that ended in a 46-yard interception return for an Arkansas touchdown. The worst moment of the night was a hand-off near the Texas goal line that was fumbled into the end zone and recovered by Arkansas for a touchdown.
I don’t care how you try to spin those numbers – they are almost historically bad. In fact, it was just 9 yards more than the worst UT offensive performance of all time, which came back in 1943 in a 14-7 loss to Southwestern University. The loss was Texas’ fifth of 2014 by 20 points or more. A rough start to the Charlie Strong era in Austin, and the giant Longhorns fan base will be restless, to say the very least.
Take nothing away from a brilliant Arkansas team, whose defense and ground attack won them this football game. QB Brandon Allen was dependable, passing for 160 yards and two touchdowns, but it was the running game – 191 yards in total – that kept Texas’ defense on the field.
The Razorbacks win was as dominating and impressive as the one Clemson served up over Oklahoma in the night’s previous contest. And another bad advertisement for Big XII football: this is the first time since 1977 that the Longhorns and Sooners both lost Bowls by 20 or more points in the same season.
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