2008 Pacific Life Holiday Bowl
Oklahoma State (9-3) vs. Oregon
(9-3)
Dec. 30, 8:00 p.m. ET, NFL
Network
Payout:
$2.2 million Location: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego CA
2008 Holiday Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Oklahoma St |
Oregon |
|
Total Offense |
|
7th 489.25 ypg |
8th 478.17 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
86th 392.25 ypg |
80th 383 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
8th 41.58 ppg |
7th 41.92 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
69th 26.92 ppg |
77th 28 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
7th 256 ypg |
4th 277.83 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
26th 123.75 ypg |
23rd 119.42 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
44th 233.25 ypg |
73rd 200.33 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
110th 268.5 ypg |
108th
263.58 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
34th 0.42 |
34th
0.42 |
|
Oklahoma State
Wash. St W 39-13
Houston W 56-37
Missouri St W 57-13
Troy W 55-24
Tex A&M W 56-28
at Missouri W 28-23
Baylor W 34-6
at Texas L 28-24
Iowa St W 59-17
at Tex Tech L 56-20
at Colorado W 30-17
Oklahoma L 61-41 |
Oregon
Washington W 44-10
Utah St W 66-24
at Purd W 32-26 2OT
Boise St L 37-32
at Wash St W 63-14
at USC L 44-10
UCLA W 31-24
at Ariz St W 54-20
at California L 26-16
Stanford W 35-28
Arizona W 55-45
at Oreg St W 65-38 |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
OSU |
5
highest
1 lowest |
O |
|
4.5 |
Quarterbacks |
3 |
|
5 |
RBs |
5 |
|
5 |
Receivers |
2.5 |
|
5 |
O
Line |
5 |
|
3.5 |
D
Line |
5 |
|
3 |
Linebackers |
3.5 |
|
2.5 |
Secondary |
3 |
|
5 |
Spec
Teams |
4 |
|
4 |
Coaching |
4 |
|
When it comes to throwing around
the “nobody respects us” cliché,
all the statements teams and
conferences are looking to make
during the bowl season, and
separating the real deals from
the no deals, no bowl,
traditionally, has been more of
a litmus test than the Holiday.
More often than not, it’s the
third or fourth best team from
Big 12 and the second best team
from the Pac 10 in a combustive
battle. Sometimes, one of the
teams sulks when it believes it
should’ve been somewhere bigger
and better, like the 2003 Texas
team that got tagged 28-20 by
Washington State.
Last year, Texas wanted to come
in and change around its overall
attitude, and it crushed Arizona
State with a physical style and
tough defense the program had
been missing. The Longhorns used
that win to set the tone for
their huge 2008.
This year, Oklahoma State and
Oregon are each coming in with
2009 on their brains. Both teams
are loaded with weapons, both
teams will be among the hottest
teams going into next year, and
both are going to play this like
a BCS game.
Oklahoma State lost its three
games to Oklahoma, Texas and
Texas Tech, meaning that it’s
theoretically possible that it’s
the fourth best team in the
country, and not just the fourth
best in its own conference. The
tone was set for the big season
with five blowout wins including
blastings of Houston, Troy and
Texas A&M, and then the team was
legitimized with a Mike
Gundy-era defining (other than
the Bobby Reid rant) win at
Missouri. However, that was the
last win of any real
significance, meaning the
Cowboys haven’t won a truly big
game since October 11th.
The Ducks won a truly big game
just a few weeks ago.
Oregon takes the prize for being
the nation’s most resurgent team
after suffering a dizzying array
of quarterback injuries and
after a rocky start. Mostly
because of inconsistent
quarterback play, the Ducks
survived a two-overtime win over
a bad Purdue team and lost to
Boise State the week after.
However, the offense started
click more and more as the
season went on, and while the
defense struggled, the wins
started to come with five in the
final six games highlighted by
the destruction of Oregon State
in the Civil War to end the
Beavers’ Rose Bowl dream.
Now, can Oregon shake its recent
reputation of being a poor
closer? The program had lost its
final game of the year, and
usually a lot more late, from
2001 to 2006, and then came last
year with a 56-21 win over South
Florida in the Sun Bowl.
However, that win came after
losing three straight. A win for
Oregon would be a tremendous
victory for the much-maligned
Pac 10 and could go a long way
to shaping the perceptions of
the pollsters.
Can Oklahoma State show that
this really is one of the
nation’s top teams going into
next year, and that it’s ready
to be a true challenger to the
big guns in the South? The
Cowboys have relied all year on
a steady and wildly effective
offense and a defense that does
just enough to get by. However,
there’s still that question mark
about being one of the Big 12’s
true elite. While a win wouldn’t
answer the question, it would
certainly crank up the respect
factor for the Big 12.
The Big 12 has won seven of the
11 Holiday Bowl matchups with
the Pac 10 since 1996. Even if
the trend continues for Oklahoma
State, that doesn’t necessarily
mean Oregon will be a loser
overall. This is a measuring
stick; a learning experience.
OSU played against the best, and
battled well. Oregon got blown
out by the best, USC, and can
show it has the chops to hang
toe-to-toe with anyone if this
stays close … or if it’s a Duck
win. As always, the Holiday Bowl
will make as much noise as any
non-BCS bowl.
Players to watch:
Both teams have devastating
running games thanks to
tremendous backs, but it’s the
quarterbacks who make the good
attacks special. Oklahoma State
junior Zac Robinson was
an afterthought in the whole
Bobby Reid debacle of last year,
but as it turned out, he became
really, really good. While he’s
an accurate passer who doesn’t
make a slew of big mistakes,
it’s his mobility that sets him
apart. His rushing numbers are
nice, with 1,499 career yards
and 17 scores, but more
importantly, it’s his ability to
make plays on the move when
there’s nothing there. The
offensive line is great as is in
pass protection, and with a
smart, tough quarterback who can
move like Robinson, the
excellent receivers are able to
run deeper patterns.
Oregon sophomore Jeremiah
Masoli was thrown to the
wolves early on, getting his
feet wet from the start, and
then he had to take over the
full-time gig once injuries
decimated the rest of the Duck
quarterbacks. While he has been
wildly inconsistent throwing the
ball, there have only been four
picks with three coming in two
of the losses. He ran for 612
yards and seven scores with 170
yards against UCLA and three
rushing touchdowns against
Arizona, however, the offense
becomes special when he’s
throwing well. Over the last two
games, when Oregon hung 120
points on Arizona and Oregon
State, Masoli completed 32-of-43
passes with five touchdowns and
no interceptions.
Leading the way for the
respective offenses are two of
the nation’s best all-around
blockers and two players on ever
NFL scouts’ radar: Oregon’s
Max Unger and Oklahoma
State’s Russell Okung.
The 6-5, 300-pound Unger has
been one of the Pac 10’s premier
centers for the last four years
with quick feet and the
versatility and talent to
potentially play tackle at the
next level. The quarterback up
front, he was one of the
steadying forces when the
quarterback problems hit early
on.
Okung stepped in as a true
freshman and grew into a brick
wall of a pass protector. An
athletic 6-5 and 300 pounds, he
can play either tackle position,
is great on the move, and he
might have just scratched the
surface on what he can do; he
has room to get bigger and
stronger. If he wants to leave
early, he might be one of the
top five tackles taken. This
will be a showcase game for him
whenever he matches up on
Nick Reed, a First-Team
All-Pac 10 selection after
making 12 sacks and 50 tackles.
Oregon will win if... the
secondary plays night-and-day
better than it did throughout
the season. It’s not like Oregon
played in the Big 12 South, yet
its secondary struggled way too
much against mediocre passing
games. Granted, some offenses
needed to throw to try to keep
up the pace, or try to get back
in games, but for the most part
the secondary was a
disappointment. Oklahoma State’s
bread is buttered with its
running game, but the offense
puts teams away once all-star WR
Dez Bryant starts making
big plays. Bryant will require
the constant attention of at
least one safety, which should
open things up for Brandon
Pettigrew over the middle.
If the secondary can handle
Bryant and the linebackers only
have to focus on the OSU ground
game, allowing a safety to deal
with Pettitgrew on a regular
basis.
Oklahoma State will win if...
it makes Masoli run and takes
away the Duck running backs. The
Cowboys can live with Masoli
running for over 100 yards, but
they’ll have problems if
Jeremiah Johnson and
LeGarrette Blount start
rumbling. Sam Bradford was
fantastic against OSU, but it
was the running of DeMarco
Murray and Chris Brown that put
the game away for Oklahoma.
Texas struggled on the ground,
but it had Colt McCoy to
scramble when needed to go along
with his 391 passing yards and
two scores. Masoli isn’t going
to throw like McCoy. Oklahoma
State will get its yards and its
points, but the defense isn’t
going to get into the backfield
on a regular basis. Instead, the
linebackers will sit back and
wait for Johnson and Blount to
come to them.
What will happen:
Dez Bryant. Oregon will get its
yards on the ground, and Masoli
will have his moments through
the air, but Oklahoma State will
maintain its balance throughout.
It’ll be a fun battle with
plenty of big plays with the
Cowboys coming up with a few
more on both sides of the ball.
Be shocked if this isn’t a
mega-watt shootout.
Line: Oklahoma State -3
... CFN Prediction:
Oklahoma State 45 … Oregon
40
2008 Holiday Bowl
Player Profiles, Histories, & More