When I was growing up there was no bigger game in the south than the Sugar Bowl. This was the era before the BCS or College Football Playoff and, frankly, match ups between the top two teams in the bowls were rare. But the Sugar Bowl got the SEC Champion and the so that was the goal for most of the teams I followed. This year the AllState Sugar Bowl gets the N0. 14 Auburn Tigers (8-4), facing off against the No. 7-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (10-2) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, La. Kick off is set for 8:30 p.m.
The Game: No. 14 Auburn vs No. 7 Oklahoma (-3, 63.5 O/U)
No. 14 Auburn Tigers (8-4)
The Tigers limp into Bowl season with two of their four losses coming in their final three games. First, they lost a 13-7 stinker to Georgia, then were dominated in the Iron Bowl by No. 1 Alabama, falling 30-12. It was a mirror image of their 1-2 start that put head coach Gus Malzahn on the hot seat. A six-game win streak in the middle of the season took him off it. A Sugar Bowl title will keep him off it.
Auburn was a solid team on both sides of the ball, averaging 32.2 points on offense and giving up a ridiculous 15.6 points per game on defense. The Tigers have two elite running backs with Kamryn Pettway leading the charge with 1,123 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging 6.1 yards per carry. Kerryon Johnson toted the rock when Pettway needed a breather, averaging five yards per carry, gaining 862 yards and scoring 11 touchdowns.
Quarterback Sean White is expected to play and runs the option offense effectively. When is is called on to pass, he’s accurate, completing 65.2 percent of his passes for the season for 1,644 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions. His favorite target is Tony Stevens who caught 29 passes for 466 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 16.1 yards per catch.
Auburn’s two best NFL prospects are on their defensive line. End Carl Lawson and tackle Montravious Adams are consistent pass rushing and run-stopping threats. Lawson finished the regular season with nine sacks, 12.5 tackles for a loss and 28 total tackles. He projects as a second round pick.
No. 7 Oklahoma Sooners (10-2)
Quarterback Baker Mayfield’s Heisman hopes may have gotten dashed, along with the Sooners’ College Football Playoff plans in the first month of the season, but few teams were better over the final nine weeks of play than Oklahoma. The Sooners rode a nine-game winning streak straight to the Big 12 Championship and the Sugar Bowl, beating three ranked teams along the way, two of them by double digits.
Mayfield led the Sooners to 44.7 points per game, completing 71.2 percent of his passes for 3,669 yards, 38 touchdowns and just eight interceptions. Mayfield, a redshirt junior, is coming back for his senior year but his favorite target won’t be. Redshirt senior Dede Westbrook is projected as a second round pick after piling up 1,465 yards on 74 catches and 16 touchdowns, averaging 19.8 yards per catch.
The Sooners will probably lose their two-headed backfield to the NFL too. Junior Samaje Perine has already declared he’ll be leaving school after averaging 5.4 yards per carry on 974 yards and 11 touchdowns. Redshirt junior Joe Mixon hasn’t made up his mind yet, but his 1,183 yard, eight touchdown season that saw him average seven yards a carry probably means he’s gone too.
The Sooners defense is led by an elite linebacking corps, with Okoronkwo Ogbonnia making a real effort to force us to pronounce his name correctly. The man has nine sacks and 10.5 tackles for a loss this season to go with 67 tackles. Senior linebacker Jordan Evans leads the team with 89 tackles, 2.5 sacks, nine tackles for a loss, four interceptions, seven pass defenses and one forced fumble.
Trends and Notes
Since 2009 an SEC team has won the Sugar Bowl only twice, with No. 16 Ole Miss beating No. 13 Oklahoma State last season for the first SEC win since eight years.
The Sugar Bowl was first played in 1935 with Tulane beating Temple 20-14.
This is Auburn’s first appearance in the Sugar Bowl since they beat No. 8 Virginia Tech in 16-13 in 2005.
The Pick
Auburn’s not going to make it two SEC wins in a row for the Sugar Bowl. Mayfield is on fire and the Sooners are a touchdown machine, with multiple players making an NFL push. Oklahoma 45, Auburn 24
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