Read the arguments from Loyal Homer and Bleacher Fan about which games they believe are the best of the upcoming pre-BCS bowl calendar.
Bowl games mean a great deal to football programs. While much of the national complaints about bowl games revolves around the relative irrelevance of various games, My chief complaint is that they are not shown on one day, allowing me to bask in the glory of so much great college football. Instead, the games are spread out over weeks to maximize ratings and exposure. This design while unfortunate for the diehard is good for sponsors, TV, and, of course, the actual football programs.
Many games come to mind when determining the best Pre-BCS bowl game. Loyal Homer picked the always entertaining Chick-Fil-A Bowl (a game I still call the Peach Bowl in conversation). The Holiday Bowl usually is the conveyor of spectacular offense, but is a matchup between defensive minded Arizona and Nebraska this year. I am seeking out a bowl game that features a can’t-miss matchup between to powerhouses, one that may be more subdued this season because of various difficulties the teams encountered on the path to the bowl game (see injuries, last second losses, etc.).
Enter the Sun Bowl, the BEST of the pre-BCS games by far. These are not the two most glamorous teams with the most glamorous players. Sure, Stanford has Heisman Trophy hopeful and running back Toby Gerhart, but he goes not play a glamorous style of football. He plays tough.
Gerhart’s toughness will be matched – and tested – by an extremely gifted defensive line at Oklahoma, a line that features All-American defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. Gerhart – and Stanford – prefer to run the ball up the gut. Against teams like Southern Cal and Notre Dame this strategy proved effective as it exploited one of the weaknesses of the team. Gerhart’s downhill running style benefits from having some holes in the line, and the Stanford line will be tested in this game more than in any other. Oklahoma’s rushing defense ranks seventh in the nation allowing just over 1,000 yards (1,063) in 12 games.
Stanford’s rushing offense ranks twelfth in the nation having racked up 2,692 yards rushing on the season with 36 touchdowns and 5.4 yards per carry. Gerhart is of course the focus of the offense. Gerhart also plays big in big games, leading his team to three wins against ranked opponents. Only three times this season have the Cardinal played ranked opponents, and Gerhart surpassed 175 yards per game in each game, including notching two 200 yard outputs.
Against Washington, a team that was ranked 24th at game time, Gerhart churned out 200 yards on 27 carries, finding the end zone once. Against the seventh ranked Oregon Ducks Gerhart toted the pill a whopping 38 times for 223 yards and three touchdowns. The Cardinal’s last game against a ranked opponent featured the then-eleventh ranked Trojans from Southern Cal. Gerhart ran for 178 yards on 29 carries and scored another three touchdowns. When the game is big, Gerhart plays his best. The offense, and freshman quarterback Andrew Luck will need his impact and leadership, too, against what is still one of the better defenses in college football, despite the five losses.
Oklahoma is a hot team defensively right now, too. The team played poorly against Texas Tech is the second to last game of the season, but the defense turned around the next week and put up a goose egg, holding one of the better offenses in the nation – Oklahoma State – to zero points. The Cowboys were playing for a BCS bowl bid, and Oklahoma completed dominated them in all aspects of the game, holding the offense to a total of 109 net yards – only 62 of which were rushing. Oklahoma has shown that it can control a game on defense even if the offense is not up to the same level.
Stanford has a freshman quarterback. It also has a questionable defense, just as Oklahoma has a questionable offense with a young, inexperienced quarterback and a cobbled together offensive line. While important, this is not the matchup fans tune in for. The big matchup is Gerhart v. McCoy/Oklahoma’s defensive line. The winner gets respect – and maybe even chosen in the top ten of next year’s NFL draft.
Plus, it’s the SUN BOWL. It’s not the Pepsi-Fritos-Snickers-Hungry Man-Bush’s Chili-Cisco-Charmin Bowl. It is the Sun Bowl. How nice is that? Sure, sponsors are present (Brut is actually the title sponsor), but they are not the awkward focus of the action. Brut’s name is in the title, but it is tough to find a website or television program listing that has the game as The Brut Sun Bowl. It’s just the regular old Sun Bowl – for now. It’s even played at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas. Since 1935. It’s even older than the Sugar Bowl!
The game’s title is befitting of its classic style. Woody Hayes would watch this game with great interest, and so will I. Afterall, it is the BEST game of this pre-BCS bowl season.
Posted by Sports Geek 
