College Football’s Fifth Quarter: Bowl game previews, Mike Leach
4. The Battle of the Rose Bowls
If you’re like me you appreciate the tradition of college football. There’s hardly bigger tradition than the annual Rose Bowl game which has been tainted since even the early 2000s. In 2017, the Rose Bowl will be part of the College Football Playoff which is good for the game but bad for traditionalists. Instead of a Big Ten versus Pac-12 matchup in Pasadena, we instead have to two Fauxse Bowl games. The Fauxse Bowls are the Cotton Bowl played in Texas on Dec. 29 and the Fiesta played in Arizona on Dec. 30.
The Cotton Bowl features the USC Trojans and the Ohio State Buckeyes. USC enters 11-2 and ranked 22nd by the S&P+. The Trojans have an expected top five pick quarterback San Darnold. Darnold has thrown for over 3,700 yards and 26 touchdowns but he’s thrown 12 interceptions in 2017. He’s joined in the backfield by Ronald Jones III who has rushed for 1,400 yards and 18 touchdowns. USC coach Clay Helton was hired with little fanfare but has managed two major bowl appearances in two years.
On the other side are the Ohio State Buckeyes who are led by Urban Meyer. The Buckeyes are 11-2 and ranked first overall by the S&P+. Quarterback J.T. Barrett is in what should be his last game as a quarterback and he’s thrown for 2,900 yards and 35 touchdowns with only nine interceptions. Barrett has added 700 rushing yards and 10 more touchdowns on the ground. He’s joined by JK Dobbins who has ran for 1300 yards and seven touchdowns. This will be a battle of flash, by USC, and power by OSU.
The other Fauxse Bowl is the Fiesta. That features 10-2 Washington, ranked fourth by the S&P+ and 10-2 Penn State ranked fifth by the S&P+. Washington is coached by another stoic leader in Chris Petersen while Penn State’s head coach is the flashy CEO James Franklin.
The Huskies’ quarterback, Jake Browning, has thrown for 2,500 yards and 18 touchdowns. Their offense left a lot to be desired all season long. The Nittany Lions have the firepower in Trace McSorley who has thrown for 3,200 yards and 26 touchdowns and Saquan Barkely who has scored about every way imaginable in 2017 and ran for 1,100 yards. This is a two-point spread per Vegas but I think the PSU Lions beat the Huskies convincingly.