College Football 5th Quarter: New Year’s Six recap, Championship preview
4. The Better Fauxse Bowl
The Rose Bowl is part of the College Football Playoff, so the Cotton Bowl and Fiesta Bowl both held Rose Bowl match-ups in 2017.
The Cotton Bowl featured the USC Trojans versus the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Trojans came in with hype behind quarterback Sam Darnold but the OSU defense dominated the Trojans offensive line. It reminded me of a Cotton Bowl of old, the 1991 Cotton Bowl between Miami and Texas which was also a blowout. The Buckeyes held the Trojans to 1.6 yards per carry and while Darnold threw for 300 yards he did throw an interception returned for a touchdown.
More: What did we learn from the Cotton Bowl?
J.T. Barrett only threw for 6.4 yards per attempt but was a workhorse back in his final game as a Buckeye. Barrett ran for 66 yards and two touchdowns while JK Dobbins could only add 39 yards on 13 carries. The defense was stout and led by Sam Hubbard. Hubbard had 2.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.
Neither program looked ready for the College Football Playoff with OSU’s offense sputtering and USC not having a chance.
The other Fauxse Bowl was the Fiesta Bowl. The Fiesta down in Arizona featured Penn State and Washington. The game wasn’t perfect but Washington kept it closer than USC was able to. The Nittany Lions had a 28-14 lead at the half. The Huskies played hard all game. Browning looked pedestrian with 6.3 yards per attempt but his touchdown to interception ratio was 1:0. Myles Gaskin ripped off a few great runs and he averaged seven yards per carry on 92 yards and two touchdowns.
More: What did we learn from the Fiesta Bowl?
Trace McSorley was more Trace than ever before. He threw for 300 yards which was 8.3 yards per attempt and two touchdowns. But he added two interceptions that kept Washington in the game. Saquon Barkley ran for 127 yards and two touchdowns, and broke the game open with a 92 yard run. DaeSean Hamilton was looking elite catching five balls for 110 yards and two touchdowns. The Lions defense had four sacks and eight tackles for loss.
Washington added to the Pac 12’s bowl woes looking out matched by the Lions and PSU showed they’re good but not great by letting Washington hang around including fumbling a punt return. The Fiesta was by far the better Fauxse Bowl.