Allstate Sugar Bowl: Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. Ole Miss Rebels
Date: Jan. 1, 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
Location: New Orleans | Mercedes-Benz Superdome
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Best moment: Nothing was better than Oklahoma State’s 49-29 win over TCU on Nov. 7. The Cowboys entered the game with plenty of doubters questioning the validity of their Big 12 title hopes. Mike Gundy’s team silenced those doubters with a dominant 20-point win over a Horned Frogs team that started the game with a healthy Trevone Boykin and Josh Doctson and unbeaten record.
Lowest moment: It doesn’t get much lower than being outmanned, outplayed and overwhelmed in a pseudo-conference championship game on your home field. Oklahoma came into Boone Pickens Stadium on Nov. 28 and left with a dominating 58-23 win and Big 12 title.
Key player: DE Emmanuel Ogbah is one of the nation’s best players. The Big 12’s top sack master finished the regular season with 12.5 sacks and at least half of a sack in 11 of 12 games. He’s long, strong and relentless.
Motivational level: The Cowboys have a bad taste in their mouths after fighting for a College Football Playoff spot with a 10-0 start only to be dominated in their final two regular-season games. Oklahoma State will want to prove those final two games were a mirage not a true representation of its team.
-- Brandon Chatmon
Ole Miss Rebels
Best moment: Winning the Egg Bowl was significant, especially for bragging rights in the state of Mississippi, but not many teams can say they have beaten Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa. Add Ole Miss to that list. It took five Alabama turnovers and a Chad Kelly pass off a defender’s helmet that somehow resulted in a touchdown, but the Rebels won, making it two in a row against the mighty Crimson Tide. The only thing missing this year was Katy Perry and the tearing down of the goal posts.
Lowest moment: Ole Miss was a fourth-and-25 stop away from beating Arkansas. But the Razorbacks, thanks to a desperation lateral from Hunter Henry and a heady play by Alex Collins, picked up the first down and went on to win in overtime. It was devastating at the time, but it’s almost worse now knowing that if Ole Miss had made that stop, the Rebels would have represented the SEC West in the conference championship game, not Alabama.
Key player: Wide receiver Laquon Treadwell missed the bowl game last year after a gruesome leg injury late in the season cost him the team’s final four games. But he returned this year, fully healthy, and he’s currently among the SEC leaders in receptions (76), yards (1,082) and touchdowns (8). Expect yet another dominant performance from Treadwell in the bowl game in what could be the junior’s final game at Ole Miss.
Motivation level: Hugh Freeze wants another shot at a New Year’s Six bowl. He hasn’t forgotten what happened last year – a 42-3 loss to TCU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl. It was an embarrassment to the Ole Miss program and to the SEC. The Rebels should be plenty motivated to avenge that loss and prove they belong among the nation’s elite teams. It will also be the last game for a number of seniors and possibly some of the juniors such as Treadwell or Robert Nkemdiche.
-- Greg Ostendorf