2014 Orange Bowl results: Georgia Tech is Mississippi State’s nightmare

In the regular season, the SEC West was a perfect 28-0 in non-conference games. When the league was en route to its flawless out-of-conference performance, some numbskull was using the Simple Rating System to ask whether the division was the best since conferences started splitting in half.

Unfortunately for those people who staked out the position that the West was something special in 2014, bowl season was a disaster. It started well enough, with the two bottom finishers in the West -- Arkansas and Texas A&M -- winning their postseason games, the former in utterly dominating fashion. When LSU lost to Notre Dame on a last second field goal on December 30, it marked the first time in 31 games that an SEC West team had lost to a non-conference opponent.

Poor Mississippi. It could have been perfect, it should have been perfect. Ole Miss AND Mississippi State both ringing in the New Year with bowl games? Hoo, buddy!

Then it all went south -- Southeastern Conference, that is. Ole Miss got blown out, Paul Johnson wants to stop hearing about the SEC and New Year’s Grieve was born.

It’s okay Mississippi, there’s always next year. 365 days from now.

The major bowls began on Wednesday, and the narratives flowed like New Year’s Eve champagne. Here’s a look at Wednesday’s key numbers.

Georgia Tech headed into Wednesday night’s Orange Bowl battle with the No. 1 offense in the country, according to Off. F/+. The Yellow Jackets had averaged 6.1 yards per play against Virginia Tech (No. 4 in Def. F/+) and 5.8 against Clemson (No. 1), and they had emasculated lesser defenses: 8.9 against North Carolina (No. 108), 8.1 against Pitt (No. 73), 7.6 against NC State (No. 70), 7 against Georgia Southern (No. 74). Paul Johnson doesn’t recruit many blue-chippers, and he runs the opposite of a trendy offense, but his spread option clicked as never before.

You’re darn right, Paul Johnson! No more talking about the SEC until next year. Oh. Wait.

And while MSU gained a lot of yards -- former Heisman favorite Dak Prescott had 500 total -- seven of its points came off a Hail Mary to end the first half. Another three came off a call that probably should’ve given GT a short field. This margin of victory could’ve very easily been 10 points worse. This was an unmistakeable domination, and if these teams kicked off again right now, Georgia Tech would win again, and Days would again be doing this during the fourth quarter:

Three things we learned

Hell yeah Synjyn Days, you get after it! Jump on it, even! The Georgia Tech back has been killing Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl, and you know he’s loose because he’s busting out some killer sideline moves.

One thing left to make 2014 perfect: Let’s see Paul Johnson do this dance. Please make it happen.

Via ESPN

How many Hail Marys have we seen this year? It’s fitting that the last game of the calendar year had one, I guess.

Via ESPN

That play was ruled not a fumble by Mississippi State. Officials said after the play that forward progress had already ended the play before the ball came out of Josh Robinson’s hands.

The big games are here. New Year’s Eve has arrived, and with it come some of the most highly-anticipated matchups of bowl season. Three top-20 teams square off Wednesday, with each game being broadcast on ESPN and streamed on WatchESPN.

Things kick off at 12:30 p.m. ET with the return of the Peach Bowl, as two teams who barely missed the playoff field will face off in Atlanta. Top-10 programs Ole Miss and TCU will clash in a game that will see two of the nation’s top defenses pitted against each other. The Rebels likely have the edge defensively, but the Horned Frogs have one of the best playmakers in the nation at quarterback in Trevone Boykin.

The New Year’s Six bowls begin on Wednesday, completing the slow, steady ramping up of bowl season. After Stage 1 of bowl season (pre-Christmas, mid-major battles) came a fun Stage 2 (post-Christmas games between mostly 7-5 and 8-4 power teams). Now it’s time for the two-day, Stage 3 main event.

Here are the most important matchups for Wednesday’s bowls.

Game time: 8 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Bowl season can make for some pretty crazy travel plans for college football teams. Geography isn’t always a major factor in bowl decisions, but the new College Football Playoff selection committee took locality into account when creating parts of the six biggest bowls, the New Year’s Six (the two Playoff games and four other major games).

Here’s a look at which NY6 teams made out the best, which ones had the most brutal travel plans, and which fans will just get to take a short bus trip.

After years of hosting BCS bowl games, the Capital One Orange Bowl is now part of the brand new College Football Playoff. While the Orange Bowl won’t host either of the national semifinals this year, it will routinely welcome in the ACC champions and a team from either the Big Ten, SEC, or Notre Dame. This year, the SEC happens to grab the spot.

The Orange Bowl is one of the more historic bowl games in college football, routinely hosting teams on New Year’s Day since 1935. The game will be played on New Year’s Eve in 2014 for just the second time. It has hosted four national championships, including USC’s drubbing of Oklahoma in 2005, when the Trojans marched on to a 55-19 victory.