2013 Cotton Bowl: Texas A&M leaves Oklahoma in a world of touchdowns

Hello!

ht @texasagsman

There’s a NCAA styuuudent-athalete in possession of money, which, great! His folks are believed to be wealthy. So there you go. It does not appear to be a NCAA rules concern -- Bylaw 10.3 forbids gambling, but only gambling on college sports.

What I really want to point out here is that Miami Heat hat. This makes two straight JOHNNY CHARACTER CONCERNS incidents involving the Heat. We’re cultivating a magnificent troll here on the order of Chris Bosh himself, I believe.

Manziel’s single biggest gift is instinct, the ability to somehow know that, while three defenders are surrounding him, there is nobody behind him and to the left, and the ability to immediately process this information, kick into reverse, and spin out to the left. His reaction time to any scenario ... well, it just doesn’t make sense. And with all the film study in the world, I don’t know how you completely prepare for that. The best defenses will be able to tackle, swarm and survive to fight another down (like LSU and Florida did), but in terms of feeling truly prepared for Manziel’s skill set? I don’t know if that’s possible.

Oh yeah, and a bonus number: 252. That’s the number of days until Alabama visits Kyle Field on Sept. 14.

Remember when Texas A&M was making a big mistake by leaving the Big 12 for the SEC? Well, maybe that was right. I’m just saying -- the Aggies needed a few breaks to beat Alabama, but blasted Oklahoma (previously 5-0 on the year against Texas teams) out of the Cotton Bowl, 41-13. If they’d only stuck around, they could’ve saved themselves a whole lot of stress.

Rankings ramifications: How high will Texas A&M be ranked next year? We’re of the opinion that one of our favorite teams will find itself overrated to start the year, with a whole lot of talent likely draining from the offensive line and elsewhere. But do not count out Kevin Sumlin’s Aggies -- a top-five ranking to start the season might just be earned by the end. Oklahoma will rank near the top-10, as their helmets will still have Oklahoma logos on them.

The score is currently 41-13, Texas A&M, but it wasn’t always that bad.

Look through SB Nation’s many excellent college football blogs to find your team’s community.

Looks about right. That ref could line up at running back for the Sooners this evening. “Hello!”

The Aggies have 519 yards worth of offense, to Oklahoma’s 266. That’s already the second-most offense the Sooners have surrendered in a game all year. West Virginia has the mark, with 778. Whatcha got left in the tank, Kevin Sumlin?

Manziel has rushed for 169, with the team as a whole -- well, that A&M running game is making a miserable Sooners rush defense look abominable:

Update: He’s fine.

After the impact, the senior slumped over onto the turf -- it was clear right away something was wrong, and even looked like he might’ve somehow hurt his head at first, but after looking at it, the ankle seems more likely. He made it off the field, where he was surrounded by so many A&M personnel members and teammates it was difficult to even see him.

As Manziel went over 100 yards rushing with about 40 minutes left in the game, it’s clear A&M doesn’t need a whole lot of help racking up yardage, but now they’ve given Oklahoma another couple dozen things to fret about on every snap.

The closest the Sooners have to a trick play so far: have quarterback Blake Bell throw a pass! He’s attempted 20. His one in this game didn’t do anything.

Even assuming most viewers at home aren’t college football encyclopedias, this graphic is still over the top. Yes, Mike Stoops is the brother of Bob Stoops. Yes, it probably infuriates him that he’s known as Bob’s brother. And no, we really didn’t need this explainer.

Whatever, here’s a Stoops hop GIF from the Arizona days.

How ‘bout that Heisman hangover?

After review, officials ruled he did indeed stay inbounds, and of course he did. There was an opportunity for points to be scored in the Cotton Bowl. As if Cotton Bowl points would ever not be scored!

But, hell, Johnny Football’s about football, right? So let’s talk about that: his coronation as the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy will be used as evidence that he’s the best freshman ever (“No one else won the Heisman!”), and the best player in college football (“A freshman won the Heisman!”), and the best quarterback in college football (“A freshman quarterback won the Heisman!”). That’s not fair or right: there are simpler, easier, more correct explanations for why Manziel won the Heisman that better situate him in the college football constellation.

But what I’ll remember most is the value of the superb PR campaign waged by Johnny Football fans. Texas A&M was perfectly situated to have a star in 2012, thanks to its new beginning in the SEC under a young coach with one of them new-fangled spread offenses, and Manziel was the right comet to hitch to from that first half against Florida. He was dazzling that day, and in the weeks to come, a sensation with an awesome nickname and a penchant for amazing plays in a sport that loves sensations and nicknames and plays and is too big to examine all of those who produce them under a microscope.

It’s funny how the slightest change can skew our perception. A year ago, Texas A&M lost its eight game in its last nine tries against Oklahoma. The Sooners had become the bully of the Big 12, dominating the Aggies consistently since the year 2000.

AT&T Cotton Bowl, 8 p.m. (ET), FOX

But this secondary-first approach might be an interesting counter to A&M’s speed. Oklahoma cannot count on much of a pass rush, but if the line can just maintain the pocket and contain Manziel to some degree, the back seven might be fast enough to make some plays.

Damontre Moore (DE, Texas A&M, Jr.). Hey, speaking of fast and interesting ... say goodbye to Moore, a sure Top 10 pick in April’s NFL Draft who gave A&M’s defense a personality almost completely counter to that of Oklahoma’s. Moore, a defensive end (and part-time outside linebacker), led A&M in tackles with 67.0 and was one of the biggest defensive playmakers in the country, logging 20 tackles for loss, 12.5 sacks and eight quarterback hurries and blocking two kicks just for good measure. The 250-pounder is big enough to play college end and more than fast enough to play a strong OLB at the NFL level. He had 28 percent of A&M’s TFLs and 42 percent of its sacks.

The Cotton Bowl will be Johnny Manziel’s first game since winning the Heisman Trophy. Manziel leads a high-powered Aggie offense which ranked third in the country in points per game with a 44.8 per game average. Texas A&M is well balanced on offense, ranking in the top 14 in both passing yards and rushing yards per game. While the Aggies have had plenty of success this season, they will play in the Cotton Bowl without offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, who departed to become the head coach at Texas Tech.

While Oklahoma may not have a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, the Sooners also feature an explosive offense. Led by a passing attack which ranked fifth in the country in aerial yards per game, the Sooners are 12th in points per game at 40.3. Oklahoma finished the regular season 10-2 with the only losses coming to Kansas State and Notre Dame, both of which are in BCS bowl games.

This entirely out-of-context quote of Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones by one of his offensive linemen is as illuminating as it is confusing, which means Jones is now fully qualified in every way to write for literally any music blog anywhere on the internet.

Comparing Kurt Cobain to Taylor Swift sounds ridiculous (and maybe even uproarious, if you’re the kind of weirdo who would really prefer to listen to Nirvana over happy music that makes people happy about happy things), but I can go find you 10 more insane things said by music bloggers today without even really trying all that hard.

The junior declares for early entry entry after a big season for the Aggies, leading Texas A&M in tackles (80) while finishing with 12.5 sacks and 20 tackles for loss. Named a first-team All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, the Football Writers Association of America and ESPN, Moore became one of the top defensive players in the NCAA.

No. 9 Texas A&M will play No. 11 Oklahoma on Friday in the AT&T Cotton Bowl, with kickoff set for 8 p.m. ET.