Dec. 30 bowl games: Oregon vs. Texas (a.k.a. Mack Brown’s last game) and more

Offensive touchdown scored by Oregon in the Alamo Bowl. The Ducks did gain 469 yards (6.9 per play) on Texas, but the Longhorns were able to limit damage on third downs (4-for-12), and special teams gave Oregon long fields from which to work all night despite six Texas three-and-outs -- nine of 11 Oregon drives began at the Ducks’ 25 or further back.

Texas bent but rarely broke and did what a defense has to do to give itself a chance against the Oregon offense. Unfortunately…

Box Score Hero: Texas Tech quarterback Davis Webb: 403 yards and four touchdowns on 28-of-41 passing.

Texas Tech wide receiver Jace Amaro: eight receptions for 112 yards.

Box Score Hero:

Marcus Mariota: 18/26, 253 yards, 1 TD; 15 carries, 133 yards

Mariota was pretty upset with the referees for not making the call, and the Oregon coaches box was livid. Mariota is already dealing with an MCL injury that really limited in the final month of the season, and him being yanked backwards like that could not have felt good. He also suffered a head injury in a loss to Arizona on Nov. 23 that may still be bothering him a bit.

It looked to be unintentional, but still ... that’s an awfully curious no-call. Here was one opinion from the former Pac-12 Coordinator of Officials.

Oregon will get the football to begin the third quarter.

Thanks to Under Armour, Texas Tech wore 13,729,421 uniform combinations this year. For the Holiday Bowl against Arizona State, they were given their 13,729,422nd:

PREVIOUSLY, in Texas Tech uniforms:

Johnstone was the anchor for the Ducks’ offensive line this season. He was a Freshman All-American last year and received an honorable All-Pac-12 mention for his work along the line in 2013.

• Bowl season TV schedule, with scores and recaps along the way

That’s the whole story.

Mack Brown’s not the only longtime coach saying goodbye after the Alamo Bowl. The Ducks made sure defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti’s last game started off in style:

That was Oregon’s 18th pick-six since 2007, one of the highest totals in the country.

Georgia Tech mounted a fourth quarter rally, but Ole Miss held on for an 25-17 win in the Music City Bowl.

The Rebels got off to a solid start, driving 75 yards for a touchdown on the opening possession of the game. Although Georgia Tech answered right back with a touchdown of its own, the first three quarters belonged to the Rebels. Ole Miss held a 13-7 lead at halftime and extended the advantage to 23-7 heading into the fourth quarter.

A collision over the middle of the field in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl left two players down on the field for several minutes at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.

During the regular season, Richardson recorded 23 tackles, forcing one fumble. Henry is the Blue Raiders’ second-leading receiver, with 36 catches for 528 yards and three touchdowns.

Ole Miss vs. Georgia Tech

Ole Miss, loaded with superstar freshmen like Tunsil, is a team to keep in an eye on in the future. For now, they’re light on NFL prospects.

Ninety-one percent.

The F/+ win probability model is pretty sound. Depending on your per-unit advantages (offense vs. defense) and the likely pace of a given game, it projects a score and win probability. During the regular season, I feel pretty comfortable with the projections. If a team is projected to have a 91 percent chance of winning a given game, and if that team is projected to win by more than three touchdowns ... well, they’re probably going to win.

Beware, Oregon.

On paper, it’s difficult to figure out exactly how Texas is supposed to beat Oregon in the Alamo Bowl. The Ducks’ offense is much better than the Longhorns’ defense, and the Oregon defense, though off the pace of previous Duck Ds, is still better than the offense Texas will put on the field in San Antonio. Oregon is a top-10 team, and Texas is barely a top-40 team.

Sometimes stagnation is growth.

When you improve from 100th in the F/+ rankings to 26th in one year, as Ole Miss did in 2012, it is probably asking a bit much for the team to improve again the next year. The Rebels didn’t -- Hugh Freeze’s second squad fell to 35th with one game to play, though they did win one more game in the regular season -- but that’s probably alright. Solidifying your gains with a young squad in Year 2 is nice. You can live with that.

Two years ago, things were on the downside for two of the more successful coaches in the mid-major ranks. Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo had gone 27-13 in his first three years as Navy’s coach, but in Year 4 (Year 1 A.R., or After Ricky Dobbs) the Midshipmen had gone just 5-7, sinking to 73rd in the F/+ rankings.

Things were even worse in Murfreesboro. Rick Stockstill, engineer of the first three bowl bids in Middle Tennessee’s history, had gone from 10-3 in 2009 to 2-10 in 2011, 114th in the F/+ rankings. Upon the departure of defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, Stockstill’s defense had fallen apart, and an efficiency-based offense didn’t have enough efficient weapons.

The Alamo Bowl odds see Texas as a 13.5-point underdog going up against the Oregon Ducks in San Antonio, Texas.

Brown is set to resign from Texas (Big 12, 8-4 SU, 6-6 ATS, 5-7 OU) when the season ends, after getting off to a slow start of 1-2 straight-up and against the spread before going on a solid 6-0 straight-up and 4-2 against the spread run that included outright upsets over Oklahoma and TCU.

The Sun Devils are just 1-4 ATS in their last five bowls, but the favorite is 11-4 against-the-spread in the last 15 Holiday Bowls. The last five games have stayed UNDER the total (currently 70 in college football odds at Bovada) but the computer is projecting 80 (!) points in this matchup.

Meanwhile, Texas Tech has won six of its last seven bowl games straight-up, but is 1-6 against-the-spread, giving hope to Red Raider backers who may see the point spread climb higher before kickoff.

Underdogs have covered the past 5 editions of this game according to the Armed Forces Bowl odds history, which is not a great trend for Navy backers. But other trends support a Navy wager (Navy is 5-1 ATS past six games in 2013 and MTSU was just 1-6 ATS past seven games away from home).

Middle Tennessee (C-USA, 8-4 SU, 5-7 ATS, 5-7 OU) only covered in one of its six road games this season with the total staying UNDER in four of those games. The Blue Raiders ended the season on a high note with five straight victories including a 48-17 pasting of UTEP as 24-point home favorites in their season finale. They went 3-2 ATS during this run and the total went OVER in three of the five games.

The biggest issue for any game involving Georgia Tech is how the opposing defense can handle their option attack. If the front seven gets caught out of position or is overly aggressive, they can get cut to ribbons in a hurry. Our Georgia Tech blog, From The Rumble Seat, took a look at the matchup between the Yellow Jackets offense and the Rebel defense.

Meanwhile, our Ole Miss blog, Red Cup Rebellion, decided to take a look at the matchup between the two teams through the lens of history. Ole Miss and Georgia Tech were both founding members of the SEC, but there’s surprisingly little history between the two teams even though they played in the same conference for 32 years.

The Mississippi Rebels (SEC, 7-5 SU, 6-6 ATS, 6-6 OU) have been bowling 10 times over the last 22 years, but over that span they’ve gone 9-1 SU and 8-1-1 ATS including a current run of 5-0 SU over their last five.

It’s one small factor in the Music City odds being tilted in favor of Ole Miss.

If there is a surface of clothing that Oregon can make colorful and/or shiny, the Ducks are gonna take that opportunity. Doesn’t matter if that surface will spend most of the Alamo Bowl facing the ground:

No wings!?!?!?

Arizona State and Texas Tech were polar opposites in 2013. The Sun Devils dropped two of their first five games, and if it weren’t for the referees botching the final play against Wisconsin, they would’ve been below .500 a week into October. Texas Tech, on the other hand, started the year 7-0.

Todd Graham’s boys turned the season around in a hurry, though, winning seven games in a row to clinch the Pac-12 South title. They would end up losing to Stanford in the conference title game, but optimism was still abound in Tempe.

Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti will retire after the Ducks’ Alamo Bowl matchup against Texas, the school announced Friday afternoon. Aliotti has served as DC in Eugene since 1999.

“After coaching for 38 years, it is time for a new chapter in my life,” Aliotti said in a statement. “Coaching is all I’ve ever known but it has been a labor of love and a fantastic ride.