Alabama vs. Oklahoma, 2014 Sugar Bowl: “Big Game Bob” rides again

Ohio State got rolling after a slow start, and they increased their lead off this pick-six by 6’3, 255-pound Steve Miller:

Bama fans react:

Nick Saban has made several media appearances as of late, and in between getting troll looks from Steve Spurrier, he had the opportunity to reflect on last season, particularly the surprising loss to Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. He’s now referred to the Sugar Bowl loss as a motivation problem several times:

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops responded in earnest Wednesday, since this is media season, after all. Via ESPN:

Okay, first things first: mute your speakers, because whoever made this video inexplicably decided to back this with history’s greatest monster, “Seven Nation Army.”

Secondly, HOLY CRAP ROLL TIDE. This has been a phenomenal year for fan fights, from old man kicking ASU bro in the face to A’s fan getting Tasered in the butthole.

Yards gained in Trevor Knight’s first 90 passes of 2013. The redshirt freshman showed clear potential at times, and the dual-threat tool set was obvious. Still, in the regular season, he completed 47 of 90 passes (52 percent) for 471 yards, five touchdowns, and four interceptions.

And then he went 32-for-44 for 348, four scores, and a pick against Alabama.

The Sooners thought they were being reaaaalllll sly climbing into the frame behind ESPN’s post-Sugar Bowl conversation with Bob Stoops and Trevor Knight. Turns out the stage wasn’t built for a crowd:

Everyone’s okay, so this is funny. Lou Holtz certainly thinks so.

A year ago, Katherine Webb was some random attractive woman from Alabama. Now she is a pop culture icon. And the person the camera had to find as soon as Alabama’s improbable Sugar Bowl loss to Oklahoma became unavoidable:

People sure do love Alabama tears, and this is the most famous person who could possibly be crying them.

The common argument against chanting that the team you’re beating is OVERRATED: you’re selling your own team short. If your opponent wasn’t all that good, should you even be celebrating beating them? Especially if it was a tight game into the fourth quarter? Your team is bad. It only beat that OVERRATED team by a couple scores.

But when the winning fans are delirious Oklahoma fans inching toward mania after their astounding Sugar Bowl win, they have every right to declare the Alabama Crimson Tide OVERRATED. That doesn’t make it one bit true. It’s just that when New Orleans works its magic to this level, absolutely any chant is merited.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops made news during the offseason by criticizing the depth of the SEC, a criticism that blossomed into a back-and-forth with Alabama coach Nick Saban. Most believed that the Sugar Bowl would be the place of Stoops’ comeuppance, the night where Saban would put Stoops and his conference in their place.

Then the second half started, and it looked like Oklahoma’s chariot turned back into a pumpkin. The Sooners’ offense generated just 28 yards and four punts in the third quarter as Alabama’s defense harassed Knight and swarmed to tackle his receivers. It looked like Saban had finally figured out Oklahoma’s offense and was methodically strangling it to death.

Oklahoma’s hurry-up offense and pass-heavy attack have been stompin’ a mudhole in Alabama. Trevor Knight already has 206 yards passing and three touchdowns. Bah Gawd, King! Oklahoma’s receivers have accepted more passes on Thursday night than dear old Mrs. Lawler!

Knight hit Saunders with a POWER BOMB FROM THE GATES OF HELL to give the Sooners a 24-17 lead!

With the Sugar Bowl tied 17-17 late in the second quarter and Alabama moving, the Sooners forced a key fumble to keep the upset mojo rolling.

But wait... it wasn’t actually Oklahoma who forced the fumble:

Considering it’s a very, very good Alabama team vs. an Oklahoma team that didn’t necessarily seem BCS-worthy, the Sugar Bowl has been a real thriller. A.J. McCarron threw one pretty ghastly pick in his final college game, but he’s 7-for-10 with 230 yards, one of which was a 67-yard strike to DeAndrew White.

A throw like that calls for one celebration: hitting yourself in the head a bunch of times?

So it’s been confirmed that Nissan is showing the same damn commercial during bowl season too much.

Note: I could have taken 323,479,141 of these screenshots.

PAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWL

Jason Kirk [12:55 AM]:

The Sugar Bowl sees two of college football’s most historic programs pitted against each other for just the fifth time, as Alabama will play Oklahoma in New Orleans. Television coverage starts at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Alabama is the winner of the last two national title games, and entered the 2013 season as the overwhelming favorite for a third straight championship. After 11 straight wins to start the season, including victories over LSU and Texas A&M, the Tide were just three wins away from completing the dream. Alabama lost the Iron Bowl to Auburn in a frantic finish at the end of regulation, and suddenly find themselves in the Sugar Bowl. The Tide will be without all-SEC offensive guard Anthony Steen, who underwent surgery after the regular season.

Alabama was supposed to be playing in the National Championship, going into its final game of the regular season against Auburn as a 10-point favorite with an 11-0 SU and 7-4 ATS record. But in one of the craziest finishes in college football history, Alabama’s last-second field goal attempt was returned 109 yards for a touchdown to give Auburn the win and end Alabama’s quest for a fourth National Championship in five years.

The Sugar Bowl betting history has seen UNDER bettors cashing tickets over the past decade as seven of the past 10 games went UNDER the number. The total was 51.5 in early betting.

You’re dead now, BCS, so this entire conversation is a little strange and one-sided. You can’t answer for a lot of things you could be accused of creating.

But that’s how eulogies work. As you were in your brief existence, they are unfair by design.

Many times, we have wondered if Nick Saban is anything other than a metallic, football-winning machine placed on this earth to infuriate Southern radio callers. Even in a profession where many people seem to only take joy in victory, Saban is in a league of his own, obsessive, cursing his national championship appearances for costing him time on the recruiting trail instead of taking a single moment to smile.

In advance of the team’s Sugar Bowl appearance, Alabama visited the Children’s Hospital in New Orleans. While there, Nick Saban made a friend:

Alabama expected to finish the 2013 season in a BCS bowl, but the Crimson Tide had their sights set on a trip to Pasadena for the national title game. Instead, they’ll compete in the Sugar Bowl against an Oklahoma team that finished strong to earn a BCS berth.

Don’t forget, Sooners fans, Lane Kiffin is apparently working with Nick Saban and evaluating the Tide’s offense. Everything Kiffin has touched in recent years has gone downhill, so maybe the OU defense will have an advantage after all.

In mid-November, it looked nearly impossible that Oklahoma could find their way to a BCS bowl. Sure, they had wins over ranked Notre Dame and Texas Tech teams, but neither was looking quite as good as the numbers to the left of their names might have suggested. The only real challenges the Sooners faced were against Texas and Baylor -- both resulted in blowout losses.

But Oklahoma recovered, easily defeating Iowa State and Kansas State before pulling out a dramatic upset win in Stillwater to rob rival Oklahoma State of the conference crown while simultaneously taking away their BCS berth.

Michigan started the season 4-0, with tight wins over suspect opponents like Akron and Connecticut balancing out a win over a ranked Notre Dame. A four-overtime loss to Penn State ruined the team’s perfect record, and Michigan would end up losing to Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa and Ohio State. The Wolverines will hope to get more consistent play on both sides of the ball against Kansas State.

Well, this isn’t exactly where either of these teams wanted to end up, is it? This is one of those situations where you have to decide whether you want to judge a bowl by its reputation or its matchup, because this is certainly a fun matchup.

What’s former USC head coach Lane Kiffin up to these days? Why, helping Nick Saban out with Alabama’s offense ahead of the Sugar Bowl, of course!

Kiffin’s Tennessee squad played Alabama in 2009, in one of those “they set football back 50 years” type of contests -- the Tide won, 12-10, in a game that had five field goals and no touchdowns until the final two minutes. One can only guess what kind of offensive wizardry Kiffin can provide to the Tide, whom F/+ has as the 12th-best offense in the land.

Alabama is heavily favored in its Sugar Bowl matchup against Oklahoma, but the Tide will have one less piece when they take on the Sooners in New Orleans.

• Interactive bowl season calendar with picks and links to more coverage

Nick Saban’s dominant run in Tuscaloosa isn’t coming to an end just yet, according to one report. After almost a year of rumors and reports, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit reports the Alabama football coach will sign a deal to stay with the Tide for multiple seasons. (Update: Alabama’s announced the deal. No official terms yet, but the Tuscaloosa News’ Cecil Hurt reports it’s at least $7 million a year -- that’s a raise of about $1.5 million a year and more than all but a few NFL coaches make.)

One Texas booster was confident the Horns could lure Saban, if Brown were out, while Saban’s reportedly had a $7 million extension offered to him by Alabama for about a week now.