(11-1) Oregon Ducks vs. (11-1) Kansas State Wildcats
Time: 8:30 PM (ET) | Tonight
Network: ESPN
Last night we saw No. 21 Louisville upset the No. 3 Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl with a 33-23 victory. Our attention has gravitated only to college football for the final four days of the season as tonight we get to see the Oregon Ducks take on the Kansas State Wildcats.
Surprisingly, with the history of college football, this marks the first time these two teams have ever played. They were scheduled to meet during last season but was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. As the season came to a conclusion both teams were undefeated at 10-0 heading into the last week of action and even were ranked #1 and #2 respectively in the BCS polls but instead would each lose their final gaming finishing with an 11-1 record.
Some say this is the “real” National Championship game with the BCS’s obsession for the S.E.C. as some fans are discouraged to watch the BCS title game on Monday with Notre Dame and Alabama; but you can rest assure our eyes will be glued on our sets tonight when this game goes down at the University of Phoenix Stadium.
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This marks Oregon’s fourth consecutive appearance in a BCS bowl game under Chip Kelly as tonight we’ll get to see that insane running back tandem of Kenjon Barner and DeAnthony Thomas who are always a threat to score on nearly every touch.
Redshirt QB, Marcus Mariota has been the talk of 2012 QB’s as well being surprise to all with his overachieving play leading the ducks to a nearly undefeated record this season. Kansas State isn’t going to be a pushover though as at the age of 73, Bill Snyder is still patrolling the sidelines of the program in a span lasting over 24 years.
The Wildcats obviously don’t play the same speed as the speedy Ducks but led by Collin Klein who finished as a Heisman Trophy finalist, we’ll see the large QB pick try and pick apart the Ducks defense.
Klein recently became the first QB in the BCS era to run for at least 20 TD’s and throw 10 in consecutive seasons. As a fifth year senior, Collin earned the moniker Optimus Klein as he also broke the FBS record for rushing TD’s from a QB in two seasons with 49.
Ducks head coach Chip Kelly is being aggressively pursued by several NFL teams due to “Black Monday” as this could potentially be the last game of his 6-year tenure with the university. In his career with Oregon, he’s won three Pac-10/Pac-12 championships in 09-11 and consecutive Pac-10 coach of the year awards in 09-10 with an impressive 45–7 record over 4 seasons.
Although he’s not expected to remain with the team and pursue a BCS national championship, winning tonight’s Fiesta Bowl could be a crowning moment to close this chapter of collegiate coaching.
This will definitely be a game you will not want to miss tonight on ESPN.