Allstate Sugar Bowl

Bowl History: The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedez-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009. The Sugar Bowl, along with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl, are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl Game. The Sugar Bowl is also a member of the College Football Playoff Presently, its official title is the Allstate Sugar Bowl after its current sponsor, the Allstate insurance company. The Sugar Bowl has had a longstanding — albeit not exclusive — relationship with the Southeastern Conference (SEC) (which once had a member institution based in New Orleans, Tulane University; another Louisiana school, Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, is still in the SEC today). From 1950 to 1995, only once did the Sugar Bowl not feature an SEC team. That relationship has been altered over the past twenty years due to conference realignmentsand the emergence of a series of colitions and alliences intending to produce an undisputed national championship in college football, but the ties between the Sugar Bowl and the SEC have persisted and have recently been strengthened. The SEC’s opponent has varied over the years, but was often the runner-up of the Big 8 or SWC, or a major independent. Since 2015, The Sugar Bowl, along with the Rose, Orange Cotton, Peach, and Fiesta bowls, is one of the “New Years Six” bowls in rotation for the College Football Playoff. It hosted a playoff semifinal following the 2014 season, and will next host one following the 2017 season. In other years, it will feature the best available teams from SEC the and Big 12 Conferences,^[2] an arrangement nearly identical with the relationship between theRose Bowl and the champions of the B-10 and P-12. As a member of the BCS, the Sugar Bowl hosted the the BCS National Championshipe twice (2000 and 2004). However, from the 2006 season to the 2013 season, the BCS NCG had been a stand-alone event, following one week after the New Year’s Day bowl games. This means that, under the now-defunct BCS format, no traditional bowl game hosted the BCS National Championship Game, but that game was played at the venue of one of those traditional major bowls, rotating amongst the four sites, including the Superdome. The payout for the 2006 game was $14–17 million per participating team. According to Sports Illistrated, the 2007 salary for Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan was $607,500.^[3]

Teams: Oklahoma 10-2 (B-12) vs Auburn 8-4 (SEC)

Bowl Location: Pasadena, California

Day, Date & Time: Monday, January 2, 2017

Network: ESPN

Best Win(s): Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State 10-3 (B-12), Auburn beat Arkansas, 56-3

Worst Losses: Oklahoma was destroyed by Ohio State, 45-23, Auburn, lost to Texas A&M, 29-16

Common Opponents: None

Vegas Hotsheets Favorite: Oklahoma -5.5

Offensive Team Data: Auburn ; Total Yards,  450 YPG; Passing Yards,  172 YPG;  Rushing Yards,  278 YPG; Scoring Average,  32 PPG, Turnovers,  1 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 43.6%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 87% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 56%

Offensive Team Data: Oklahoma ; Total Yards,  558 YPG; Passing Yards, 320 YPG;  Rushing Yards, 239 YPG; Scoring Average  45 PPG, Turnovers,  1.25 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 51.6%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 90% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 69%

Defensive Team Data: Auburn ; Total Yards,  342 YPG; Passing Yards,  221 YPG;  Rushing Yards,  121 YPG; Scoring Average,  16 PPG, Turnovers,  1.33 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 34.6%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 67% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 33%

Defensive Team Data: Oklahoma ; Total Yards,  438 YPG; Passing Yards,  278 YPG;  Rushing Yards,  161 YPG; Scoring Average,  30 PPG, Turnovers,  1.33 TPG; Percent of 3rd Down Conversions, 44.2%; Percentage of all scores in Red Zone, 80% & Percentage of TD’s in Red Zone, 40%

Sully’s CFP Game Simulator is a statistical analysis / predictor of how these teams will preform, based solely on their numbers, when they face off on the gridiron! Keep in mind, these stats were established against different teams and conferences and these differences must be taken into account to get a complete picture when attempting to predetermine a winner. If you are interested in how the Simulator works … read this part … if not … skip it! The process used is … we take Arizona’s total yards on offense, add it to what Nevada gives up on defense, …  get a total and then divide that number by 2 … to get the mean. We then invert the process by taking Nevada’s total offense, add it to what Arizona gives up on defense, get a total and divide that number by 2  to get the second mean… the greater number (with the exception of Turnovers) is then determined to have the advantage ( please note …. statistical advantage). We repeat this process in each of the eight statistical categories assessed!  That said… here are the results of the Head to Head Analysis:

Total Yards Advantage: Oklahoma 450 to 444

Passing Yards Advantage: Oklahoma 270.5 to 225

Rushing Yard Advantage: Auburn 219.5 to 180

Scoring Advantage: Auburn 31 to 30.5

Turnovers Advantage: Auburn 1.165 to 1.29

3rd Down Conversions Advantage: Auburn 43.9 to 43.1

Red Zone All Scores Advantage: Auburn 83.5 to 78.5

Red Zone TD’s Only Advantage: Oklahoma 51 to 48

The Game Simulator Says: Auburn 5, Oklahoma 3, Take Auburn and the 5.5 as the Tigers win outright, 31 to 30.5

Individuals to Watch: OU: QB Baker Mayfield & RB’s, Joe Mixon & Samaje Perine; WR Dede Westbrook; Auburn: K. Pettway 1123 yards rushing

Sully Says: Oklahoma wins and covers