Sugar Bowl 2016: Underrated Stars to Watch, Picks in Ole Miss vs. Oklahoma State

The 2016 Sugar Bowl is a battle between teams desperate to end the season on a positive note. 

For the Ole Miss Rebels, it's all about exorcising the demons of bowl season past. Ole Miss, of course, lost in devastating fashion in the 2015 Peach Bowl to a TCU team that was looking to prove a point. 

For the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the game represents an opportunity to remind people why they were good enough to get here in the first place. Mike Gundy's squad lost back-to-back games to close out the season but still earned the Sugar Bowl berth due to Big 12 tiebreakers. 

Throughout the season, both of these teams have relied on stars who have become household names in the college football universe. Everyone knows Ole Miss will rely on Chad Kelly and Laquon Treadwell. The Pokes will attempt to answer with a dynamic quarterback-receiver tandem of their own in Mason Rudolph and James Washington. 

However, this game will come down to more than just the biggest stars on each team. Here's a look at an underrated contributor who will determine this game for each side along with a prediction for who will ultimately add a Sugar Bowl victory to their mantel. 

Oklahoma State: Quarterback J.W. Walsh

Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press

There's an old saying in coaching circles regarding quarterbacks that goes something like this: If you have one quarterback, you have one quarterback. If you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks. 

In general, it's a good rule. Teams tend to do better when they have one quarterback and stick with him. 

That doesn't seem to be the case for Oklahoma State, though. The Pokes have been at their best this season when both quarterbacks, Mason Rudolph and J.W. Walsh, are making appearances in the game. 

The reason is simple. Walsh provides the spark for a running game that simply hasn't threatened very many defenses. 

Gundy feels "pretty good" that Rudolph—who is a much more accomplished passer than Walsh—will be ready to start the Sugar Bowl after surgery on his foot in early December, per Bill Haisten of Tulsa World. 

Walsh is No. 1 on the team in rushing touchdowns (11), No. 3 in rushing yards (285) and No. 3 in attempts per game (5.5). 

While those aren't gaudy numbers, they also open up easy throws, which has led to tremendous passing efficiency for the senior. He has 13 touchdowns through the air this season with just one interception and a completion percentage of 67.6. 

Gundy attributes a lot the success the Cowboys have had on the offensive side of the ball to what they are able to do with Walsh in the game, per Paul Myerberg of USA Today. 

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"I don't know if smoke and mirrors is a good word, but they're doing a lot of different things to be able to accumulate yards in a way that is somewhat different than what we've had in the past," Gundy said. "They've also allowed (Walsh) to be incorporated into the mix, which helps us get some of those rush yards that we need."

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Rudolph should be able to move the ball through the air. The Cowboys passing game has been dynamic, even in losing efforts. Rudolph threw for 430 yards in the loss to Baylor; Walsh had 325 yards against Oklahoma in Rudolph's stead. 

The question is whether the Cowboys will be able to establish any semblance of a running game against the Ole Miss defense. The Cowboys were outrushed 648-140 in their last two games of the season. That includes an eight-yard performance against Baylor. 

Now they take on an Ole Miss defense that surrenders only 3.4 yards per carry. 

Lining it up and trusting running back Chris Carson (4.1 YPC) to find holes in this defense isn't going to work for Oklahoma State. It's going to come down to the backup quarterback in Walsh finding ways to put this defense in a bind and slow down an aggressive front. 

Ole Miss: Wide Receivers Quincy Adeboyejo and Evan Engram

Thomas Graning/Associated Press

The Oklahoma State secondary will assuredly be challenged by Laquon Treadwell multiple times in the Sugar Bowl. He was one of college football's most prolific receivers with 76 receptions, 1,082 yards and two touchdowns. 

However, he won't be the first dynamic receiver the Cowboys have faced this season. Oklahoma State has seen TCU's Josh Doctson, Baylor's Corey Coleman and Texas Tech's Jakeem Grant this season and handled two of the three reasonably well:

Receiver	Rec.	Yards	TD	Result
Jakeem Grant, Texas Tech	13	178	1	W—70-53
Josh Doctson, TCU	6	64	0	W—49-29
Corey Coleman, Baylor	5	77	0	L—45-35

That bodes well for their chances to slow down Treadwell, but that hasn't necessarily meant that Oklahoma State stopped either team's passing game in those games. Instead, both teams had receivers who stepped up and replaced the production of the team's top target. 

K.D. Cannon went off for Baylor, reeling in five passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns. TCU went to slot receivers Shaun Nixon and KaVontae Turpin regularly. Nixon had nine catches for 146 yards. Turpin had seven for 107. 

Of course, the only receiver of the Big 12's elite to have a field day was Jakeem Grant, who worked primarily out of the slot and is a much different receiver than Doctson, Coleman or Treadwell.

Moral of the story?

Chad Kelly must look to his slot receivers and attack the inside seams against this secondary. That means the Rebels could get big games from both Quincy Adeboyejo and Evan Engram. 

Adeboyejo is the second-most productive receiver on the team with 581 yards and seven touchdowns. Engram has been less productive than his sophomore season, when he had 662 yards and two touchdowns, but that didn't stop him from earning second-team All-SEC honors as a tight end. 

Along with Cody Core, the Rebels weapons in the passing attack extend beyond just Treadwell. It's a reality that will be revealed over the course of this game and will likely aid an Ole Miss offense that should put up points. 

Prediction

Butch Dill/Associated Press

Oklahoma State should be proud of the season it had. The Cowboys were nowhere to be found in preseason polls. Now they have a second-place regular-season finish in the Big 12. 

But that doesn't mean they are prepared to win a New Year's Six-caliber bowl. 

In addition to struggling to stop good slot receivers, the Cowboys have also struggled to stop the run. It's a weakness that was exposed by Oklahoma and Baylor. And it's undoubtedly something that Hugh Freeze and his staff will look to expose. 

When the Cowboys have the ball, they have a similar problem. The passing attack is enough to put some pressure on an Ole Miss defense that is 99th in total pass defense. However, if Oklahoma State doesn't find a way to control the game to some extent on the ground, it's going to look a lot like their losses to Oklahoma and Baylor. 

With Ole Miss having so many ways to hurt Oklahoma State on offense and a defense that is full of talent, even without Robert Nkemdiche, who will miss the game due to suspension, according to Chris Low of ESPN. 

Prediction: Ole Miss 45, Oklahoma State 31

All statistics used courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise noted.