Oregon Ducks Look To De-Horse The Oklahoma State Cowboys In The Holiday Bowl

Now that the college football regular season has come to a close, it is time for bowling. No, I am not referring to the sport of bowling, but rather the post-season, or bowl games. While the bowl system has come under much scrutiny due to the BCS, there is one aspect of the bowls that makes them spectacular: The bowl games offer the best teams in college football at least one extra month to play, as well as another game.

That being said, it comes time to preview each bowl game matchup.

The Pacific Life® Holiday Bowl has a reputation for being a high-scoring shootout, aside from 2005 when Oklahoma outlasted Oregon 17-14. This year however proves to give us more of the same, as the high octane offenses of the No. 13 Oklahoma State Cowboys and the No. 17 Oregon Ducks travel to the battleground of Qualcomm® Stadium.

This very well may be one of the most highly anticipated matchups in Holiday Bowl history. Let's take a look at the bright spots of each team.

OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS

The Cowboys are riding into the Holiday Bowl coming off of a 61-41 heartbreaking loss to their arch rival, the No. 1 Oklahoma Sooners. Although the Sooners won by 20, the game was close throughout the evening.

The Cowboys' three losses have come from the top 3 teams in the Big-12. First to then No. 1 Texas, second to then No. 2 Texas Tech, and third to then No. 3 Oklahoma. The Cowboys almost pulled out a win in Austin, losing 28-24. The Cowboys do have some impressive wins however. They knocked off then No. 3 Missouri 28-23, and beat Texas A&M 56-28. Now let's look into the separate facets of this team.

OFFENSE

The Cowboys are led by Junior dual-threat quarterback Zac Robinson, who has completed 67 percent of his passes so far, for 2735 yards and 24 touchdowns. He has also rushed for 508 yards and seven touchdowns. However, Robinson has been sacked 14 times this season; that is roughly 1.16 sacks per game. This is pretty respectable considering his dual-threat status.

Sophomore running back Kendall Hunter has had a breakthrough season, rushing for 1518 yards and 14 touchdowns so far. Junior Keith Toston has also contributed in the running game for 658 yards and nine touchdowns.

Receiving-wise, Dez Bryant has proven himself to be Robinson's go-to guy, as evidenced by his monster season. With one game left to play, the sophomore wide out has accounted for 1313 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. Bryant will prove to be a handle for Oregon's talented but over-played defensive backfield.

OREGON DUCKS

The Ducks are coming off of a three game winning streak, most notably slaughtering their arch rival, the Oregon State Beavers 65-38, and ending their (Beavers) Rose Bowl dreams. The Ducks 9-3 (7-2) have lost to USC, California, and Boise State, with the Cal and Boise State games being ones that should have been won. We could sit here and play the shoulda coulda woulda game all day, but we wouldn't get anywhere.

OFFENSE

Oregon is led by a pair of Jeremiah's: Sophomore dual-threat quarterback Jeremiah Masoli, who has completed 57 percent of his passes for 1486 yards and 12 touchdowns, and has rushed for 612 yards and seven touchdowns, and senior running back Jeremiah Johnson, who has rushed for 1082 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Oregon's offense primarily runs through the offensive line and rushing attack. Jeremiah Johnson and junior LeGarrette Blount (928 yards, 16 touchdowns) lead this dangerous running tandem.

Although Oregon primarily runs the ball, their passing attack has come alive in their past two games. Masoli has become very comfortable and composed in the pocket, and this has led to huge games.

Oregon's receiving corps is not at full strength, due to starting receiver Drew Davis' season ending ACL tear, but the corps is in no shape or form horrible. The Ducks still have their leading receiver in Terrence Scott, andmonster playmakers in tight end Ed Dickson, and receivers Jasion Williams, Jeff Mahel, Chris Harper, and Aaron Pflugrad.

Overall, defense will not be a highlight of this contest, as both teams have not shown stellar defenses this season. Both are talented, but overplayed due to time of possession. Both teams simply score too quickly to give their defense time to rest.

Keys to Game

Oregon needs to come out firing on all cylinders. If Oregon plays like they did in the Civil War, they will most assuredly win. Like I stated before, time of possession kills the Oregon offense. The Ducks score too quickly to give the defense time to rest. In order to fix this, the Ducks need to slow down the tempo of the game.

In order for them to do this however, the Ducks need to build a two-possession lead, which can be as minuscule as 10 points. Once the Ducks can build a two-possession lead, the offense can slow down the tempo of the game, not only advantaging the offense, but also giving the defense valuable time to rest.

This game will prove to be a high scoring shootout, and you do not want to miss this game.

MY VERDICT: Oregon Ducks 49   Oklahoma State Cowboys 48