Oregon football and the Pac-12 were winless during the 2021 bowl season as opt-outs plagued teams’ opportunities at winning their respective games.
The Conference of Champions did not live up to its name during bowl season this year. The best chance for a win was in the Rose Bowl where the Utah Utes had the Ohio State Buckeyes on the ropes after taking an early 14-0 lead, but the Utes lost their field general Cameron Rising to an injury and were not able to hold on, in the end, losing by a field goal.
The game between Utah and Ohio State was by far the most entertaining and high-scoring game of probably the entire bowl season.
The Pac-12’s bowl season started with Oregon State which could not get it together on a loss to Utah State, 24-13, in the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl. Then came Oregon’s chance against Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl. It was the Ducks’ slow start that did them in.
With an interim head coach and missing more than a handful of players, most from guys opting out and looking toward the future, the Ducks did their best to slug it out with the Sooners, coming up short in the end, 47-32. Following the game, Quarterback Anthony Brown disclosed to the media that his season had quite a few injuries he played through in 2021. The Ducks had a depleted wide receiving corps from opt-outs and injuries.
Arizona State kept it close against Wisconsin in the Las Vegas Bowl, but lost in the end 20-13. I was happy to see that Washington State was able to get to a bowl with how their season played out. They lost against Central Michigan, which filled a hole left when Miami was not able to play due to COVID-19.
When the college football season started, the Pac-12 was among the least represented conferences in the Associated Press. It appears the Pac-12 will end the season the same way. The Holiday Bowl is still holding out hope to play after UCLA pulled out from COVID-19.
Two games remain in this college football season. The TaxAct Texas Bowl will have Kansas State facing LSU on Tuesday. The final game of the season is the College Football Playoff National Championship between two SEC teams in Alabama and Georgia on Monday, Jan. 10.