Cotton Bowl: One Big Thing

Does Florida care to be at the Cotton Bowl? Do the Gators have enough players to play in the Cotton Bowl?

Should any of that matter to Oklahoma?

The Sooners are 0-3 in bowl games under Lincoln Riley. OU has been good enough to win the Big 12, but never good enough to win a College Football Playoff game.

So Wednesday’s Cotton Bowl in AT&T Stadium is an opportunity for the Sooners to do something they haven’t yet under Riley.

Simple as that.

Does it matter if Florida brought what head coach Dan Mullen said Tuesday was only 60 players and the Sooners are at nearly full strength?

Absolutely not.

It’s been suggested this is a lose-lose situation for the Sooners. If they win, it’ll be against a Gators squad that didn’t want to be there and wasn’t invested and obviously would have beaten Oklahoma with a full roster. If they lose, well, how in the world could OU lose to a Gators side gutted by personnel losses?

Florida can win this game. There’s no doubt. Quarterback Kyle Trask is that good, though his game will certainly be diminished by the absence of his four best receivers. Florida’s defense will be hard-pressed to stop OU’s offense if the Sooners are humming, but the Gators do have good players on that side, too.

So if the game it tighter than perhaps it should be — let's say OU jumps out to a big lead and then Trask leads his team back to a fantastic finish (neither of those is much of a stretch), then make the plays, win the game, hoist the trophy, mark down a New Year's Six bowl win and begin building for a national title run in 2021.

But if Florida is so crippled that the team can’t compete, then Oklahoma needs to make a statement.

Take a page from Spencer Rattler’s book of inspirational quotations and “embarrass someone.”

Riley should embrace the idea that his players have worked and fought and sacrificed for the better part of nine months and should be allowed to turn it loose in the Cotton Bowl. If the Oklahoma side of the scoreboard says 60 when the clock hits zeroes, if Trask throws fiver interceptions or gets sacked 11 times, if Rhamondre Stevenson rushes for 240 yards, then so be it.

The players earned it — most of all by staying diligent in their COVID precautions and doing what was asked of them and not opting out.

If one team literally doesn’t show up for a bowl game, that’s not a lose-lose.

It’s a recipe for a blowout.