Last night I took a punch to the midsection when Miami superstar quarterback D’Eriq King got hit in the knee and was knocked out of the game in the second quarter of the Cheez-It Bowl in Orlando with a serious knee injury. He’s a great kid and want to him get back. I picked Miami 38-35, so that seemed demoralizing. But second string quarterback N’Kosi Perry stepped in and played like a champion. He was 27-of-40 for 305 yards and 2 TDs as the Canes fell 37-34 to OK State. But I counted 6 drops by his receivers, 3 on deep balls of 40 yards or more that would have set the offense up first and goal or very close to first and goal. And there was one drop on a wide receiver screen at the Cowboys’ 20 that was a clear house call. Very frustrating. But Perry kept fighting throughout the game. He was fantastic. The SEC referee crew, led by lead launderer Steve Marlowe (some sort of Shakespeare connection/tragedy figure in English class back in the day), was very questionable. After Miami scored to cut it to 21-19, on the first play of the next possession a Miami defensive lineman barely tipped a pass from OK State quarterback Spencer Sanders and as it was floating to the receiver the Miami db hit the receiver when the ball got there and the ball popped in the air and was intercepted. The Marlowe crew called PI on Miami. It was an outrageously bad call in my opinion. On replay, the ball was tipped. It was a frustrating game. It just took the air out of me.

By the time Texas was leading Colorado 14-0 in the Valero Alamo Bowl, I was spent, so told my wife I was callin’er a night. She turned on a show on Netflix she wanted to watch and when she turned the game back on afterwards, Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger was hurt. I’m glad I was conked out, because I may have lost it. Fortunately, Texas prevailed, 55-23. Nice playing by the Longhorns.

Here’s a look at today’s action.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl

Wake Forest (4-4) vs. Wisconsin (3-3)

Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, N.C.

11 AM CT

ESPN

Taylor, Stinch, Marty

Laundry, SEC, James Carter

Whisky by 9 1/2

Walt commented on this yesterday, and I agreed with him, and I see this happening today as well. When in doubt, go with the better quarterback. Walter’s comment made a lot of sense to me and I believe that as well. Wake’s Sam Hartman has completed 139-of-236, 59%, for 1,906 yards, 10 TDs against only 1 int. The Badgers’ Graham Mertz, a true freshman, started off the season hot throwing for 7 TDs and 0 ints in his first 2 games. But in the last 4, he threw 1 TD and 5 Ints. Hartman is a senior. Give me Hartman and his Demon Deacons to pull off the upset in the Queen City.

Wake Forest 24, Wisconsin 21

Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic

No.6 Oklahoma Sooners (8-2) vs. No.7 Florida Gators (8-3)

AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX.

7 PM CT

ESPN

Tess, , Dusty Dvoracek. Holly,

Aladdin, PAC-12, Chris Coyte

OU by 7

There’s a case to be made for both of these teams being in the playoff, though Florida’s loss to LSU was a knockout blow for their chances, unless they had beaten the Crimson Tide, which they came close to doing. Oklahoma lost to Kansas State at home and Iowa State on the road, then got hot and won 7 in a row. Texas A&M had a really good argument over Ohio State, but the Committee inexplicably felt like 6 victories was enough to get Ohio State in the playoff. We’ll see how that turns out.

But it makes for an awesome Cotton Bowl tonight despite the fact that Florida is missing their 4 top receivers. All everything tight end Kyle Pitts (43-770, 12 TDs), the hyperkinetic speedster Kadarius Toney, an explosive play or house call waiting to happen, an amazing talent (70-984, 10 TDs) and another superstar, Trevon Grimes (38-589, 9 TDs ), have all called it a career and are going to focus on the NFL. The Gators’ 4th best receiver, Jacob Copeland (23-435, 3 TD), is out with COVID. They still have a couple of other guys with experience. Justin Shorter has 23 receptions on the season for 246 and 3 TDs. Kemore Gamble can makeup for Pitts’ absence kind of. He caught 9 passes for 147 yards and 3 TDs.. Keon Zipperer caught a pair of TD passes.

And they still have Kyle Trask, who completed 285-of-409 passes, 70%, for 4,125 yards, 43 TDs against only 5 ints. His numbers were beyond superb. If it wasn’t for DeVonta Smith and Mac Jones, he would capture the Heisman hardware. The Gator running game has not been that swift though. Dameon Pierce has rushed for 443 and 4 TDs. Trask can run pretty well and he’s tough. He’s rushed for 3 TDs.

The defense will have their hands full with the Sooners offense. Redshirt freshman Spencer Rattler figured it out against Texas and really starting cookin after that 53-46 4 OT victory. He has completed 200-of-294 passes, 68%, for 2,784 yards, 25 TDs against only 7 ints. His key target is Marvin Mims, who has 36 receptions for 583 yards and 8 TDs. Jeremiah hall added 17 receptions for 206 and 5 TDs. Charleston Rambo only caught 2 TD passes, but he’s been dangerous for a while in Norman. He posted 23 receptions for 267 yards. The running game is strong led by Rhamondre Stevenson, who, after being suspended for the first 4 games of the season, came on like a concrete truck, rushing for 479 yards on 83 carries, 5.8 yards per carry, and 6 TDs. T.J. Pledger added 451 yards and 5 TDs. So the OU offense is prolific.

They’ve been playing more defense at OU this season. Defensive tackle Isaiah Thomas (6’5”, 267) leads the defense with 12 tackles for loss and adds 7 1/2 sacks. Linebacker Nik Bonitto (6’3”, 238) posted 10 1/2 TFLs and led the team in sacks with 8. The leading tackler on the team is linebacker Brian Asamoah II, who posted 60 stops. The Sooners picked off 13 passes led by Nickelback Tre Norwood, who intercepted 4 passes. So the Sooners, under Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch have improved on that side of the ball.

Decision

Everything is working against Florida. They lost their last 2 games, a shocking upset loss to LSU and a close, very thrilling one, but devastating one to the Crimson Tide. They’ve lost their top 4 receivers for this game, and they only have 60 scholarship players according to Dan Mullen.

But I still like’em.

The Oklahoma players are already talking about being national champions next year. Rattler seems to already have that figured out. While you would think Florida is the team that won’t be focused, I like the Gators to be the team that IS focused and Oklahoma the team that will be overlooking the Gators. I like that wounded dog theory. Don’t mess with one. That’s what you have in the Gators. Like Kyle Trask and his makeshift receiving corps, who are mostly 4 stars and Kemore Gamble was a 5 star so I use that term makeshift loosely, to outscore the Sooners. Trask gets’er done.. He’ll be motivated too with trying to impress the people at the next level, plus he’s a competitor, he wants to go out with a New Year’s Six Cotton Bowl victory. That’s very important to him, too. He didn’t wait his time on the bench his first couple of years to go out a loser. He’s a winner. Give me Trask and the Gatuhs. OU’s defense, though better, hasn’t faced the likes of Trask. They’ll score too, but Florida will edge them out in the scoring department. Should be an epic in Jerryville.

Florida 49, Oklahoma 45