(Photo from OU Campus Corner / Twitter)
Toby Rowland, The Voice of the Sooners, gives us great insight into the Rose Bowl and his take on Georgia. We greatly appreciate this terrific broadcaster’s time and thoughts. The Oklahoma faithful are equally excited for this much anticipated first time meeting of these College Football kingpins in where else but Pasadena and the Playoff.
So many greats QBs at OU – Mildren, Watts, Holloway, Heupel, White, Bradford, Jones – obviously Baker Mayfield is on the list, could he be the best?
“That’s tough to say because the QBs of the wishbone era are 180-degrees skill set from the QBs of the last two decades. Steve Davis went 32-1-1 at OU. Jack Mildren was unbelievable. And of course White and Bradford won Heismans. But, I think the prevailing opinion is that if Baker wins the Heisman and a National Championship this year then he moves to number-1 on the list. Three straight Heisman ceremonies. Two college football playoff appearances. And all of the passing records that he has set are hard to surpass. Plus, the entertainment value is off the charts.”
The third great legendary coach in Norman, talk about what Bob Stoops has meant to Oklahoma.
“He made OU a national power again. We went through a decade or so of dark days after Switzer left, but Bob brought us back to the promised land and kept us among the elite in college football for the better part of 20 years. He’s beloved around here and always will be.”
What attributes make Lincoln Riley such an outstanding young coach?
“He is ultra competitive! Don’t be fooled by the calm exterior and baby face, he’s a savage on the field. I also think he might be the premiere play-caller in the sport today. He’s a genius of offensive coaching. The impressive thing is how seamlessly he has moved into the big office and hasn’t missed a beat. It’s like it’s no big deal that he’s now the head coach of one of the elite programs in college football. He’s impressive.”
With so many phenomenal seasons in the 21st century, where does this one rank?
“That question can’t be answered until January. OU has gotten this far several times since 2000, but only finished it off once. If they win a National Championship and Baker wins the Heisman, this will be historic. It will be right there with the 2000 season. In 2000, they came from off the radar and went undefeated and it really cemented that OU was back on the national scene. That was big around here.”
What is your take on Georgia?
“Excellent on both sides of the ball. A ferocious defense that flies around … a downhill running game the likes of which OU hasn’t encountered this year, and another of the brightest, young head coaches in all of college football. I think we’re in for a great game between two great teams.”
Two great programs, Oklahoma and Georgia, isn’t it crazy that they have never played, and how excited are the Sooner faithful about this match-up in the Rose Bowl?
“The matchup and the location has Sooner fans ecstatic. I’m with you, I can’t believe OU and UGA have never played! How’s that possible? But to see these uniforms, in that setting, will be simply awesome!”
What factors do you think will determine who wins?
“Which team can move the ball consistently on the ground? Which team can control the line of scrimmage? That will be the tougher team, and that team will win this game.”
Recent Articles by Jeff Dantzler
[pt_view id=”b358db4n1f”]