I watched a lot of football on Saturday, including the Sugar Bowl which included Alabama vs. Kansas State and then the two playoff games-TCU vs. Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl and Ohio State vs. Georgia in the Peach Bowl.

I will say right off, the Alabama-Kansas State game didn’t suit my fancy. As a graduate of Kansas State, I was naturally pulling for the Wildcats to upset heavily favored Alabama. K-State started off well, but couldn’t keep it up and eventually lost to ‘Bama 45-20. I was especially disappointed since I generally root against the Tide no matter what team it is playing.

I was pleased with the outcome of the TCU-Michigan game. I tend to root for Michigan, but not on Saturday since they were up against a Big 12 team, and I have a soft heart for teams from the Big 12. I didn’t have a dog in the hunt in the Ohio State-Georgia game so I didn’t get very emotionally involved.

What I came away with after a day full of football is that two out of the three games were as entertaining as any I’ve seen at this time of the year. Both playoff games went down to the wire and it wasn’t clear who the winner would be until the game ending buzzer went off.

Right on the heels of Saturday’s games I saw an article about the 50 greatest bowl games ever played. I’m a sucker for such articles and had to take a look. As you might expect, some of the ones listed have interest to this part of the world.

The 1987 Sun Bowl game featuring Oklahoma State and West Virginia made the list. The Cowboys were a 35-33 winner in this event which was played on Christmas Day. Current OSU coach Mike Gundy was a player in that game along with some of the best in OSU history-Barry Sanders and Thurman Thomas. The game was played in a driving snow storm. West Virginia scored with 1:13 remaining and went for a two-point conversion to tie but came up short, leaving the Cowboys with a twopoint lead. It was a big game for Thomas, who rushed for 157 yards and four touchdowns. Gundy was a sophomore quarterback and Sanders was a sophomore running back who made second team All-American. The next year he would win the Heisman Trophy and go on to star in the NFL. The Sun Bowl was Thomas’ final college game.

The 1988 Orange Bowl which pitted Oklahoma against Miami was another game of local interest. Miami won the game 20-14. The Sooners came to the game boasting the nation’s top scoring offense and defense and were unbeaten and ranked No. 1. Miami also was unbeaten and ranked No. 2. The contest was popularly described as being for the national championship as there was no playoff system back then. A defensive battle ensued with Miami effectively containing OU’s wishbone offense. Jimmy Johnson, who had previously coached at Oklahoma State was the mentor at Miami and Barry Switzer was the Sooners coach. Defensive players received a joint MVP for the game, linebacker Bernard Clark of Miami and defensive end Darrell Reed of Oklahoma.

The Rose Bowl game after the 2017 season featured Georgia and Oklahoma with Georgia winning 54-48. This was a playoff game that went two overtimes. OU built up a 17-point lead at one point and appeared on its way to the national championship game. But Georgia scored a touchdown in the final minute to force overtime. The teams each scored in the first overtime but OU’s attempt at a field goal in the second OT was blocked and Georgia went on to score a touchdown for the win. Lincoln Riley was the Sooners’ coach at the time.

Another is one Oklahoma fans would like to forget. I’m talking about the Fiesta Bowl played Jan. 1, 2007 featuring Boise State and the Sooners. Boise State got to the game by going 13-0 and winning the WAC, which wasn’t considered a major conference. Oklahoma was coached by Bob Stoops and had posted an 11-2 record during the regular season. The Sooners lost only one conference game that year, to Red River rival Texas but they defeated Nebraska in the Big 12 Conference championship game. Boise State came prepared for the Fiesta Bowl with a passel of trick plays which served it well. Boise led by 18 points in the third quarter, but the Sooners scored 15 points in less than 30 seconds at one point to retake the lead. The Broncos of Boise State scored on a trick hook and lateral pass with only seven seconds left to force an overtime. OU scored first in the overtime but then another trick play touchdown pass was successful for Boise State and going for a two-point conversion, the Broncos executed a Statue of Liberty play to win the game. Adrian Peterson was a running back for the Sooners.

One game that I especially remember was the 1969 Orange Bowl between Kansas and Penn State. I was living in Illinois at the time and had seen the Jayhawks earlier in the season when they visited Champaign, Ill., to play Illinois. Kansas had a great team with lots of players who would grace the rosters of NFL teams later. John Riggins (Washington Redskins) was a running back, Bobby Douglas (Chicago Bears) was the quarterback, John Zook (Atlanta Falcons) was a defensive end, John Mosier (Denver Broncos) was a tight end and Dale Evans (drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles) was at center. KU defeated Illinois easily and went on to post a 9-1 record to win the Big 8. Penn State was unbeaten and ranked No. 2 coming into the Orange Bowl and also had some future NFL players. Most notable was tight end Ted Kwalick, who went on to play for the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders. Penn State’s coach was Joe Paterno, in his third year as head coach. Riggins gave Kansas a 14-7 lead with a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, but late in the game Penn State blocked a Jayhawk punt and a long pass and a three-yard touchdown run with 30 seconds left in the game made the score 14-13. Kansas stopped Penn State’s two-point conversion attempt, but was flagged for having 12 men on the field. The next attempt was successful and the Nittany Lions won 15-14. KU’s coach was Pepper Rodgers who always had a quip. When asked about the 12-men on the field, his response was, “You can’t blame a guy for trying. We were hoping no one would notice.”

The No. 1 game on the list of Top 50 Bowl games was the Jan. 4, 2006 Rose Bowl game between Texas and Southern California. Texas won the game which the list compiler called the greatest college football game ever. USC had an outfit that some experts called the greatest team ever. On the roster were quarterback Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, plus a wealth of talent besides. The game was for all the marbles in terms of deciding a national champion. Vince Young was the Texas standout in the game and he ran it in for the winning touchdown on fourthand goal. The final score was Texas 41, USC 38. On top of the game highlights, it was Hall-of-Fame announcer Keith Jackson’s last game to top it all off.

We didn’t come close to covering all 50 of this list of best bowl games. I’m sure that if I took the time to stop and remember I could come up with some significant bowl games that didn’t make the list. In fact, one that comes to mind is the Jan. 1, 1979 Orange Bowl that featured Oklahoma vs. Nebraska. Nebraska had upset No. 1 ranked Oklahoma 17-14 earlier in the year. It appeared Nebraska would go on to play Penn State for the national championship, but then Missouri upset Nebraska the next week. Both Oklahoma and Nebraska had 9-1 records and it was decided to have a rematch in the Orange Bowl. OU jumped out to a big lead in the bowl game 28-10 at one point, but Nebraska made a late bid scoring 14 points in the final period. The Sooners did win 31-24. Sooner running back Billy Sims was the offensive MVP and noseguard Reggie Kinlaw of OU was the defensive MVP. This was another coaching matchup of OU’s Barry Switzer and Nebraska’s Tom Osborne.