Gators aim to reprise last time vs. Sooners, though no title on line

Dan Mullen has been part of two national championships with Florida, the last for the Gators coming in a win over Oklahoma in his final game as their offensive coordinator before leaving for his first head coaching job.

That BCS National Championship game 12 seasons ago was the only meeting between the No. 8 Sooners and No. 10 Florida before they play in the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday night. While outside of the College Football Playoff, it will be the first New Year’s Six bowl game played in this pandemicaffected season.

“This being our third straight New Year’s Six bowl game, I think the program’s right there and competing with all the top teams in the country,” said Mullen, in his third season as Florida’s head coach after nine seasons at Mississippi State. “And you look at that and as you talk about it, you look at the margin for error to go win championships is extremely small.”

Florida (8-3, No. 7 CFP), which will be without its top four receivers in the Cotton Bowl and has only about 60 scholarship players, lost 52-46 to No. 1 Alabama in the SEC championship game. Its other losses were both by three points — on a game-ending field goal at No. 5 Texas A&M, and when LSU kicked a field goal with 23 seconds left in the Gators’ home finale.

The Sooners (8-2, No. 6 CFP) are back in the NFL stadium where they won their sixth consecutive Big 12 championship earlier this month. They have a seven-game winning streak since losing their first two conference games, but coach Lincoln Riley said he will also look back at this season and be proud of what all of college football accomplished despite COVID-19.

“We have the worst possible setup to make it during a pandemic, with a lot of times community living, just the way our programs are set up, guys still having to go to school,” Riley said. “It’s not the ideal sport to survive during a pandemic, and we’ve found a way to do it.”

Heisman Trophy finalist Kyle Trask is the nation’s

top passer with 375 yards per game and 43 touchdowns. Florida’s All-American tight end Kyle Pitts opted out after the SEC title game before receivers Trevon Grimes and Kadarius Toney announced Monday they were skipping the game to prepare for their NFL futures. Then receiver Jacob Copeland didn’t make the trip after testing positive for COVID-19.

Oklahoma senior cornerback Tre Brown, who had the game-clinching interception in the 27-21 win over No. 12 Iowa State in the Big 12 title game on Dec. 19, opted out to focused on the NFL draft.

ELSEWHERE

Alabama: DeVonta

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Smith is The Associated Press college football player of the year and the first wide receiver to win the award since it was established in 1998. In what could be a preview of the Heisman Trophy voting, Smith received 26 firstplace votes and 114 points to finish comfortably ahead of his teammate and quarterback, Mac Jones. Smith is also the first Alabama player to win the award.

Illinois: Quarterback

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Brandon Peters has decided to return for a third season with the Illini and play for new coach Bret Bielema.