San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
HOLIDAY?
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
No. 8 North Carolina tops No. 19 Virginia Tech in a shootout and is in prime position for a bowl, maybe the one in San Diego.
The SDCCU Holiday Bowl was dubbed “America’s Most Exciting Bowl Game” early in its history for featuring games that were either high-scoring shootouts or in doubt until the final seconds, or highscoring shootouts that were in doubt until the final seconds.
The Holiday begins a new six-year agreement this season in which the Pac-12, which has supplied a team every year since 1998, is matched up against an ACC team for the first time in the game.
It appeared both No. 8 North Carolina and No. 19 Virginia Tech were trying to curry favor with the Redcoats on Saturday.
North Carolina outlasted the Hokies in a 56-45 victory that represented the highest-scoring game between ranked teams in ACC history.
That would have been a record even for the Holiday Bowl, where the high-point mark came in BYU’S classic 46-45 comeback over SMU in the 1980 game regarded as among the greatest bowl games of all time.
North Carolina rushed for 399 yards against Virginia Tech, its highest rushing total in 32 years.
Tar Heels running backs Michael Carter (214 yards, 2 TDS) and Javonte Williams (169 yards, 2 TDS) gave the team a pair of running backs who each rushed for more than 160 yards in a game for the first time in school history.
“Those are two of the best backs in the country,” North Carolina coach Mack Brown told reporters after the game. “They’ve got balance, they’re fast, they’ve got the power and quickness to run inside, and the speed to run outside. They are two of our best weapons. And we know that.”
North Carolina would check a lot of boxes for the Holiday Bowl.
There’s the brand name (ok, mostly because of basketball).
There’s the name coach. Brown brought Texas here so many times (2000, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2011) that he almost qualified for a personalized parking spot at Qualcomm Stadium. He was inducted into the Holiday Bowl Hall of Fame in 2015.
There’s a top-10 ranking. North Carolina should climb into the top five this week after No. 4 Florida was upset Saturday by Texas A&M.
The Holiday Bowl actually is in an enviable position with its ACC tie-in. The bowl gets one of the top three picks after the CFP, guaranteeing one of the conference’s top four teams.
The ACC this week had four top-10 teams — No. 1 Clemson, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 7 Miami and No. 8 North Carolina — for the first time in its history.
Any one of the four would be welcomed to San Diego in December (or January, given the delay to the season).
It’s difficult to say which Pac-12 team could be headed here. For one thing, they have to actually start playing some games to weed out the field.
Two teams to discount would be USC (three appearances in six years) and Washington State (two appearances in four years).
Any enthusiasm should be tempered by the knowledge that at this point state guidelines prohibit fans from attending games.
With SDCCU Stadium shuttered, the Holiday Bowl will be looking for a new local venue for the 43rd annual game.
At this point, the best guess would be USD’S Torero Stadium, but it remains a very fluid situation.
Say, aren’t you ...
The Virginia Tech-north Carolina game featured a familiar face at quarterback for the Hokies.
Braxton Burmeister, the pride of La Jolla Country Day School, had been starting at QB while incumbent Hendon Hooker was sidelined the first two games of the season.
Burmeister (7-for-15, 79 yards) and Hooker (7-for-13, 136 yards, 2 TDS) split time Saturday against North
Carolina.
Burmeister, who sat out last year following his transfer from Oregon, is the section’s all-time leader in total yards (14,972), passing yards (11,512), passing touchdowns (127) and pass completions (853).
Nothing rattles him
Oklahoma redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler was on Heisman Trophy preseason watch lists, but has had an uneven start to the season amid upset losses to Kansas State and Iowa State.
Even so, it was almost unimaginable to see Rattler benched in the second quarter of Saturday’s game against No. 22 Texas.
The move came after two turnovers (a fumble and interception) by Rattler. That’s six in three games.
Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley summoned redshirt sophomore Tanner Mordecai to replace Rattler, who returned in the second half and guided Oklahoma to an amazing win.
All was well again — it seems — after the unranked Sooners’ defeated Texas 53-45 in 4 OTS.
For the game, Rattler was 23-for-35 for 209 yards, with three touchdowns and one interception
After the game, Rattler tweeted: “Always seek out the seed of triumph in every amount of adversity.
“Love my squad!!! Wouldn’t want to be at battle with anybody else. We never quit and kept swinging. Time to get back to work!”
Quick hits
• As upsetting as it was when No. 17 LSU’S game against Missouri was moved from Baton Rouge, La., to Columbia. Mo., because of Hurricane Delta bearing down on Louisiana, that was mild compared with the upset that transpired on the field.
Missouri stopped the Tigers four straight times from the 1-yard line for a 45-41 win that left the defending national champions 1-2 for the first time in 26 years.
Here’s how far LSU’S defense fallen: Missouri quarterback Connor Bazelak passed for 406 yards and four TDS, even though he was without three of his top receivers because of COVID-19 protocols.
• The last-second field goal that gave No. 21 Texas A&M a 41-38 upset win over No. 4 Florida will be the shot shown in highlights, but the spotlight should be on Aggies wide receiver Caleb Chapman.
Chapman, who had just six catches for 52 yards over 15 career games, burst onto the stage for Texas A&M with nine receptions for 151 yards and two TDS.
The biggest one was a 51-yard touchdown catch that tied the game 38-38 with less than five minutes to play.
• After wins by 52, 41 and 31 points this season, No. 15 BYU had a surprisingly tough time with UTSA in a 27-20 win that kept the Cougars (4-0) unbeaten.