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Sugar Bowl: Oklahoma and Auburn Have Played Just Once Before
Oklahoma has made more Sugar Bowl appearances than Auburn, even though the Tigers reside in the Southeastern Conference, which has had long ties to the Big Easy postseason bowl game.
Nov 26, 2016; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide defensive lineman Jonathan Allen (93) hits Auburn Tigers quarterback John Franklin III (5) at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 14 Auburn are matched up in the 83rd annual Sugar Bowl game on Jan. 2 in the Mercedes Superdome in New Orleans. The Sugar Bowl is one of the six bowl games designated as the New Year’s Six, which include the two national semifinal games (part of the College Football Playoff) and the four other prime postseason bowl assignments.
The Sooners will be making their eighth all-time appearance in the Sugar Bowl, the most recent being a stunning 45-31 victory over then-two-time defending national champion Alabama in January 2014. Oklahoma is 5-2 all-time in its Sugar Bowl appearances. Auburn has been to the Sugar Bowl five times and has two wins, two losses and a tie in those five previous appearances.
Auburn’s last Sugar Bowl appearance was in 2005. The Tigers defeated Virginia Tech 16-13 in that game.
One of the Sooners’ two Sugar Bowl losses came in 2004 in the BCS National Championship game against LSU. The No. 1 Tigers came out on top in that game 21-14. Oklahoma had been ranked No. 1 in the country before losing to Kansas State 35-7 in a stunning upset in the Big 12 championship game that season.
The one time previously that Oklahoma and Auburn played in football, ironically, was in the Sugar Bowl following the 1971 season.
Much like this season, Oklahoma’s potent Wishbone offense was the force behind one of the most explosive offensive attacks in the country. The Sooners’ averaged 566 yards of offense every game, most all of it generated on the ground.
In the 1972 Sugar Bowl game against Auburn and its Heisman-winning quarterback Pat Sullivan, Oklahoma struck early and often running out to a 31-0 halftime lead and never looked back in handing the SEC champions a 40-22 drubbing.
Oklahoma rushed for 439 yards in the 1972 Sugar Bowl win over Auburn, most of that total coming from quarterback Jack Mildren and running backs Greg Pruitt and Leon Crosswhite. The Sooners ran 91 total plays in the game. All but four of those were running plays. OU had 11 yards passing in the game and totaled 450 yards of offense.
The 1971 season was a banner one for the Big Eight Conference. Nebraska, Oklahoma and Colorado finished one, two, three that year in the final Associated Press rankings. Auburn came into the Sugar Bowl game with the Sooners ranked No. 5 in the country, but dropped to 12th in the final poll. The Sooners ended with an 11-1 record that season, the lone loss coming against Nebraska in the game once billed as the Game of the Century.
This year’s Sugar Bowl matchup, which comes 45 years almost to the day after the last game between these two schools, will feature a contrast in styles.
The 10-2 Sooners come into the game with the country’s third best offense, averaging 557.3 yards per game. Baker Mayfield and Co. will be going up against the country’s 20th best defense.
Auburn, which ended the current season with an 8-4 record, has allowed an average of 348.4 yards per game and is fifth in the country in scoring defense (15.6 points per game).
Bob Stoops, who coached in the SEC when he was an assistant coach at Florida under Steve Spurrier, has coached in six bowl games against SEC teams while at Oklahoma. Stoops is 2-4 in those contests. the two lone wins coming against Arkansas in the 2002 Cotton Bowl and over Alabama in the 2014 Sugar Bowl.
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