Visit The Boston Globe Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Comment on this Scroll to top of page By Ralph D. Russo Associated Press December 31, 2017 LOS ANGELES — A few days after the Rose Bowl matchup between No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Georgia was set, Sooners coach Lincoln Riley and Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart ran into each other at a high school in Georgia. They were there by themselves to recruit the same player.‘‘We were waiting for like a crowd of reporters to come out,’’ Riley said early in Rose Bowl week. ‘‘I thought it might have been staged in a way.’’Riley and Smart got a brief chance to catch up again Sunday at a downtown Los Angeles hotel, sharing the stage with The Leishman Trophy that goes to the winner of Monday’s game in Pasadena. Advertisement It’s a good-looking trophy, but the big prize for Oklahoma (12-1) and Georgia (12-1) is a spot in the College Football Playoff … [Read more...] about Oklahoma, Georgia have larger prize in mind than Rose Bowl
Oklahoma
Goodwin, Jensen help No. 24 Oklahoma St women hold off KSU
STILLWATER — Loryn Goodwin and Kaylee Jensen had double-doubles and No. 24 Oklahoma State held on to defeat Kansas State 76-68 on Sunday after giving up most of an 18-point lead in the second half. Goodwin had 21 points and 11 rebounds, Jensen 19 and 18 for the Cowgirls (11-2, 2-0 Big 12), who won their fifth straight. Mandy Coleman scored 17. Coleman opened the game with two 3-pointers and Oklahoma State opened a 10-0 lead on the Wildcats (8-5, 0-2). It was 19-13 after one quarter and a 10-0 run in the second quarter helped stretch the margin to 19 before KSU cut it to 42-26 at the half. Jensen’s jumper put the lead at 18 with 3½ to go in the third quarter before the Wildcats closed it to 57-47 entering the fourth quarter. Back-to-back jumpers by Kayla Goth followed by a 3-pointer from Rachel Ranke pulled KSU within 62-58 with 6:51 left but the Cowgirls recovered with a 10-0 run and enough free throws in the final minute to secure the win. Goth had 17 points, Peyton … [Read more...] about Goodwin, Jensen help No. 24 Oklahoma St women hold off KSU
State troopers: 2 dead in separate crashes in Oklahoma
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says it is investigating what caused a pair of crashes that left two people dead. Both crashes happened Sunday morning.In the first, the patrol said in a preliminary report that 50-year-old Ada resident Jimmy Neel was killed after being dragged and struck by the back axle of a tractor trailer at a private business in Pontotoc County. Troopers say it wasn’t immediately clear why Neel was near the front part of the trailer.Earlier Sunday morning in Creek County, 28-year-old Douglas J. Harper was pronounced dead at the scene after his SUV drifted off the road, rolled and ejected him.Authorities said they’re investigating why Harper’s vehicle left the roadway.The patrol says in its report that Harper wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. … [Read more...] about State troopers: 2 dead in separate crashes in Oklahoma
Rose Bowl preview, Oklahoma vs. Georgia: Who has the edge?
How is it that two of the most storied programs in college football history have never met?On Monday, in a matchup of opposite styles, Oklahoma and Georgia will play each other in the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal. It’s the first meeting between two of college football’s bluebloods, with the winner advancing to Atlanta and the CFP title game on Jan. 8.Oklahoma features Baker Mayfield, the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner who exudes confidence, plays with tremendous swagger and loves trash talk. Georgia has two of the best backs in the country in Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, but the foundation of their success this season is rooted in defense, led by Roquan Smith, maybe the best overall defensive player in the country.Oklahoma has been here before, having lost to Clemson in the 2015 Orange Bowl semifinal. Georgia, under second-year coach Kirby Smart, is appearing in the CFP for the first time but is one of two SEC teams represented. Can Mayfield and the Sooners … [Read more...] about Rose Bowl preview, Oklahoma vs. Georgia: Who has the edge?
Rose Bowl: How Oklahoma and Georgia match up
Rose Bowl No. 3 Georgia (12-1) vs. No. 2 Oklahoma (12-1) at Rose Bowl, Monday, 2:10 p.m. TV: ESPN. Radio: 710. Fever pitch Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield caused a lot of stress this week. His reported illness had Sooners fans fretting about whether he would play and media members worrying he wouldn’t be able to talk. The unpredictable Mayfield rose from his sickbed Saturday to calm the nerves of both. Rick Neuheisel, former UCLA quarterback and coach, knows what Mayfield is going through. The day of the 1984 Rose Bowl, Neuheisel came down with food poisoning. “You’re going to do some soul-searching to what evil things you did in your past to deserve this sort of fate,” Neuheisel said. “I was making deals with God, all sorts of things in my head.” Neuheisel threw for 298 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-9 victory over Illinois. He is certain Mayfield will be ready to go. “All he’ll be doing is staring at the rose in the middle … [Read more...] about Rose Bowl: How Oklahoma and Georgia match up
Bowl outcomes favor Oklahoma, Clemson in CFP semifinals
Georgia and Alabama are buying into the disclaimer often heard on mutual funds advertisements. Past performance is no indication of future results. In this case, the performance is that of Southeastern Conference teams in bowl games, at least to date. The SEC got off to a slow start, dropping its first three before Mississippi State’s surge to beat Louisville in the TaxSlayer Bowl on Saturday. With a back-loaded bowl schedule, the SEC can change the narrative in three games before the Bulldogs meet Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl and the Crimson Tide takes on Clemson in the Sugar Bowl. Those winners play for the College Football Playoff championship on Jan. 8. But based on results to date, the Sooners’ Big 12 and Tigers’ ACC have fared better. And there has been meaning in postseason conference success. Last year, the ACC had the best bowl record (9-3), helped by Clemson’s national championship. The SEC had the top record (9-2) in 2015 and Alabama won the title. In … [Read more...] about Bowl outcomes favor Oklahoma, Clemson in CFP semifinals
Wind chill advisory issued for northeast Oklahoma
The National Weather Service has issued a wind chill advisory for parts of northeast Oklahoma, warning that frostbite and hypothermia are possible. Cold air and wind will combine to create extremely cold wind chills. Values are expected to range from 5 above zero to 15 below zero, the weather service predicts. The advisory, in effect from 6 p.m. Sunday to noon on Monday, applies to Tulsa, Rogers, Mayes, Wagoner, Delaware, Creek, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, Cherokee, Adair, Muskogee, McIntosh and Pittsburg counties. The weather service warns that such wind chill values will cause frostbite in as little as 30 minutes to exposed skin. … [Read more...] about Wind chill advisory issued for northeast Oklahoma
Will Georgia or Oklahoma make it to the National Championship?
Two teams from the same conference had never made the College Football Playoff in the same year before Georgia and Alabama this year.It’s no surprise, really, that the S.E.C. was the first conference in the short history of the Playoff to achieve that feat. The S.E.C. has sent a representative—the Crimson Tide—to two of the three title games staged so far in the playoff era. This year, Georgia came to the party too. The Bulldogs easily handled Auburn—who beat Alabama the week before—in the SEC Championship Game.That gained the number-three-ranked Bulldogs a place in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on January 1. Lying in wait are the second-ranked Oklahoma Sooners, who wrapped up the Big 12 against T.C.U. on December 12. The Playoff era hasn’t been kind to the Big 12. No team from that conference has ever won a Playoff game, though with Heisman winner Baker Mayfield at the controls the Sooners enter the semifinal as slight favorites to knock off … [Read more...] about Will Georgia or Oklahoma make it to the National Championship?
Irresistible force, meet immovable object: Oklahoma, Georgia prepare for playoff collision
LOS ANGELES — Stack the appeals and the curiosities of the 104th Rose Bowl, and you end up with a grandaddy of a heap. There’s the freshness of Oklahoma and Georgia, old codgers of football ambition, tangling for the first time in the 148 years since the nation started going cuckoo for football played by collegians. There’s the electricity that flows from doubling as a College Football Playoff semifinal, the winner advancing to Jan. 8 and to Atlanta opposite the winner of the Sugar Bowl between No. 1 Clemson (12-1) and No. 4 Alabama (11-1). There’s the unnecessarily silly case of the flu-like illness of Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, which apparently hasn’t prevented him from practicing and which Oklahoma watered with secrecy until it grew into some sort of state secret across recent days. That is until Mayfield appeared at media day Saturday and said, “Yeah, I’m not dying.” (He did speak of tea, honey, coffee and … [Read more...] about Irresistible force, meet immovable object: Oklahoma, Georgia prepare for playoff collision
Bucks: NBA to discuss review rules in wake of missed call in Milwaukee’s win over Oklahoma City
On the heels of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s game-winning basket, on which the Milwaukee Bucks star stepped on the baseline before finishing a dunk to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder, the NBA’s competition committee will add that type of play to the agenda for discussion at its meeting in March, league spokesman Tim Frank told ESPN on Saturday. Under the current rules, the play was not reviewable because it did not meet the criteria to trigger a review. “In any reviewable matter, there has to be a whistle called on the floor,” head official Derrick Stafford told a reporter after Friday’s game, a 97-95 Bucks win in Oklahoma City. “There was no whistle blown for the play, so we couldn’t review it.” With 4.7 seconds left, the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook had tied the game on a 3-pointer. The Bucks called timeout and set up a play for Antetokounmpo, who spun on Josh Huestis, stepped on the baseline and finished a dunk over Westbrook with … [Read more...] about Bucks: NBA to discuss review rules in wake of missed call in Milwaukee’s win over Oklahoma City