The College Football Playoff has produced plenty of exciting moments, and Gary Stokan believes more of the same is headed to Atlanta to start the near year.
Stokan, CEO and President of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, is looking forward to the CFP quarterfinal matchup that will take place between No. 5-seed Texas and No. 4-seed Arizona State at 1 p.m. New Year’s Day.
“It’s one of those games where something’s gotta give,” Stokan said.
“Arizona State has given up the second fewest turnovers, and Texas is third-best at forcing turnovers,” Stokan said. “So it’s a battle of strengths.”
There also is a difference in perception, as the Longhorns entered the season among national title contenders and held the No. 1 ranking — for the first time since the 2008 season — for four weeks this season.
Arizona State, meanwhile, is as much of a Cinderella story as a Power 4 school can be, having been picked last — 16th of 16 schools — in the Big 12 preseason poll. The opening odds reflected the school’s underdog status, with Texas opening as a 13.5-point favorite.
The Sun Devils (11-2) shocked the college football world in their debut Big 12 season, beating Iowa State 45-19 in that league’s championship game to clinch the bye and trip to play at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Arizona State’s balanced offense relied on Cam Skattebo, who finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting, to provide 170 yards and two touchdowns rushing, and another 38 yards and a touchdown on two catches.
It makes for another strength-on-strength matchup, as the Longhorns’ defense ranks seventh in the nation allowing 76 yards rushing per game.
Texas had to rely on that defense to hold off Clemson in a first-round playoff game in Austin last Saturday, staging a critical goal-line stand en route to a 38-24 win that earned the Longhorns a trip back to Atlanta.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that the Longhorns capped their first season in the SEC with a trip to the SEC Championship game, where they lost in overtime to Georgia 22-19.
This marks Texas’ first trip to play in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, and should the Longhorns win, they would become the first team to win all of the New Year’s Six Bowls.
Texas’ New Year’s Six Bowl wins already include (among others):
• 2019 Sugar Bowl, 28-21 over Georgia
• 2009 Fiesta Bowl, 24-21 over Ohio State
• 2005 Rose Bowl, 41-38 over USC
• 2003 Cotton Bowl, 35-20 over LSU
• 1965 Orange Bowl, 21-17 over Alabama
Arizona State, previously a Pac-12 member before its move to the Big 12 this season, won its only previous Peach Bowl game, in 1970.
It was a historic 48-26 win over North Carolina, but not only because it marked the Peach Bowl’s first top-10 team.
The game, itself — played in freezing outdoor elements at the time — spurred fans from the Desert State to convene and invent the Fiesta Bowl.
Arizona State hasn’t played in a New Year’s Six Bowl since 1997, when Jake “The Snake” Plummer came up short against Ohio State in a 20-17 battle.
Plummer, it should be noted, will be on hand for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl festivities, representing the Sun Devils as their “legend.”
Texas and Arizona State have played only once, in the 2007 Holiday Bowl in San Diego, with the Longhorns triumphant in a 52-34 shootout.
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