Tostitos Fiesta Bowl Fails to Deliver on Promise

 

The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl matchup between the Oregon Ducks and Kansas State Wildcats appeared– on paper, at least– to be one of the more intriguing of the BCS matchups this season. What we actually got was a snoozefest.

When the most exciting thing that happened, and that which engendered the most conversation, was an arcane and rare one-point safety, you know things didn’t go as planned– although it was certainly good for some comedy:

https://twitter.com/jon_bois/status/287044793345925121

https://twitter.com/MattRHinton/status/287045196225597440

https://twitter.com/A_RamseyLTSB/status/287044740447350784

So yeah, there was that.

Apart from the short-term thrill of one of college football’s rarest plays, everything else went almost exactly by script and therefore failed to deliver. When two high-octane teams get together, the hope is that a scoring festival will ensue in which neither can stop the other and we have a shootout of West Virginia–Baylor proportions. The facts are, instead, they turn out much more like we saw this evening in Tempe.

Oregon was Oregon, scoring with efficiency when they needed to and proving yet again they are going to be a program to reckon with for some time to come– regardless of whether or not it’s Chip Kelly‘s last game in the Green and Black as rumors circulating suggest. Kansas State couldn’t string together enough sustainable drives to stay with the Ducks, and while you can’t really fault them there– because who can– it certainly didn’t add any intrigue to what was a boring game to watch.

You have to feel for Bill Snyder a little, given the number of opportunities his Wildcats had this season to get over the hump and make a run at history while just falling short. The job he did, however, was first-class as he always is and all credit should go to his game-planning and ability to utilize talent that on paper certainly isn’t as great as many teams in the Big XII, let alone the country.

Collin Klein was rather pedestrian in Tempe, but don’t think he doesn’t have a bright future ahead. The kid has some raw athletic ability and natural instinct which will land him with someone, playing something on Sundays sooner than later.

They can’t all be golden and this one certainly wasn’t, but after all, we can’t be too spoiled.

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Kris Hughes is the College Football Network Manager for Rant Sports. You can follow Kris on Twitter, Google Plus and Facebook.