Why the Alamo Bowl between Oklahoma, Arizona could be the best game of bowl season

Bowl season is now in full swing as the post-Christmas games begin, with several top-notch offerings on the menu in the coming days. Oklahoma vs. Arizona in the Valero Alamo Bowl may just be one of the best.

The reason?

There aren’t a whole lot of opt-outs going into the game and both teams are looking to cap very successful regular seasons with one final victory.

“You look at Oklahoma, they’ve had a couple opt-outs, but not a ton,” SoonerScoop’s George Stoia III said on the Andy Staples On3 show. “It’s really on the offensive line that you’re going to see some new names, just because they have a couple guys declaring for the draft. But they also have a couple super seniors — McKade Mettauer, Walter Rouse — expected to play in this game, so other than that Oklahoma’s got a lot of guys playing.

“You go on the defensive side of the ball, I expect them to have every single starter playing in this game on defense. And then Arizona, they’ve had very few opt-outs. So I think that this could end up being one of the better bowl games of the bowl season just because I think both teams also are pretty motivated.”

Both teams are coming off tremendous seasons with significant year-over-year improvement.

After going 6-7 a year ago, Oklahoma went 10-2 this season. Of course, that included quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who has hit the NCAA transfer portal and won’t play in Thursday’s Alamo Bowl.

Arizona, on the other hand, went 5-7 last season and also showed a four-win improvement, reaching 9-3 this year. Coach Jedd Fisch has the program on a clear upward trajectory.

And capping this season with a win in the bowl game would be huge for the Wildcats.

“Arizona, I think they’ve only won 10 games three times in their school history,” Stoia said. “If they can go out and win against Oklahoma, a team that they really respect, I think it would mean a lot for their program moving forward. Then on the flip side, I think Oklahoma reaching 11 games and having that momentum going into the SEC would be massive for them.”

Simply put, having two teams that appear to have a lot to play for — and a lot of players to play for it with — is somewhat rare these days in bowl season.

It should make for a thrilling game on Thursday.

There’s one other storyline to watch for Oklahoma, too, one that could set the tone heading into SEC play.

“It’s going to be really interesting to see, because OU’s had a lot of excitement,” Stoia said. “You’ve got Danny Stutsman, Billy Bowman both announced they’re coming back next year, which they feel really good about.

“Then again, all eyes are on Jackson Arnold. What does he look like? And I think Oklahoma, what they don’t want is the narrative to be all offseason, ‘Hey, is Jackson Arnold really the guy?’ So you don’t want to have that type of performance on Thursday.”