Sooners' second half Rose Bowl collapse overshadows successful season

PASADENA, Calif. — Every rose has its thorn.

The Granddaddy of Them All turned into an instant classic Monday evening in the annual Rose Bowl Game, ringing in the New Year with a bang.

It just wasn’t scripted the way Oklahoma (12-2) wrote it — proving that even in Hollywood, fairy-tale endings are few and far between.

“That was a helluva football game,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “It’s tough to describe right now with all the disappointment and hurt in the locker room.”

In the first overtime game in Rose Bowl history, No. 3 Georgia (13-1) beat No. 2 Oklahoma, 54-48, in double overtime to book a spot in the national championship game in Atlanta next week.

“Our team laid it all on the line,” Riley said. “It’s been a great run. This will set the stage for even bigger things in the coming years.”

When it was all said and done, there may not have been a Rose Bowl as invigorating as 2018 since USC-Texas in the championship game over a decade ago.

After trading field goals in the first overtime, Georgia linebacker Lorenzo Carter blocked OU kicker Austin Seibert’s field goal, setting up the dagger.

Moments later, Georgia running back Sony Michel, who carved up the Sooners for 181 yards and three rushing touchdowns, scored the emphatic game-winner from 27 yards out on a direct snap.

Michel found a crease down the UGA sideline and sprinted to the home end zone in black outlined in bright red Georgia letters. Instantly, the confetti rained down in front of the 92,844 fans in attendance, meshing in a sea of red created by the similar UGA and OU colors.

For the longest time, it looked as if OU would have the last laugh. A California native fittingly made the biggest of regulation when his defense needed a boost the most.

OU linebacker Caleb Kelly forced a Michel fumble on an aggressive open-field tackle, which was scooped up and returned 46 yards by safety Steven Parker for a go-ahead Sooner touchdown with 5:16 left.

It appeared to be the exclamation point on a wishy-washy game from the OU defense until Georgia answered right back, as Nick Chubb (14 carries, 145 yards, two touchdowns) tied the game at 45-all with 55 seconds left.

To some surprise, the Heisman Trophy winner didn’t deliver a Rose Bowl dagger with game-winning drive in the final seconds.

What was more surprising is one of the best players in college football didn’t deliver in overtime either. Two drives turned into two measly field goal opportunities.

Sooner quarterback Baker Mayfield — who completed 23 of his 35 passes for 287 yards and two passing touchdowns, a receiving touchdown and an interception — is the eighth Heisman winning quarterback to face a top-10 defense in a bowl game, as UGA’s is ranked fourth in the nation.

The previous seven winners held a dismal 1-6 record. With OU’s loss, Mayfield watched that record drop to 1-7. Perhaps it is a curse.

As many roller coaster wins as the Sooners had squeaked out to reach the College Football Playoff, it was somewhat of a shock they didn’t come through once more.

Those dire situations and multiple double-digit blown leads had prepared them for this very moment.

As exhilarating as the game was, it shouldn’t have been that close. Oklahoma appeared to have the game in the bag as the Sooners held a 31-17 lead at halftime.

Then the meltdown began to unfold.

Where in the vast Arroyo Seco did the Oklahoma offense vanish?

Blinded by the UGA headlights for the entire second half, Oklahoma watched Georgia waltz back into the game and take a 38-31 lead only a minute into the fourth quarter.

It was the first lead of the game for the Bulldogs thanks to an untimely interception from Baker Mayfield. UGA safety Dominick Sanders returned Mayfield’s errant pass over the top for 39 yards down inside the 5-yard line which set up a four-yard touchdown catch by Javon Wims, who held on in traffic.

Those were a chunk of the 24 unanswered points scored by Georgia.

The Sooner defense was solid at times, allowing the offense to grab a foothold on the game in the first half. Other times, the defense showed the same old scars that burdened the hopes of reaching this stage of the national semifinals.

Georgia scored on the first play of a drive on two separate occasions. The leaky OU defense once again reared its ugly head as Michel, with a full head of steam, broke free up the middle and outran the entire Sooner defense on his way to a 75-yard touchdown run to get Georgia back within seven points.

Chubb took off for a 50-yard touchdown early in the third quarter to get Georgia back within a touchdown, 31-24.

Those first-play scores may have been what crushed the Sooners the most.

Once Georgia started scoring, anxiety began to sink in. The script was flipped, and it was all of a sudden full on panic mode for the defense trying to nurse a now narrow lead. That uneasiness reverberated across the field to the offensive huddle, where Mayfield and the Sooners’ offense looked rattled not long after coming out of the locker room.

Georgia’s defense had finally come to play. The Bulldogs, boasting the nation’s fourth-ranked defense, forced back-to-back 3-and-outs and began laying punishing hits to rattle Mayfield.

UGA’s defense had a different tenacity about it in the second half, and it showed as the Bulldogs began to slow down the Heisman Trophy winner.

The Bulldogs forced four punts and snagged an interception to shut down Oklahoma on each of the Sooners’ first five drives to start the second half, in addition to clamping down in overtime.

Georgia’s highly praised defense seemed nearly nonexistent in the first half. Oklahoma carved the Bulldogs up as if they were leftover Thanksgiving turkey. OU’s first three touchdown drives took only 2:06, 1:31, and 2:36 off the clock.

When Mayfield caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from CeeDee Lamb on a critical third and goal just before halftime, he became the first quarterback with a touchdown pass and a touchdown reception in the Rose Bowl since Matt Leinart did so against Michigan in 2004.

It came with six seconds left on a brilliant play call from OU coach Lincoln Riley as the offensive wizard drew up a reverse pass. Two Bulldogs bit on Lamb who lobbed it over the top to Mayfield.

It was the second big-time play of the drive by Lamb, as his timely block on the edge sprung Marquise “Hollywood” Brown for 45 yards down the sideline on the underneath drag route on a critical third-and-long.

Without those pivotal points before the half, Oklahoma may not have had such a commanding lead before the meltdown commenced.

Meltdowns were a common theme of the Sooners’ season, yet each time Oklahoma found a way to respond and win — some way, somehow.

But that was 2017. It is 2018 now.

The thorn on the final rose was pretty sharp.

solson@swoknews.com