Would You Rather Play Oregon or Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl?

It's almost a forgone conclusion that the Crimson Tide will spend early January in New Orleans this year for the Sugar Bowl.  This is certainly not where the Tide hoped to be at the start of the season, but this is how the cards played out.  The intriguing part of this is who Alabama's opponent will be.  The safe bet, given the recently announced Big 12/SEC agreement on the Sugar Bowl, would be the Oklahoma Sooners.  However, the Sugar Bowl could also bring in the Oregon Ducks if they wanted to.  I'll make the case for both teams, and we'll see which one provides the best game for Alabama.

Oklahoma Sooners 10-2 (7-2, Big 12)

As a college football traditionalist, this just seems right.  You've got two of the most successful programs of all time playing in one of the sport's most prestigious bowls.  It would be the first meaningful game between the two programs in quite some time.  Oklahoma beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 2003, but that Tide team was on probation and finished with a 4-9 record in Mike Shula's first year.  That year was also the last time the Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops faced off against Nick Saban, whose LSU Tigers defeated the Sooners for the national title in, you guessed it, the Sugar Bowl.

With all that being said, this is just not an impressive Oklahoma team.  They had a great win against rival Oklahoma State, but they also got blown out by both Baylor and Texas.  Plus, since 2003 Bob Stoops' BCS record has been abysmal, only defeating UConn in the Fiesta Bowl one year, and including embarrassing losses to West Virginia and Boise State while getting blown out in title games by USC and Florida.

Oregon Ducks 10-2 (7-2, PAC-12)

These are the fans who printed the now infamous and ill-timed "We Want Bama" shirts.  They may still get their wish if the Sugar Bowl passes on Oklahoma.  All jokes aside, Oregon has been one of the most consistent programs over the past ten years and has looked like the true competitor to Alabama's reign of dominance.  Though not in the venue most wanted to see, this matchup could be the ultimate showdown between the SEC and the PAC-12, the undisputed king of college football and its closest rival.  The two conferences don't share a bowl tie-in, so this could be the best chance to gauge where each conference stands.

However, at this point it seems like Oregon is also just getting in based on name.  They can't handle any physicality, as evident by their losses to Stanford and Arizona, and they seemed to give up late in the season.  It's clear they miss Chip Kelly's play calling and leadership.  I feel a matchup with Alabama would not be near as epic as people want it to be.  Yes, Auburn ran at will on the Tide, but Oregon doesn't have Auburn's size on the offensive line and their defense struggles against the power run game.

With all this being said, I would still rather see Oregon in the Sugar Bowl than Oklahoma.  First, it would send a message to Bob Stoops and the rest of the Big 12 how little prestige their conference has left after Texas and Oklahoma essentially ran off teams in order to get rid of a conference championship game they felt was unfair to their title chances (never mind the fact that the SEC has had one since 1992 and has won the most titles during that time).  Second, Alabama and Oregon need to play each other now before either slips back into mediocrity.  With USC coming off probation soon, its hard to see Oregon being as dominant over the next decade.  So let's play this game now while it still has some meaning left.