2014 Sugar Bowl
The 2014 Sugar Bowl was a college football bowl game played on Thursday, January 2, 2014, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The 80th annual Sugar Bowl, it featured the #10 (AP ranked), #11 (BCS ranked) Oklahoma Sooners of the Big 12 Conference and the #3-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide of the Southeastern Conference. The game was broadcast live on ESPN at 8:30 PM EST. It was one of the 2013–14 bowl games that concluded the 2013 FBS football season. It was sponsored by the Allstate insurance company and was officially known as the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
| 2014 Allstate Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| BCS Bowl Game 80th Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 2, 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Mercedes-Benz Superdome | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | New Orleans, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Trevor Knight (QB – Oklahoma) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Alabama by 17½ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National anthem | Bryan Batt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Brad Allen (ACC) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | Bands from participants | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 70,473 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$17,000,000 per team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN, ESPN Deportes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | ESPN:
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| Nielsen ratings | 9.3 (16.3M viewers) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Oklahoma was selected to participate in the Sugar Bowl after a 10–2 season that culminated in a 33–24 victory over Oklahoma State. Alabama was selected as the other half of the matchup after an 11–1 season that ended in a 34–28 loss to Auburn.
Oklahoma defeated Alabama 45–31, in the process overcoming the largest spread in BCS history; Alabama had been a 17½-point favorite. The previous record of 16½ points was overcome just the day before in the 2014 Fiesta Bowl, won by the UCF Knights 52–42 over the Baylor Bears. Oklahoma quarterback Trevor Knight, who completed 32 of 44 passes for 4 touchdowns and 348 yards, was named the game's most valuable player.