Bowl Breakdown: Holiday No. 6 Oregon (10-1) vs. Oklahoma (7-4) Dec. 29, 8 p.m. (ESPN) Qualcomm Stadium (70,000) San Diego

SI.com's Cory McCartney analyzes the matchup.

Breaking down Oregon

Adrian Peterson has averaged 156.5 yards and two touchdowns in the last four games. John W. McDonough/SI

For the second straight year, a Pac-10 team that was spurned by the BCS is cast off to San Diego. Oregon thrived in its first year executing the spread option offense, ranking seventh in the nation in passing offense (310.1 yards per game) and ninth in scoring (36.4 points per game). Dennis Dixon and Brady Leaf have split time at quarterback after Kellen Clemens' season-ending injury. Leaf directed a 27-20 overtime win against Cal, while Dixon set up a game-winning field goal to beat Washington State.

Defensive end Haloti Ngata, the co-Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year, leads a unit that has struggled against premiere running backs. Heisman winner Reggie Bush burned Oregon for 122 yards, while USC teammate LenDale White added 111. And in consecutive weeks, Arizona's Mike Bell ran for 158 yards and Cal's Marshawn Lynch rolled for 189 -- both their season highs.

Breaking down Oklahoma

The surging Sooners won five of their last six games, losing only to Texas Tech on a disputed touchdown on the final play of the game. Last year's Heisman runner-up, Adrian Peterson, overcame an ankle injury that sidelined him for all or most of four games to rush for 1,024 yards and 14 touchdowns. Quarterback Rhett Bomar has progressed nicely since coach Bob Stoops chose to go with him over Paul Thompson. Bomar has thrown for 1,789 yards with a receiving corps that includes three true freshmen.

Senior tackle Dusty Dvoracek leads a defense that has been lights out against the run -- allowing 91.2 yards a game (fifth in the nation) -- and is 16th in total defense (304.8 ypg). But the secondary, which includes freshman safety Reggie Smith and sophomores D.J. Wolfe (cornerback) and Darien Williams (safety), is young and vulnerable.

Final Analysis

The Ducks may have trouble getting up for this one after the outrage of being left out of the BCS. Add in the fact that Oklahoma is hungry to show that this year was an aberration as it tries to get back into the national title race for 2006, and we'll have a repeat of shunned Cal's letdown against Texas Tech last year.

The Pick: Oklahoma 28, Oregon 21.