Fiesta Bowl should bring balance to bowl season

Reporting from Scottsdale, Ariz. -- Oklahoma State and Stanford appear to have transitioned successfully from what might have been to the here and now.

Monday night’s Fiesta Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium will not be played for the national championship and will not feature this year’s Heisman Trophy winner.

Voters voted, computers churned, ballots were tabulated … stuff happened.

Of course, both schools would rather be in New Orleans this week preparing for the Jan. 9 Bowl Championship Series title game, but there are only so many hours you can rehash the playback and the politics.

Stanford (11-1) only had to beat Oregon at home, but didn’t, and Oklahoma State (11-1) had only to defeat unranked Iowa State, which just lost the Pinstripe Bowl.

Those lapses in self-determination allowed one-loss Alabama to slip into a title-game rematch against No.1 Louisiana State.

“This is our national championship,” Stanford safety Michael Thomas said. “This is the only game we are playing.”

Oklahoma State and Stanford might still be the best matchup in this year’s rotation and could outshine the title game in every way except the trophy presentation.

Think of the Fiesta as the “Next Best Thing Bowl” with a money-back guarantee it won’t end up 9-6.

The Southeastern Conference will win and lose a title game in the Superdome next week, but a larger audience might prefer a game without so much cross-pollination.

LSU and Alabama played Nov. 5. Stanford and Oklahoma State meet for the first time.

“I think this is one of those games that people will sit down and watch,” Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden said of his team’s matchup with Stanford.

The game, featuring No. 3 vs. No. 4, strikes a nice counterbalance.

It should not be overly SEC defensive or as recklessly offensive as that 67-56 score in the Alamo Bowl.

“I got dizzy watching that Washington-Baylor game,” Stanford Coach David Shaw said. “That was unreal.”

Some argued it wasn’t even football.

“I wanted someone to make a stop just to see if they could do it,” Stanford tight end Zach Ertz said. “It was fun to see, but it was ridiculous at the same time.”

The Fiesta Bowl would be thrilled to be an Alamo Bowl with tackling.

Oklahoma State and Stanford have explosive offenses and big-strike capability. The Cowboys average 49.3 points per game and the Cardinal scores 43.6, but this isn’t Baylor vs. Washington.

Stanford’s defense was exposed at times this year, against USC and Oregon, but still ranks No. 25 nationally.

Oklahoma State’s defense was a confounding unit of statistical strangeness.

The Cowboys offset a horrific No. 106 national ranking by leading the nation with 42 takeaways.

“If you look at our nationwide rankings, it gets misconstrued,” Oklahoma State defensive coordinator Bill Young said. “We played just a little bit better than most people think.”

Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, who finished second to Baylor’s Robert Griffin III for this year’s Heisman, fears he might have finished 10th had he played Oklahoma State every week.

“They take a knock for giving up yards,” Luck said. “But when they need to make a play, they make a play. Forty-two takeaways, that’s a statistic quarterbacks pay attention to.”

This should an interesting over and undertaking. Luck and Weeden are two of the nation’s most prolific passers, playing their last collegiate games.

Luck caps a transcendent career before heading off to become the top pick in this year’s NFL draft.

Weeden will also be off to the big leagues after turning a flamed-out baseball career into one of college football’s great stories.

Weeden, now 28, toiled for years as a minor league pitcher before arm trouble chased him back to college.

The motion that pained him as hurler did not affect him as a passer.

“My arm has been great,” he said. “I haven’t had any injury, any soreness, anything with my shoulder. It is amazing. It is funny how two different motions are completely different.”

Weeden has thrown 68 touchdown passes the last two seasons; Stanford’s Luck has amassed 80 in three.

“I don’t think there is any question that these two quarterbacks were certainly the most valuable players on their team,” Oklahoma State Coach Mike Gundy said.

The question: Will Oklahoma State’s defense be able to jar turnovers out of Stanford’s ball-control offense?

The Cardinal has only 13 three-and-out drives all season.

Oklahoma State’s defense has 23 interceptions, but how many can you reasonably expect to coax out of the future Peyton Manning?

“They are very patient,” Young said of Stanford. “Three yards is plenty for them on one down, because they’ll get 10 yards or five yards on the next.”

Luck’s numbers dropped off late in the season after injuries to wide receiver Chris Owusu and two of his three tight ends.

Owusu (concussion) won’t be back for the Fiesta Bowl, but all three tight ends are at full strength.

Coby Fleener, Levine Toilolo and Ertz have combined for 79 catches for 1,281 yards and 19 touchdowns.

Stanford is at its best with Luck pulling the levers on a punishing rush attack while peppering precision passes to a three-headed tight end monster.

Stanford led the Pac-12 in time of possession at 33.07 minutes per game.

Oklahoma State wants to siphon off as many of those minutes as possible.

Weeden: “I think everybody is looking to see how it all pans out.”

chris.dufresne@latimes.com