2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.5
Audio		1.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl Blu-ray Movie Review

An instant classic of a game, an instant dud of a Blu-ray.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 2, 2015

Team Marketing has released several college football games to Blu-ray, each covering the best and most important of the 2014 Bowl season. The games are presented without commercial interruption and are, essentially, the television broadcasts transferred onto Blu-ray. This one, the 2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl, is virtually identical to the 2015 National Championship release, save, of course, for the game itself, which pits the fourth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes against the top-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide. Similar 720p video, like DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 sound, and the same post-game celebration billed as an extra make up this spartan release. From the Mercedes-Benz Superdome (home of the New Orleans Saints) in New Orleans, Louisiana, January 1, 2015.

The winning coach.

Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett finished fifth in the 2014 Heisman Trophy race, losing to Oregon signal caller Marcus Mariota in one of the most decisive Heisman votes of all time. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as fate might claim), injury decimated the Ohio State quarterbacking corps, leaving the school's National Championship push in the hands of third-string Sophomore Cardale Jones, a man who unflinchingly stepped in to win the Big Ten Championship game against Wisconsin, earning MVP honors and leading the charge in a 59-0 Buckeye rout. Clearly, the big stage couldn't rattle the second-year QB, but could Nick Saban and his perennially excellent Crimson Tide do just that? Alabama rolled into college football's inaugural playoff season with a 12-1 record -- identical to Ohio State's mark -- and a top seed in the four-team bracket. But Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, himself no stranger to big games, knew his team could play with anyone. The result was an instant classic between two of the most storied programs in college football history.

The game was a classic barn burner. A fumbled opening kickoff and an unaware Alabama receiver nearly resulted in an Ohio State touchdown. The Buckeyes would still strike first off the leg of kicker Sean Nuernberger to take a 3-0 lead. OSU managed another three points in the quarter, but a pair of Alabama touchdowns ended the first 15 minutes with the Tide up 14-6. Alabama tacked on another seven in the second to go up 21-6, but Ohio State would respond with two touchdowns of their own, including a trick play TD pass off the arm of Wide Receiver Evan Spencer, to go into half time trailing only 21-20. The Buckeyes came out of halftime determined to put the game away, tacking on another two TDs to take the lead and increase it to a margin of 13 at 34-21 before Alabama's Blake Sims ran in a five-yard score to cut the deficit to six going into the fourth. Ohio State Running Back Ezekiel Elliott busted off an 85-yard run to give State a 42-28 lead. Alabama would answer with a late-game touchdown to cut the deficit to 42-35, but it wasn't enough, and Ohio State won the game by that same score.

This release may limitedly appeal beyond the Ohio State fan (and diehard college football fans) as of one of two "true" playoffs game to determine the teams that would play for an undisputed National Championship. The 2014 season saw the addition of a four-team, three-game playoff bracket that would allow the top four teams, as ranked by experts and electronics, to decide the national championship strictly on the field, not by an end-season poll. As such, it's an historical milestone of sorts, along with the Rose Bowl and National Championship games, also home to true "playoff" college football. Otherwise, and particularly considering the troubled video and audio and absence of supplemental materials (see below), there's no other reason for the casual fan to part with the money for this release.

2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl arrives on Blu-ray with a 720p, 1.78:1-framed transfer that's practically identical to the National Championship game Blu-ray in terms of raw quality and the faults inherent to the transfer. Heavy blocking plagues a number of shots, notably foggy New Orleans exteriors seen before kickoff. Aliasing and ringing often sour bits of the field. Graphics are poorly defined, appearing soft and sloppy rather than sharp and crisp. Colors are bright but not very well nuanced. The green field and red Alabama jerseys dominate, each appearing sufficiently vibrant but failing to appear with any sort of tight, accurate crispness and definition. Details are moderately attractive. Fabric and helmet (and helmet sticker) textures, the field, and faces offer decent attention to detail but can't match other sporting events shot on video, particularly most any of the significantly richer WWE releases. Background crowds are well defined to a point -- the first few rows are identifiable -- but definition and clarity drop quickly thereafter. This is essentially a fairly cruddy HD broadcast image dropped onto Blu-ray. Fans shouldn't expect any improvement over what they saw on January 1. At least it's consistent.

2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl snaps onto Blu-ray with a disappointing DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack that suffers from the same flaws as heard in the National Championship release. Nothing is particularly well defined here. In-booth commentary occasionally plays with a fairly sharp, piercing edge to it, but intelligibility at least isn't an issue. Sideline reports lack distinction and verbal nuance. Crowd noise is muffled and never rises above the level of a poorly defined blob of sound that's barely identifiable for what it is. Random cuts to fans in the stands are even less dynamic and play with a harsh, garbled edge. Band music, whistles, and hits on the field rarely offer more than cursory sonic detail. There's at least a decent sense of front-end space, and dialogue does manage a center-focused feel. On the whole, however, this one barely passes muster.

2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl doesn't contain any supplements, per se, but it does include the post-game trophy presentation, which is listed as a special feature on the back of the box (which is a DVD case, not a Blu-ray case). It's simply an extension of the program beyond the game, beginning at about the 2:32:49 mark and lasting for about 17 minutes. The Nissan "Pregame Rush" is also included before kickoff, which lasts a little over five minutes. It simply encompasses a few pre-game comments and graphics, followed by the teams running out onto the field in a barrage of artificial smoke and fireworks. From the main menu, viewers may choose a "play all" option or jump to the start of any of the four quarters plus the aforementioned trophy presentation. A DVD copy of the game is also included in the case.

2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

No fluff, no filler, and strictly for fans. 2015 Allstate Sugar Bowl is nothing but the original ESPN broadcast dropped onto Blu-ray with team entrances featured at the beginning and the post game celebration added on to the end. There's no halftime show, no extras recounting the story of how both teams got to the game, and, most disappointingly, no look at the revamped bowl season playoff structure. Fans who want to relive the game time and again without worrying about it getting lost on the DVR are the target audience here. Picture and sound suffice and reflect the original broadcast, but in terms of raw quality both score rather poorly. Recommended to fans who will watch it enough to warrant the buy which, at the end of the day, holds true for most every release but rings particularly accurate here.