Oregon didn't struggle much this season, but also didn't play as tough a schedule as Wisconsin.Good Post,this should be a great gamee to watch
Should be a really good game.
The Badger front should average five pancakes per snap.Probably not true this time around.
I always like to check in on other team boards to get a feel for their thoughts.
On 247, they think the Ducks will destroy the Badgers, because the Badgers have a crappy QB and no downfield threat at WR. Apparently never heard of QC, and don't they realize that Coan is above 70% on completions, has 17 TD's to 4 INT's, and a QBR of 83.1 (8th in the country). Incidentally, the Duck QB is ranked 26th in the country.
I'm pretty sure the Oregon coaches aren't this dumb.
Not sure if this was otherwise out there, but the ESPN College Football podcast had the Peach Bowl CEO on, and he said that after selecting the 4 CFP teams, they went to the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton Bowls, who had potential automatic tie ins, as to who they would select.I'm pretty sure that the Cotton Bowl was obligated to take the highest-ranked (per CFP rankings) G5 conference champion.
That seems kind of weird to me. I don't care per se, but it basically tells you that the bowls are still selecting the teams, not the rankings. Wisconsin was kept ahead of Penn State, because that's who the Rose Bowl wanted. Georgia was kept ahead of Florida(?) because the Sugar Bowl wanted them. And if the Cotton Bowl had wanted Appalachian State, would the committee have then jumped them over Memphis?
I'm pretty sure that the Cotton Bowl was obligated to take the highest-ranked (per CFP rankings) G5 conference champion.Right, but I believe that's the case across the board. So if the Rose Bowl had wanted Penn State, they would have been ranked ahead of Wisconsin. If Sugar had wanted Florida, they would have been ranked ahead of Georgia. He mentioned they consulted the Cotton Bowl too, so I'm wondering if they verified which G5 champ they wanted. So if they wanted Boise State, would Boise have magically jumped over Memphis in the rankings?
Those bowls are not required to take the highest ranking team. It is a guide only. I don't think the playoff wonks changed any rankings to favor UW in this case.I think ranking their preferred team higher makes the optics better though. He confirmed that the committee consulted the bowls before completing their rankings. There would be no other reason to do so.
I was told the Rose would have been happy with either PSU or UW (a Tournament of Roses committee member told me - a PSU alum). They went with the higher-ranked team, which they are happy with, regardless.
I think ranking their preferred team higher makes the optics better though. He confirmed that the committee consulted the bowls before completing their rankings. There would be no other reason to do so.that's just awesome
All the LB's are good to go in this one. Losing Burks and Orr (more so) really hurt in Indy.Exactly why I said that. The difference was notable. I think if the badgers can avoid giving up big plays in the pass game, it turns this into a Wisconsin favorable pace.
| ROSE BOWL |
| #8 Wisconsin Badgers (10-3) vs. #6 Oregon Ducks (11-2) |
| New Years Day @ 5:00 - Pasadena, CA - ESPN |
| For the Badgers to kick off the 2020 right, both teams need to reverse some recent Pasadena trends. Oregon hadn't won a Rose Bowl since the third version of the game, back in 1917 against Penn, until winning their last two. Wisconsin, who had gone 3-0 in the 90s, lost three consecutive Rose Bowls this decade. As non-playoff Rose Bowls go in this CFP era, this is about as good as it gets. You've got a pair of top 10 teams, the Pac 12 champ, and the Big Ten runner up, both with things to prove, neither one disappointed to be here. To the winner, you can say you had a really good year, save one fluky result. Oregon would love to get that Arizona State game back, and just had a bad break against Auburn. Wisconsin would love that Illinois game back, and simply wasnt quite as good as an elite Ohio State team. You've also got a pair of singular talents in Oregon's Justin Herbert and Wisconsin's Jonathan Taylor, who, if you told me preseason, would have been in New York for the Heisman Trophy presentation, would not have surprised me at all. Taylor finished third in the nation in rushing, although both his total yardage and yards per carry were career lows. He improved in other areas though, to be a more complete back, becoming a bigger red zone threat, not just a home run hitter, and developed as a weapon in the passing game. Herbert has always been more about his NFL potential than his actual production. He actually had a lower Total QBR than Jack Coan, but did improve across the board from 2018. A big part of that was improvement from his receivers, who led the nation in dropped passes in 2018, but were rated by PFF as the #15 group this year, even with the loss of starting tight end Jacob Breeland to a season ending injury. Part of that was a scheme which emphasized downfield passing much less this year. In this case, that might play into what Wisconsin's defense does best, tight coverage to limit completions, but are susceptible to the big play. Only LSU held opponents below Wisconsin's 50.7% opponents completion percentage, but Bucky was 67th nationally in yards per completion allowed, and only three Big Ten teams allowed more 50+ yard passes. Time of possession doesn't matter much anymore, and you certainly would be hard pressed to find two programs with a wider mindset towards it, but this isn't quite the explosive Oregon offense we were used to the last time they were on top. Granted they still aren't looking to grind it out, ranking in the bottom 20 of the FBS in terms of third downs faced per game. Wisconsin is the second best third down defense in the country. If the Wisconsin defense can win first and second down, they'll win this game, because they dominate third down, and Oregon doesn't tend to even get there. This Duck offense is rolling right now, as we saw against Utah. Wisconsin looks a lot like Utah to me, although I don't see it getting ugly. |
| OREGON 27, WISCONSIN 26 |