The Wisconsin Badgers will face the Oregon Ducks in the first Rose Bowl of the new decade. Wisconsin and Oregon play on the first day of 2020 in Pasadena, California, giving the Granddaddy a rematch of the 2012 game won by Chip Kelly and the Ducks over Russell Wilson and the Badgers in a fun shootout.
Will this 2020 UW-UO game be as fun as 2012? That’s a high bar to clear. Don’t expect as many points in this game. However, one can still make a very convincing case that this is the best New Year’s Six bowl game of them all.
First, let’s knock down the lesser members of the New Year’s Six. Florida versus four-loss Virginia in the Orange Bowl? Yawn. Memphis versus Penn State in the Cotton? I have seen better matchups than that, to say the least. Baylor versus Georgia in the Sugar? Those two offenses have looked bad for large portions of the 2019 college football season. Georgia didn’t care about playing Texas in last season’s Sugar Bowl, so why would the Dawgs care about this Sugar Bowl trip?
Let’s look at the College Football Playoff semifinals. They might be very exciting games. However, many people will pick LSU to beat Oklahoma by 25 or 30 points in the Peach Bowl. That game could easily become a dud. Then we arrive at the one game which, to be honest, could be seen as better than Wisconsin-Oregon. Ohio State-Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl does have the potential to be an absolute classic.
Yet, what do we know about Clemson and Ohio State? We know that Clemson shut out OSU in the previous Fiesta Bowl semifinal between the two teams. We know that Clemson, if not playing Alabama (in the 2017 season) in the semifinals, has dump-trucked its semifinal opponents.
Clemson beat Oklahoma in the 2015 semifinals by 20 points. Clemson destroyed Ohio State in 2016. Clemson annihilated Notre Dame in the 2018 semifinals. None of those three games were close. Maybe Ohio State brings its A-game and creates an epic semifinal. that could happen. If you were to say that OSU-Clemson is the best of the New Year’s Six, you will get no argument from me.
Yet: If you were to ask me a more specific question — namely, “Which NY6 game has the best chance of being a good game?” — I think Wisconsin-Oregon in the Rose is the best answer.
This game reminds me of the 2014 Rose Bowl between Michigan State and Stanford. Both of those teams were very physical and hard-hitting, as Oregon and Wisconsin are. Oregon is not what it was under Chip Kelly in the early part of this decade, when the Ducks previous met the Badgers in Pasadena. That was a team (and program) based a lot more on perimeter speed. This Oregon team, under Mario Cristobal, emphasizes offensive line play and the ability to knock teams off the ball. Chip Kelly was rooted a lot more in the need to get his skill players in space and use tempo as a weapon. This UO team doesn’t have that same identity.
If this game is similar to the 2014 Michigan State-Stanford Rose Bowl, viewers will get a quality game. If the Big Ten can win this Rose Bowl just as Michigan State won six years ago, Wisconsin fans will be very happy.
Ohio State-Clemson COULD be a much better game, sure. However, if you want a game which is the most likely to satisfy, Wisconsin versus Oregon is the New Year’s Six game to choose this bowl season.