Our team at Badgers Wire highlighted the fact that Tyler Biadasz was a finalist for the Rimington Trophy. No one needs any explanation in the state of Wisconsin — or in any Badger football-loving forum — about the centrality of offensive line play in growing the UW program and establishing it as a formidable national force.

It is worth noting, in the wake of the announcement that Wisconsin will play Oregon in the 2020 Rose Bowl, that the Ducks value offensive line play as well. This is the big point of commonality between the two programs as they prepare for this prized pigskin pageant on New Year’s Day of 2020.

No, Chip Kelly didn’t devalue offensive line play when he coached the Ducks against the Badgers in the 2012 Rose Bowl. Kelly’s offenses were finely-tuned machines. Chip’s track record in Eugene (in marked contrast to the final season of his tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles and each of his seasons as head coach of UCLA, in the Rose Bowl stadium itself) shows that he developed his offensive lines in concert with the offensive system he ran.

Nevertheless, if Chip Kelly had a top priority as Oregon’s head coach, it was speed. That’s what he valued more than anything else at Oregon. Speed was the cornerstone of UO football. The zone-blocking concepts were designed to make defenses hesitate and unleash his speed. The emphasis on tempo at Oregon at the start of this decade was designed to make superior speed triumph over the course of 60 full minutes. A physical defense might stop Kelly’s speed in its tracks in the first quarter or a quarter and a half, but in the third and fourth quarters, conditioning and speed would have the final say.

When I refer in the title of this piece to “Old Wisconsin” and “New Oregon,” I am not referring to age versus youth, but to the fact that Wisconsin has maintained a very consistent identity under Barry Alvarez’s watch, with Paul Chryst keeping the tradition going, 30 years after Alvarez first arrived in Madison at the end of 1989. The current Wisconsin way is the old Wisconsin way. It’s not in any way a criticism. Old, in this case, means traditional, time-tested, and proven.

“New Oregon” doesn’t imply the Ducks are better or fresher or more hip than Wisconsin, only that the Chip Kelly emphasis on speed has given way to a greater emphasis on power. Mario Cristobal doesn’t devalue speed, much as Kelly didn’t devalue line play. He simply puts his foremost point of emphasis on being very physical.

There is less emphasis on tempo in this Oregon offense, less emphasis on getting as many snaps per game as possible; that was a Chip Kelly goal. Whereas Wisconsin has Tyler Biadasz, Oregon has Penei Sewell, an elite lineman who — like Biadasz — should cash a very hefty check on Sundays in the future. Oregon’s commitment to a physical offensive line is a core reason the Ducks supplanted Washington — which similarly rose to Pac-12 prominence on brawn more than swiftness — as the Pac-12 champion this year.

Yes, the Ducks certainly like to get backs and receivers in open space; again, they don’t dismiss the value of speed. Yet, if Chip Kelly preferred track meets at UO, Mario Cristobal prefers trench warfare. In this sense, Wisconsin is meeting a like-minded opponent on New Year’s Day.

The Wisconsin Badgers and the Oregon Ducks are not playing a consolation game. The Rose Bowl is not — and never should be viewed as — a consolation prize. The Rose Bowl is always a top prize. The playoff semifinals are the ultimate goal, but the Rose Bowl can never disappoint — at least, it can never disappoint if one adopts a mindset which always treats the Rose Bowl as a special game.

That having been said, why are Oregon and Wisconsin in Pasadena, and not in the Fiesta or Peach Bowls? Simple: They didn’t beat the very best teams on their schedules. That’s not a “burn,” or an “insult,” or a withering criticism. It’s just reality.

It is hard to call Utah an elite team after the Utes played horribly in their big primetime moment on Friday in Santa Clara, California, in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Utah did not beat any team this year which had at least eight wins. I didn’t create that fact. I am merely passing it along. The Ducks lost to Auburn and have to live with the reality that national observers won’t give them an extra measure of credit unless or until they beat Wisconsin in Southern California.

Wisconsin exists in a similar situation. The Badgers crushed Michigan, but is Michigan an elite team? A 9-3 team which nearly lost to Army at home (non-bowl Army, to be more precise; the Black Knights are 5-7) isn’t elite. The 10-2 Minnesota Golden Gophers are certainly a good team, but elite? Much as Oregon smashed the idea that Utah was an elite team this past Friday, Wisconsin did the same to Minnesota over a week ago.

Ducks-Badgers on the first day of the 2020s is significant primarily because it’s the darn ROSE BOWL GAME, the Granddaddy Of Them All. Winning the Rose Bowl is always a goal unto itself, without need for extra qualifiers and caveats and specifications. That said, one very prominent goal attached to winning the 2020 Rose Bowl for Oregon and Wisconsin is the need to beat an elite team, and more precisely, an elite team outside of one’s own conference.

No, this isn’t a playoff semifinal, but the winner of this game will know it has passed a defining test and deserves to stand tall on the national scene. Don’t call the Rose Bowl a consolation prize or an exhibition game — not when so much national respect is squarely on the line.