College Football Matrix: Rose Bowl Will Live Up To The Billing
When Oregon Football and Wisconsin meet in the Rose Bowl on Wednesday, the game will live up to its famous billing according to the College Football Matrix and Dave Bartoo.
I caught up with Bartoo early on New Year’s Eve and the breakdown of this game is by far the closest of the 2019-20 bowl season. Both teams are statistically neck and neck on offense and defense, “when you adjust offensive scoring efficiency for the season taking out the FCS games, Oregon is 16th in Offensive Scoring Efficiency, Wisconsin is 18th.” If you look at the other side of the ball, the numbers are again close, “Defensively, Oregon 17, Wisconsin 14.”
Not included in these numbers are Wisconsin’s game vs Ohio State and the Ducks game vs Utah in the Pac-12 Championship, which did not really make much of a difference. The Oregon defense started strong and ended the season on a strong note.
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If you break it down by points, the College Football Matrix has its closest game of the year with Wisconsin winning by a hair, “It’s 23.76 Wisconsin and 23.596 Oregon. There is nothing that is separating these two teams. If you adjust for opponent, the Ducks had a slightly different schedule.”
The Wisconsin Offense was more consistent than their defense. For Oregon, the defense was the strong point over the last month of the season according to Bartoo.
In looking at the National Championship matchup between LSU and Clemson, the Tigers have the 2nd best offensive scoring efficiency in the country, but their defense is 24th. Clemson offense is 5th, defense is 8th. Over the last 20 national title games, the team that has one has been top three in both. Alabama in 2009 was top on both categories. According to Bartoo, the numbers point to the LSU Tigers taking the Championship.
Oregon Football meets Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl on Wednesday at 2 pm Pacific Time on ESPN.
Quotes obtained in phone interview with Dave Bartoo, College Football Matrix.