Starting tomorrow, a new age in college football will be ushered in with the first ever National Championship Playoffs. Four teams, each from different conferences in the Power five grouping ( ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac 12) will duke it out to see who goes to Dallas and wins it all. Our four teams are the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Oregon Ducks, the Ohio State Buckeyes, and the reigning, defending, undefeated national champions, the Florida State Seminoles. We are going to breakdown each matchup, and I'll give you my prediction as to who wins.
Oregon vs Florida State
Despite this trailer being somewhat epic, the game, in my opinion, shouldn't be a semifinal game and I wish that both teams were playing a team from the other semifinal matchup. This matchup features not just a Heisman winner in Marcus Mariota, but the previous Heisman winner and national champion Jamies Winston. Lets look at some keys to the game.
Offense vs Defense
This game is going to be an absolute shootout. While I believe that Oregon's offense won't have issues with Florida State's defense, the same defense that won nail biters against Notre Dame, Louisville and Miami, will be present. For some reason, every time this team is counted out, they find ways to bring it close and steal one. But the question is can they keep it close enough to not only stop Oregon's offense, but score and win? One thing that might help Florida State's offense is that Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, highly touted cornerback of Oregon, is out for the rest of the postseason. Winston might pick on redshirt senior Troy Hill and the rest of Oregon's defense, which can be flaky sometimes. I believe that one of the lynch pins for this game will come down to Florida State's ability to slow down Oregon's offense.
Mariota vs Winston
We can window dress this game all we want, but at its core, this game comes down to the last 2 Heisman winners: Jameis Winston vs Marcus Mariota. Remember a couple of years back when it was RG3 and Andrew Luck and the argument with who should be the number 1 draft pick? Yeah well this game will decide that easily. When it comes down to athleticism, I would say that Mariota is better as he can move easy and is an automatic x-factor every time he steps on the field.
Winston, to me, is a better quarterback, as he has an NFL body and while has shown the ability to move outside the pocket, his game is very reminiscent of Ben Roethlisberger, as he can take a shot and get up for the next down. Mariota's game is somewhat like a more accurate Cam Newton as he can make a play out of nothing, especially seen here. While I believe that Winston more than likely will go number one in the draft, I believe that in this matchup Mariota is going to outshine Winston in this game
Prediction
Speed vs Power, Heisman vs Heisman. While these are two very important matchups coming into the game, I think that this is possibly the most unpredictable matchup in this bowl season. While a part of me wants to say that Oregon is going to steam roll Florida State, one thing negatives that thought: Florida State is undefeated for the second year in a row. Despite all those close games, and Jameis Winston not playing as well as a Heisman winner should, he always finds a way to pull out the win, as long as the game is close. With that being said, I don't think that Florida State is going to pull off a shocker, especially if the Oregon team that played in the Pac-12 championship comes into this game. It won't be a blowout but it will be a 2 score game once the clock strikes zero
Winner: Oregon, by 2 touchdowns
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