Pick the BCS Championship game

[SuperTurkey]

We're within a month of the BCS championship game. I'm curious to see what people think of the matchup.

We should probably have a separate poll to guess how long it will be before the NCAA vacates Auburn's appearance, win or lose.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Cam in a blowout.

[SuperTurkey]

Cam in a blowout.

I tend to agree. I don't think Oregon is physical enough for an SEC offensive line, and that means Cam will have plenty of time in the pocket and holes to run through.

[Duke: A Dynasty]

I tend to agree. I don't think Oregon is physical enough for an SEC offensive line, and that means Cam will have plenty of time in the pocket and holes to run through.

SEC>Every Conference in football

Oregon will not stop Auburn's (Cam's) offense and will not score more than 17 on the defense.

Auburn by 17 +

[Jarhead]

My vote goes for the Ducks. Back in the day when Bud Wilkinson was coaching Oklahoma, he had an offense that could run a play every ten seconds or so which won a lot of games for the Sooners. In fact they changed the rules of football to stop his rapid fire offense. It seems that the rules have gone back some, so a creative coach can really speed up the tempo. Look for the Ducks to be snapping the ball before the War Eagle defense gets off the ground. The crazy unis will do it.

[Olympic Fan]

I know the poll is for the "BCS" champion, but it should be for the national champion, which would give us a chance to vote for the nation's best college team -- TCU.

Unfortunately, they are frozen out of the BCS "championship" mix by the cartel, but they'll prove their superiority in the Rose Bowl as they hammer Wisconsin.

As for the SEC, there have been recent years when it was superior to the rest of college football, but -- like the ACC in basketball -- it goes up and down. It's harder to tell because the SEC is so careful not to play anybody outside the league (and when they do, it's usually at home). Look at the schedules this year and pick out the best SEC non-conference wins.

What would you pick? Alabama's homefield victory over a mediocre Penn State team or maybe Auburn's overtime victory at home over a less-than-mediocre Clemson team. Oh, that's right, Auburn also beat up on its "murderer's row" schedule -- Arkansas State, Louisiana-Monroe, Chattanooga ...

Let's see, there's Georgia's victory over a Georgia Tech team missing its starting QB ... but, hey, they also beat up on Idaho State and Louisiana Lafeyette (but lost to a bad Colorado team). There's LSU, which barely beat UNC (when the UNC TE dropped the game-winning TD pass) on a night when UNC was without six defensive starters, their top two running backs and their only experienced wide receiver. Give it up for Tennessee, which managed to beat UAB in overtime.

The SEC is grossly overrated THIS YEAR because it's been strong in recent years. Oregon is in the title game because they had the good fortune not to play Boise this year -- a year ago, the mightly Ducks managed a grand total of 152 yards total offense in their loss to Boise State.

So the BCS powers can celebrate their phony national championship. I'll take TCU.

[Duvall]

SEC>Every Conference in football

Oregon will not stop Auburn's (Cam's) offense and will not score more than 17 on the defense.

Auburn by 17 +

Who is the mastermind behind that fearsome Auburn defense?

A 6-6 Clemson team scored 24 on Auburn. A 6-6 Kentucky team scored 34. I daresay Oregon has a chance to get on the scoreboard.

[SuperTurkey]

So far, the voting is closer than I thought: I expected more than a 60/40 split in favor of Auburn. But it is interesting that more people pick an Auburn blowout than pick an Oregon win and that no one yet has been willing to pick an Oregon blowout.

For my part, I would prefer an Oregon win or at least a competitive game. Two high octane offenses racing to 50+ points per would be awesome. But I just can't talk myself into believing that Oregon can find an offensive rhythm against the Roofies.

[bjornolf]

What surprises me is that ALL of the experts are picking Stanford to crush VT. I get that Andrew Luck is great, but from what I've seen, Stanford's defense was DESIGNED for Tyrod Taylor to destroy. I think overall, VT's defense is a smidge better, and I'd tend to say that VT has better overall speed. Everyone's saying how great Harbaugh is, and he is, and how with a month, he'll have his team ready to go. What, Beamer just sucks and has no clue how to prepare for a bowl game? VT's won 11 games in a row since the debacle to start the season. I think VT's got a great shot in this game.

[juise]

SEC>Every Conference in football

And last year: Big East>Every conference in basketball

So which Big East team won the tournament? I forget.


I think Auburn will probably win, but I really hope that Oregon makes it interesting because I loathe SEC elitism... and because my wife, grandmother, and sister-in-law are Duck alumni. There is a blueprint for how to shred Auburn (Iron Bowl) and there are blueprints for how to slow down the Oregon offense (Cal and Washington/Arizona first halves). Both teams appear to be very strong second half performers, so it will be interesting to see who makes the better adjustments as the game wears on.

I think the speed and depth of the Ducks' defense will, at least initially, pose some challenges for Auburn. In fact, I think that the Ducks match up better with Auburn than they would have with TCU because their defense has generally performed better than Auburn's. To OlympicFan's point, TCU is incredibly talented on both sides of the ball. I think that TCU's defense is the best of the top 3. The Rose Bowl should be a great matchup (I don't agree that it will be a TCU blowout).

The Ducks newest uniforms will also be great for nighttime jogging.
http://media.oregonlive.com/behindducksbeat/photo/9122285-large.jpg

[calltheobvious]

Who is the mastermind behind that fearsome Auburn defense?

A 6-6 Clemson team scored 24 on Auburn. A 6-6 Kentucky team scored 34. I daresay Oregon has a chance to get on the scoreboard.

Yeah, Oregon will get theirs. Oregon's problem is going to be getting theirs as often as Auburn gets its. The two most underplayed aspects of the Auburn team this year are the offensive line, which includes a first-team AA and two more all-SEC performers; and the defensive line (though with Fairley winning the Outland Trophy, that unit has gotten some much-deserved attention in the last few weeks).

Between Newton, the OL, and the bevy of high-quality skill people surrounding them, Auburn's offense is producing at an obscene clip. It goes without saying that Oregon hasn't faced a quarterback with Newton's talents, but it's the OL where everything really starts for the Tigers, and which will ultimately be source of the Ducks' downfall. (Some may find that notion absurd given who's calling the signals, but Auburn's offensive struggles this season, where they've existed, have been almost completely attributable to sub-par OL play.)

Oregon will assuredly be the best offense Auburn has faced all season, but the conventional wisdom among SEC homers is that Fairley and company will be disruptive enough to produce the stops necessary for Auburn to get a first-half lead in the footrace and not look back.

AU 48
OU 31