The 2018 Rose Bowl will be contested between No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Georgia. Here’s what to expect from the College Football Playoff semifinal.
College football’s most iconic venue will be part of the Playoff rotation this season. And the matchup will be between Oklahoma and Georgia, the second and third-ranked teams, respectively. Interestingly, this will be the first meeting between these two schools.
The last time the Rose Bowl hosted a semifinal game, it was relatively drama-free. What was a highly anticipated matchup between Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota quickly turned into a rout, as Oregon housed Florida State 59-20. These two teams are more evenly matched, and while they’re not College Football Playoff mainstays like Clemson and Alabama, they could provide a more entertaining contest than those two.
Key for Oklahoma
It’s no secret that Oklahoma goes as Baker Mayfield goes. He has been the best player in the country this season, has consistently put in outstanding performances, and should be Mr. Heisman when all is said and done. Yet, for all that he’s accomplished, NFL Draft scouts have still questioned his ability to be a franchise quarterback, mainly because of his size. Putting on a show in the College Football Playoff would go a long way towards silencing his remaining critics.
In case you needed a reminder of how amazing Mayfield has been, he has averaged 333 passing yards this season. Yes, he faced Big 12 defenses all year, but he still carved up great defensive units in Ohio State and TCU. His worst game of the season was last week against TCU, when he threw for 243 yards, but still tossed four touchdown passes.
Georgia is actually second in the country in passing yards allowed, but they’ve never faced a quarterback like Baker Mayfield. If they’re going to advance, it’ll be because of him.
Key for Georgia
Oklahoma’s biggest weakness is stopping the run. They rank 40th in the country in rushing yards allowed with 144.2 yards per game. Georgia is the perfect team to exploit that, as their two-headed monster in the backfield in Nick Chubb and Sony Michel that has been critical to their success.
Michel left the SEC Championship Game with a knee injury, but he has four weeks to recover, which is plenty of time. He returned to the sideline, so it didn’t look too serious, but even if he’s unable to go, Chubb is more than capable of handling the featured back role for the Dawgs. He may have cooled down after a hot start, having only eclipsed 100 rushing yards once in the past four games, but that should change if he’s given a heavier workload.
Next: 10 Games That Would Make College Football Exponentially Better
It would be unwise to overlook Georgia’s chances in this game. They might feel as though they should be ranked higher since their loss to Auburn is more valuable than Oklahoma’s loss to Iowa State. But there’s no need to argue over semantics since they’re facing each other. Plus, the fact that they’re separated by a seed indicates how evenly matched they are.
As long as Clemson and Alabama kill each other, as expected, the winner of the Rose Bowl could easily be the National Champion.