i'm interested to see what tOSU's time management strategy on offense will be. will they try to match oregon's speed or be more deliberate? i'm thinking this has a lot to do with how their offense moves the ball early in the game.
personally i'd prefer for them to speed it up and that's why i think cardale jones may struggle.
on defense:
there's no way jones can keep playing this well, right? and i think the game comes down to him.
oregon should neutralize the RBs and force jones to run. a good game for oregon would be holding tOSU to somewhere around 200 yards rushing with lower YPC. they are familiar with the scheme, and while jones is a good runner, he is not going to pop the huge gains unless you don't account for him at all. i would much rather take my chances being burned by jones than elliott.
i don't see oregon getting burned by elliott quite as much as other teams have recently. i see them being familiar with the scheme and wanting the ball in jones' hands as much as possible. they will try and smother the RB on read plays i'm guessing.
i want the ball in jones' hands as much as possible.
oregon forces teams to pass the ball a lot. the only time an opponent has thrown fewer than 31 passes against them in any game this year was 26 in the pac-12 championship game. jones made big 3rd down passes against bama. oregon can't allow that. make him throw the ball.
on offense:
outside of turnovers, i think ohio state's best chance is smoking oregon's offensive line. with how well oregon's line has been playing lately, i don't see that happening. i think tOSU will probably do a better job than anyone oregon has played the latter part of the year, but will their big plays on D force turnovers or occur on third downs?
i am not worried about mariota throwing picks. i AM worried about him fumbling under pressure, which is probably his biggest weakness. if ohio state swarms early, i will be shitting my pants.
pick: oregon 42 ohio state 28
late TD to seal.
would not be surprised with pretty much any way this game ends up doe.