SA: Hi, I’m Shreejay Arja.
LW: And I’m Leo Wei.
SA: Welcome to EE-SPN football Episode Two. Today, we are joined by sophomore Aarav Jain, and together, we’ll be taking a look at college football playoffs and sharing our predictions.
LW: Our first matchup will be Alabama vs. Oklahoma. Alabama has just squeaked into the playoffs after losing a really bad game against Georgia. And Oklahoma has a great defense, and they have been playing really well this year. Oklahoma should take the W over Alabama, and if Oklahoma can force Ty Simpson to throw more this game, I think that Oklahoma will take the W here.
SA: Now, I honestly think that you’re just understating the presence and the magnitude of Ty Simpson. Ty Simpson has thrown over 3000 yards, he has 25 touchdowns, which is second in the Southeastern Conference. On top of that, although Oklahoma has a great defense, Alabama has shown to have an incredibly strong offense. Alabama has a record of 7-1 in the SEC, making it one of the top teams, so if Alabama can play this game with minimum turnovers, this could quickly go in their favor. What do you think, Aarav?
AJ: I agree with Shreejay here. Ty Simpson has shown that he’s one of the best quarterbacks in college football, and his touchdown to interception ratio is one of the best. I also think the presence of Ryan Williams cannot be overstated here. Obviously, Oklahoma will try to double team Ryan Williams, just because he is that good. But I think with the talent that he has shown over the past two years, he’s just going to find ways out of it, and Ty Simpson will get him the ball. And unlike Leo said, Ty Simpson throwing the ball will get Alabama the win here. I have Alabama beating Oklahoma in this round.
LW: All right, going to the next game, we have Miami versus Texas A&M. For Texas A&M, it has been a Cinderella story. They have been involved in a ton of close games, and they have a great offense, but the main issue is that defense, and we saw them getting exposed in that Texas game. Miami has a really great offense, flexing that game against Notre Dame. Carson Beck has the most experience out of all of them. I think that he will lead Miami to a dub here. It will be very hard for Texas A&M to contain that offense, and I expect Miami to pass a lot this game, so I really think that they will win.
SA: I’m also gonna have to disagree with you on that one, Leo. I believe that Texas A&M is clearly taking a dub here. I know we’ve seen Miami have impressive plays, especially against Notre Dame, but they’ve also shown that they can be inconsistent, like that game against SMU, where they collected 12 penalties, showing that they can be unsportsmanlike. I also think that Texas A&M has that level of predictability, that level of consistency that puts them over Miami. Texas A&M has above 35 points per game on average, and roughly 454 total yards per game, making them incredibly consistent on the offense. They also have the GOAT that is Marcel Reeds, who ran against Utah State over 220 yards and has three touchdowns. This makes him an incredibly strong key player.
AJ: I think Marcel Reed is just too good for Miami’s defense. He has shown that he’s a real Heisman candidate this year. Also, I don’t trust Carson Beck that much compared to Marcel Reed. I think A&M takes the win here.
LW: Our final game is gonna be James Madison vs. Oregon. James Madison won the Sun Belt Conference and just snuck their way into the 12th seed, and this should be an obvious win for Oregon. They have a great running team. They have a great offense. This season, we haven’t seen Oregon play a lot of big competition. I think their two good wins were against USC and Iowa, who aren’t in the playoffs, and their one 10 point loss against Indiana shows some really big red flags about this team. But the fact that they’re playing James Madison, who has a really weak defense and just has not been playing good competition at all, we expect both teams to run a lot this game. Oregon might throw more against this James Madison defense, but I just think that Oregon is going to put up more than 40.
SA: Honestly, Oregon is number five seed this time, but it used to be number one, right? Oregon’s not as strong of a team as it used to be, but that doesn’t mean that it’s weak and loses against James Madison. It’s clearly going to take the W here. If we look at the statistics, Ducks have an average of 38.2 points, and it allows 14.83 while the Dukes score 37.3 points, but allow 14.83, so a slight advantage in the offensive for Ducks. But we have to consider the fact Oregon has fought much stronger opponents than James Madison ever has, I think Oregon is clearly sweeping James Madison.
AJ: So Oregon has sophomore quarterback Dante Moore here. And this is not really even a match up. Oregon’s just going to steamroll James Madison here. Honestly, I don’t think James Madison should have made the CFP at all, but that’s a conversation for a different day. Oregon takes the win here easy and simple.
SA: That will be all of the games we have planned for EE-SPN. Two games I’m really looking forward to that could be a toss up, and I just can’t wait to see what happens. Thank you for listening.
