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‘They’re the best team we’ve faced all year’: Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal impressed by Wisconsin
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We should be in store for an exciting contest when No. 6 Oregon and No. 8 Wisconsin take the field in Pasadena for the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. A battle between two top 10 teams should set up an incredibly interesting game on Wednesday.
This week, Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal was incredibly complimentary of Wisconsin, which finished the regular season with a 10-3 record and appeared in the B1G Championship Game. He believes the Badgers are the best team his Ducks have faced in the 2019 season.
“They’re just the best team we’ve faced all year, without a doubt, in all phases, all areas,” Cristobal said Rose Bowl Media Day. “They’re very well coached. That’s a disciplined, tough football team that’s complemented with great athleticism, guys that have range, guys that can cover man-to-man. Guys that can play multiple schemes, multiple coverages, stunts and pressures. They present a lot of challenges and our guys are looking forward to that.”
Oregon won the Pac-12 title and defeated the likes of USC and Utah. The Ducks lost their season opener to Auburn, surrendering a late touchdown to the Tigers.
Cristobal doubled down on his comments when talking to Big Ten Network.
“I think Wisconsin’s the best team we have played against all year,” Cristobal told Big Ten Network. “Across the board, they display all those things and more — physical, explosive, tough. They’re relentless at the line of scrimmage, but on the back end as well, they’ve got explosive players everywhere, really good athletes and they attack in so many different ways. So we’re tremendously impressed by them.”
The Rose Bowl should be an interesting offensive matchup. Oregon has one of the top quarterbacks in college football in Justin Herbert, while Wisconsin has one of the most prolific running backs in recent memory. It should be a fun clash of styles in Pasadena on Wednesday.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB