Wisconsin @ Oregon preview

ROSE BOWL STORYLINES:

1. Oregon coach Chip Kelly has taken his team to the Rose Bowl, National Championship Game and Rose Bowl again in the last three years. He is still looking for his first win. The Ducks have not won a Rose Bowl since 1917.

2. Wisconsin is coming off a win in the inaugural Big Ten Championship Game and will test its sixth-ranked scoring defense (17.0 points) against Oregon’s third-ranked scoring offense (46.2 points). The Badgers have been exposed in the secondary at times, and few teams boast more speed than the Ducks.

3. Badgers running back Montee Ball was a Heisman Trophy finalist and needs one touchdown to tie Barry Sanders (39) for the all-time single-season record. Ball, who scored four times in the Big Ten Championship Game, has recorded 2,014 yards from scrimmage this season.

4. Oregon has its own former Heisman finalist at running back in LaMichael James, who is at 1,856 yards from scrimmage despite missing two games. James was recently announced as a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award, honoring the most versatile player in major college football.

TV: 5 p.m. ESPN. LINE: Oregon -6

ABOUT OREGON (11-2, 8-1 Pac-12): The Ducks had the chance to jump into a second National Championship Game but dropped their season-opener to LSU and lost any momentum they had toward the No. 2 slot when they were knocked off by USC, 38-35, on Nov. 19. But Oregon bounced back and won the inaugural Pac-12 Championship Game, 49-31, over UCLA and totaled 98 points in its final two games. The Ducks play at a breakneck speed, using a no-huddle as their base offense and relying on quickness at each of the skill positions.

ABOUT WISCONSIN (11-2, 6-2 Big Ten): The big difference between last year’s squad that dropped a 21-19 decision to TCU in the Rose Bowl and this edition is quarterback Russell Wilson. The graduate student took little time to get used to his new teammates and was a Heisman Trophy candidate himself for much of the season. Where the Badgers used to be a one-dimensional running team, Wilson has opened up the playbook by passing for 31 touchdowns and ranking second nationally in quarterback rating. Wisconsin has closed with five straight wins, during which Wilson has thrown for 12 touchdowns and no interceptions.

PREDICTION: Oregon 42, Wisconsin 34. A shootout suit’s the Ducks, who will get Kelly his first bowl win with the school.