Holiday Wish No. 19 for Texas Tech Fans
In this story:
We continue to count down to No. 1 in the twenty-five holiday wishes for Texas Tech fans this holiday season.
Texas Tech fans are thrilled this season, as their football team is in the college football playoffs, the Lady Raiders are undefeated in basketball with a 10-0 record, and the men's basketball team defeated previously unbeaten LSU this past weekend.
Wish No. 19: Texas Tech plays James Madison in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoffs.
In order for the Red Raiders to play the Dukes from James Madison in the quarterfinals of the CFP, JMU would have to defeat Oregon in the first round.
In order for this wish to come true, James Madison needs to find a way to win their first-round game in Oregon. The game will be played at Autzen Field, which is the home field for Oregon, and the Dukes defeating the Ducks on the road would be a giant upset. The Dukes have a big job ahead of them if they want to face off against the Red Raiders in the quarterfinals, as they have to play a highly ranked team from the Big Ten in a hostile venue.
If James Madison defeats Oregon, Texas Tech fans would rejoice. They would play the Red Raiders, who are the No. 4 seed in the CFP, in the Capital One Orange Bowl quarterfinal game on January 1 in Miami Gardens, Florida. However, JMU needs a lot to go right to defeat the Ducks.
James Madison would require a virtually ideal game plan that focused on their strengths and take advantage of whatever shortcomings they might have in order to surprise a great team like Oregon:
Oregon has a great offense, thus, JMU's defense would have to be at its best to stop them. The Duke's offense, in turn, would presumably have to run the ball a lot to keep the clock rolling and keep the ball away from Oregon's high-powered offense and wear down the Ducks' defense. All of this seems quite obvious, but the Dukes' defense against the Ducks' offense is the key to pulling off this upset. Furthermore, on top of this, JMU's special teams would probably need to cause a blocked punt, a long return, or a key field goal to increase their team's chance to pull off an upset.
To be clear, there is no to little room for error if JMU wants to pull off the first-round upset to play Texas Tech in the quarterfinals. The Dukes' offense needs to play as they did against Coastal Carolina, and their defense needs to perform at a high level as they did against Georgia State this season.
The Dukes will go on the road in their first College Football Playoffs appearance in a hostile environment for the biggest game in the school's history. They would have to be calm and stick to their game plan for all four quarters in hopes of making Texas Tech fans elated as they would play the No. 12 JMU instead of the No. 5 seed Oregon Ducks from the Big Ten.
To be clear, Texas Tech fully expects to play Oregon in the quarterfinals with the expectation that they will defeat the Ducks to advance to the semifinals of the CFP. However, as we embrace the holiday season, Red Raider fans are hoping for an easier path to the national championship game.
More From Texas Tech On SI
Stay up to date on Texas Tech Athletics by bookmarking Texas Tech On SI.
Ryan Kay is a journalist who graduated from Michigan State in 2003 and is passionate about covering college sports and enjoys writing features and articles covering various collegiate teams. He has worked as an editor at Go Joe Bruin and has been a contributor for Longhorns Wire and Busting Brackets. He is a contributor for Texas Tech On SI.