Photo Courtesy of MGN
Super Bowl LIII brings us the Los Angeles Rams versus, once again, the New England Patriots. The Los Angeles Rams defeated the New Orleans Saints 26-23 in a controversial overtime game. Quarterback Tom Brady and his New England Patriots also emerged from overtime with a 37-31 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs to give us our Super Bowl LIII matchup.
Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta features the young guru in Rams head coach Sean McVay matching wits with Bill Belichick, owner of five Super Bowl titles for New England. The World Series was a matchup of Boston against Los Angeles, so naturally, to help forecast the outcome of this football game, The Campus turns to two members of the Ottawa University Braves baseball team, CJ Cecil and Jon Painter, for their good-as-gold predictions.
Jon:
While 32-year-old McVay receives all the attention, and NFL teams around the league are head-over-heels in search of his clone, the Rams defense is guided by the 71-year-old Wade Phillips. Phillips has been able to defeat Belichick and Brady before as defensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos, who knocked off the Patriots in the AFC Championship game on the way to a Super Bowl L victory. Phillips has a Rams defense full of playmakers led by Aaron Donald while the porous Patriots defense has been forced to rely on Brady and the Patriots ball-control offense to keep them off the field. The Rams get at least one defensive touchdown and hand the Patriots back to back Super Bowl defeats.
LA Rams 34
New England Patriots 17
CJ:
Although the Rams have received all the attention and have had a phenomenal season, no coaching mind rivals the knowledge of the infamous Bill Belichick. In years past, everyone has doubted the Patriots and this year is no exception. People say Brady is too old and that the Patriots have no receivers and no defense. The Rams will come out strong and make a game of it, but Belichick will shut down the superstar running back Todd Gurley and force the young quarterback Jared Goff to throw the ball under pressure and into traffic. It will be a close game down to the wire, but experience will triumph over youth. In the last Super Bowl that these two teams met (in 2002), the Patriots upset the Rams and took home the trophy. This game will be no different.
New England Patriots 24
Los Angeles Rams 21
Who will come out victorious? Find out at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019. The game airs on CBS.