This is a battle of contrasting styles, between a squad with a bruising running game and gritty defense versus a speedy team who likes to spread out and hurl the ball all over the field. Traditionally, the former would be from the Midwest while the latter hails from the West Coast. Actually, these two are the complete opposites of those stereotypes. The first team mentioned comes from the Pac-12 team while the second one belongs to the Big Ten.
This type of inter-sectional match matters in the minds of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee.