Ohio State blogger lets ‘The Oregon Trail’ pick college football champion

It’s not as adorable as having puppies pick the winning team, but it’s more creative and equally unscientific.

Matt Brown writes for Land-Grant Holy Land, SB Nation’s official Ohio State Buckeyes blog. When Brown became aware that many old DOS games recently became available to play online for free, he decided to play an old favorite, The Oregon Trail, to determine who would win Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship game between OSU and the Oregon Ducks.

For the uninitiated: The Oregon Trail is a computer game originally created in 1971 in which the player creates five fictional characters traveling from the eastern United States to Oregon via wagon in the mid-19th century. The goal is to transport each traveler safety to Oregon’s Willamette Valley, avoiding accidents and disease along the way.

Naturally, Brown began his journey from Ohio — and since the Ducks are favored going into Monday, he named three of the five party members for Oregon: quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota, tailback Royce Freeman and the Ducks’ mascot, Puddles.

The only two Buckeyes on the journey were quarterback Cardale Jones and Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott.

The only problem: Not a single member of Brown’s posse made it to Oregon alive. Broken legs and nasty illnesses such as typhoid and dysentery plagued the group early and often, ultimately leading to death for all five travelers before reaching the promised land.

But since Jones survived longer than the other four men, Brown declared the Buckeyes the winner.

Be sure to click here for the full scoop on Brown’s — ahem — Oregon fail.

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