I suppose the "UGA destroys OU" camp already has a test case to back up their claim. The 2015 NC game between Ohio State and Oregon seems to be a perfect example of this where OSU had the strong running game and good defense, won the TOP and held Marcus Mariota and the Ducks to 20 points. I'll stay in the other camp however even though I don't have an example game to give.
This is the problem a lot of us have with the whole thing.....I can give you example after example after example of "high powered offense tears through season like tornado through a trailer park and then faces good defense and loses," but I can't recall ONE SINGLE example of "high powered offense with mid-level defense wins national championship."
Again, I'm not saying it CANNOT happen, but I am saying the EVIDENCE supporting it is pretty much nonexistent.
Here's something I don't think folks want to take into account - Baker Mayfield HAS LOST GAMES!!! It's not like he's undefeated as a college quarterback. He's lost to a 5-7 Texas team that fired their coach, Clemson (hard to fault him there), Ohio St, and a mid-level Houston team that lost to both Navy and Memphis....oh, and to Iowa State.
Oklahoma scores 44.9 ppg. This whole "nobody has seen an offense like this" is monumentally absurd.
This Oklahoma team scores a touchdown a game LESS than 2013 FSU, the all-time scoring champ. And I seem to recall that FSU actually trailed an above average Auburn defense by 18 points early on. Yes, they DID win the game, but they needed a comeback and didn't score the winning points until the final 12 seconds.
And then remember this: Auburn's offense in that game outgained FSU by about 60 yards or so. Auburn had more first downs, more rushing yards, and held the ball longer. Indeed, Jimbo Fisher himself has implied he could not have beaten the good defense of Alabama that year if he had played them.
And now let me remind you of a critical point.....FSU had the #1 defense in the nation in 2013.....
1983 Nebraska
In 1989, Colorado's wishbone attack averaged 41.1 ppg.....they got six in the Orange Bowl against Notre Dame's #12 ranked defense that had played an absolutely brutal schedule. The nation's best defense statistically (Miami) also won the national title.
Washington's 1991 offense averaged 41.9 ppg, best in the country among Power Five schools........but they also had the nation's best defense.
Actually, I can think of ONE possible counter-example....the 1991 Fiesta Bowl. Alabama had the nation's best defense and Browning Nagle lit us up. Of course, we'd already lost four other times that year so.....