Path to the Playoffs - Oregon Edition
Well, here we are. In a spot where we start talking about the potential of Oregon making the college football playoffs.
I wasn’t sure this team really had what it takes to be in this position. But I would argue there’s very few elite teams in college football. Which means if you’re a pretty good team, which Oregon is, you have a chance.
Of course a few things will need to go Oregon’s way. For starters we’ll need to re-examine this again when the first real rankings come out on November 1. A week from today.
I’ll continue to do this style update as long as Oregon is in the running. But let’s be totally fair about this, should Oregon lose another conference game, those chances likely go up in smoke. Which is okay. I’m still not sure Oregon is a contender, but it’s still fun to talk about anyways.
AP Poll
Coaches Poll
Oregon is No. 8 currently in both polls. Which is fair. You could make an argument for them to be anywhere from 6-8, but it’s not as if they are getting shafted. And we could argue how the week 1 loss to Georgia is dragging them down, but it certainly doesn’t seem so in the current polls.
Let’s take a quick look at the teams ahead of Oregon and where they ‘could’ get some help. And again, this is all dependent upon Oregon winning out.
- Georgia – Right now, Georgia only has 1 tough game remaining. That’s Tennessee next weekend. (Not this weekend) And that is going to be a helluva game. If Georgia wins, it probably won’t even matter if they win or lose the SEC championship game. If they lose and lost the SEC game too, then we’ll see. Of course head to head, they own Oregon. So Georgia likely won’t end up missing the playoffs for Oregon.
- Ohio State – They play Penn State this weekend, whom is overrated once again per usual. (IMO) I doubt Ohio State even works up a sweat. They do play No. 4 Michigan the last week and could potentially play them twice in a row in the B1G championship. I still have a really tough time seeing Ohio State miss the playoffs.
- Tennessee – Fun story in college football this year. As noted above, they have Georgia in two Saturdays and then a whole lot of nothing. This is another hard one to see missing out unless they drop two games somewhere.
- Michigan – They have Illinois (6-1) and Ohio State to finish the season. I don’t think the Wolverines can beat Ohio State. And a traditional ‘Harbaugh dud’ game should never be discounted. This is the best chance, today, for Oregon to sneak in, potentially.
- Clemson – We are now in territory of teams I can see Oregon competing with. And I include Michigan in that discussion as well. I don’t know that Clemson is good enough to win out. Which means they are likely losing to a mediocre team in Notre Dame, Louisville, Miami or South Carolina.
- Alabama – The Tide are a real wild card here. The lone loss to Tennessee in an epic battle. They have LSU this weekend, Ole Miss next and finish with Auburn. A second loss is what Oregon needs here and could get. Additionally I don’t see three SEC teams getting into the playoffs so that has to be a factor too.
- TCU – They have Texas and Baylor left. Although they could beat both. They’ve beat some decent teams, but once again feels like Big-12 teams that have been a bit overrated IMO. You are 100-percent pulling for a TCU loss here somewhere.
- Oregon – Just keep winning and pray for a little help.
