How the College Football Playoff committee, ESPN analysts explained Oregon’s No. 6 ranking
The latest College Football Playoff ranking came out on Tuesday night, and it was a pleasant viewing experience for fans of the Oregon Ducks.
After the chaos that took place last weekend at the top of the rankings, Oregon moved up two spots to No. 6. Should the Ducks win the rest of the games on their schedule, they would have a very strong case to be included among the four playoff teams.
One of the biggest arguments against them, though, remains that 46-point loss to the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs in the first game of the season. After the rankings were released, several ESPN analysts tried to explain what that loss could mean for the Ducks’ ranking, and College Football Playoff committee Chair Boo Corrigan came on the show to explain how the committee views Oregon and what that loss on its resume means.
Here’s what everyone had to say:
CFP committee chair Boo Corrigan
On how the committee views the 46-point loss to Georgia:
“It certainly is part of what we talk about as we go through this. But the other part of it is they’ve won eight consecutive games averaging 40 points a game, beating UCLA, who is well respected by the committee. Again, we’re looking at the overall body of work where it’s not about one game, it’s about what have they done throughout the entire season.”
CFP committee chair Boo Corrigan
On how the level of opponents in the Pac-12 is valued for Oregon:
“We’re looking at everything combined as we’re looking at it. Strength of schedule is one of the components that we do look at. How they play as a team, how they play together is really what we’re looking at overall as we go through this process. They’ve been very impressive.”
Kirk Herbstreit
“You can look at Oregon and say ‘look at how big of a loss they had to Georgia,’ but you also have to look at those circumstances with Dan Lanning taking over, a new quarterback that came in from Auburn, the first game that they played of the year, traveling across the country in Atlanta, playing basically a home game for Georgia. The message to Rob Mullens is schedule Portland State. Why did he want to schedule Georgia and lose a game like that? If you schedule Portland State, they’re undefeated and everyone is talking about how great Oregon is. Throw the metrics out, they’re playing right now like one of those teams that you don’t want to get on the field with. They have found something over the course of these last four or five weeks and they’re executing very, very well. I can’t wait to see how they finish down the stretch with some of these potential heavyweights coming up, especially in a Pac-12 Championship.”
Joey Gallaway
On if USC has the best chance of the Pac-12 making it to the CFP:
“I would agree, except for the way that Oregon is playing right now. It’s going to be really interesting with Bo Nix, maybe the best quarterback in the country right now, and an Oregon team that looks completely different than what we saw in that opening weekend. And as Georgia pounded Tennessee, I think it makes the Oregon loss look not so bad. Because Georgia right now has proven that when it has to get up for a game, it gets up for a game. It doesn’t matter who it is. Oregon looks like the best team in the Pac-12. If they run their schedule, it will be interesting to see if they can get there because of that loss to Georgia.”
Rece Davis
“I still think that 46 points are an albatross, but the Tennessee loss to Georgia was every bit the beat down even though the scoreboard was not the same. But that’s hard to get past to put them in if all of the other things remain the same. While I agree that they’re playing better, they’re also playing teams in the Pac-12.”
Chris Fallica
“I agree with what you said earlier in the show, it was perfect. They chose to play the national champions, in Atlanta, in Week 1. They should have played Utah State. They’d be undefeated right now and may be the fourth-best team in the country. You look at the way that Bo Nix and that offense is going, they have a very underrated defense. I think Oregon controls its own destiny. I think that if they win out, if they beat DeBoer, if they beat Utah, if they beat Oregon State, if they beat whoever they’re going to play in the Pac-12 Championship game, whether it’s USC or UCLA again, I think a 12-1 Oregon, based on who is left around them, has an excellent chance of making the playoff.”
