On Tuesday night, the first official numbers for the College Football Playoff were announced and Oregon Football is in the conversation.
The initial College Football Playoff top four include Ohio State, LSU, Alabama and Penn State. Oregon is firmly in the top ten at number seven with Utah right behind at 8. Georgia is ahead of Oregon at 7 but has only 7 wins to the Ducks with 8. This will clear itself up this week as Oregon does not play with a bye week. I think both Oregon and Utah are in good positions with a month to go.
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For Utah, the goal is to win out and get to the Pac-12 Championship Game to represent the South. For Oregon, the goal is the same. The Ducks can clinch the Pac-12 North this week with an Oregon State loss. If the Beavers win, Oregon can clinch the division with a win next week over Arizona.
The top four will certainly look different next Tuesday night. LSU faces Alabama this week and Penn State faces 17th ranked Minnesota. Other teams will need to keep winning along the way. Auburn is ranked 11th in the first College Football Playoff ranking. One team that could create a headache is Baylor who is undefeated at 8-0 and currently on the cusp of the top ten at 12. Minnesota at 8-0 is the only other undefeated team, but at 17 has work to do to get into the top ten let alone the top five before the end of the season.
Oregon Football has the week off to prepare for an Arizona team that has lost five games this season and four straight, including last weekend at home to the Oregon State Beavers. Oregon and Arizona will kick off a week from Saturday at 7:30 pm Pacific Time on ESPN.