Oregon Football: 3 hot takes from crushing loss to Stanford in Week 5

STANFORD, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 02: Anthony Brown #13 is congratulated by Devon Williams #2 of the Oregon Ducks after he Brown rushed in for a touchdown in the first half against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium on October 02, 2021 in Stanford, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

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Oct 2, 2021; Stanford, California, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal leads his team out before the game against the Stanford Cardinal at Stanford Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports /

1. Oregon’s playoff hopes are still very much alive

The immediate reaction from Oregon’s loss to Stanford was “well, there go the playoff hopes” but that’s far from the case.

One loss to a decent Pac-12 team on the road isn’t going to completely crush the Ducks, especially since they have a win over Ohio State earlier in the season which is one of the best in the country. The Ducks have a solid resume to this point and one loss isn’t going to crush the playoff hopes and we saw that on Sunday afternoon when the new AP Top 25 was released and they were No. 8.

The Ducks are in a good spot. They have one loss. They have a really good win on the resume. They play in one of the weakest conferences in the nation.

Mario Cristobal’s team has very little margin for error from this point forward, however. The Ducks are 4-1 with seven games remaining and they likely must win out in order to have a shot at the College Football Playoff.

Don’t panic yet, Duck fans, this was the wake-up call that Oregon needed.

Next. 3 takeaways from crushing loss to Stanford. dark

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