Oregon Football: Bowl projections after Week 6 bye

Oregon football had a bye in Week 6 and enters Week 7 with four days to prepare for a Friday night showdown — and rematch — against Cal.

The Ducks dropped one spot in head-scratching fashion in the Week 7 AP Top 25 as Michigan leaped Oregon following a win over Nebraska. The Wolverines didn’t look all that impressive in the win, but AP voters were pleased enough with it to bump them up to No. 8 and Oregon down to No. 9 despite the Ducks not playing.

Still, Oregon is the top-ranked Pac-12 team through six weeks and the only other squads in the conference really worth watching right now are UCLA and Arizona State. Who saw that coming?

USC is struggling and may not make a bowl, Washington is 2-3 on the year after losing to Oregon State last week, Stanford has come back down to earth after the Oregon upset, and Colorado is winless in league play. The only other potential sleeper is Utah after a 2-0 start in Pac-12 play — surprising seeing as Charlie Brewer left the program suddenly.

Oregon is looking like a New Year’s Six team right now but it’ll have to fend off Arizona State to get there.

Oregon football bowl projections after Week 6 action

Where do the experts project Oregon to land this postseason?

• Our own Saturday Blitz has Oregon in the Rose Bowl against Penn State.
• College Football News has the Ducks facing off against Iowa in the Rose Bowl.
• Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has Oregon in the Rose Bowl as well, facing Penn State in the 5 p.m. ET New Year’s Six game on Jan. 1.
• The 247Sports projections have Oregon in the Rose Bowl (shocker, I know) against Penn State.

It’s looking like Rose Bowl or bust for the Ducks this season.