Oregon has enough to worry about with a rivalry game against Washington Saturday, but Black Friday football allows Duck fans an opportunity to peek at some of the competition in the College Football Playoff.
Their closest competition in the playoff bracket is currently No. 7 Ole Miss of the SEC. The two squads are separated by just six points in the AP Poll and the subject of hot debate by the playoff committee.
After the panel flipped the two schools in the poll on Tuesday night, chairman Hunter Yurachek had high praise for the Ducks.
"That was all about Oregon and their performance against USC. Their strength of schedule continues to climb. They've been dominant on the offense and defensive side of the ball, really good in special teams, and the committee had been waiting for them to have a signature win to really put them where we thought they deserved to be," Yurachek said.
In early action at the Egg Bowl, there's a good sampling of both the strength and weakness of Lane Kiffin's 10-1 squad, which lost at No. 9 Georgia but won at No. 13 Oklahoma in October.
The Rebels are explosive on offense. In Starkville today quarterback Trinidad Chambliss started 7-7 passing for 118 yards, while running back Kewan Lacy ripped off a 31-yard run, jumping out to an early 14-7 lead.
Kamario Taylor tied up the Egg Bowl 🥚
— ESPN (@espn) November 28, 2025
Watch No. 7 Ole Miss-Mississippi State on ABC and the ESPN App https://t.co/Nz7AG4DFyf pic.twitter.com/YfhCr9vZRk
Rebels show vulnerability on defense
Ole Miss doesn't look like a good tackling team. Kamario Taylor and Mississippi State drove right down the field to tie the score at the Egg Bowl, running through arm tackles. Ducks' tackling has been outstanding this year.
Early in the second quarter, Taylor broke a 39-yard run, but he threw a double-tipped interception on the very next play.
Looking at the numbers, Ole Miss ranks 9th in the SEC in yards per play, 9th against the run giving up 4.13 yards per carry. They surrendered 221 yards rushing to both Arkansas and Georgia, 178 to Tulane.
Adding to the muddy statistical profile is uncertainty about the future of head coach Kiffin, who is entertaining overtures from Florida and LSU. Reports today are that Florida is moving on from the well-traveled 50-year-old coach, who has had stints at Tennessee, USC and Florida Atlantic before coming to Oxford in 2020.