Everything Committee Chair Warde Manuel said about Oregon after the final CFP rankings

The Oregon Ducks are into the College Football Playoffs as the No. 1 team and the No. 1 seed in the nation. After a perfect regular season and a win over the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Big Ten Championship game, the Ducks cemented their place atop the rest of the country and earned their first-round bye in the playoffs.

When the final College Football Playoff rankings were released on Sunday, a lot of attention was on the teams that had lost their conference title games (Penn State, Texas, SMU, etc.). However, CFP Committee Chair and Michigan Athletic Director still discussed the Ducks and their future opponents in depth:

Warde Manuel on Ohio State and Tennessee:

"Well, I mean, I think when you look at their resumes, they're very similar. Ohio State lost to Oregon. Tennessee lost to No. 2 Georgia. Tennessee lost at Arkansas. Ohio State lost to Michigan in a big rivalry game. So similar resumes in where they are in terms of what they've done. Obviously, Ohio State also has two wins against Indiana and Penn State, both in the top 10, but Tennessee has that win over Alabama who's 11th. When you look at their resumes, they are very similar

"In terms of how we saw them, it really came down to the vote and the discussion was heavy on both sides looking at – and really giving a lot of credit to both teams and then talking about some of their losses. Both their losses, because they both have two losses.

"It was a very thorough discussion about those two because we knew as we went into it they would not have another data point coming this week, so it was really important for the committee to be extremely thorough last weekend in ranking and talking about those two teams."

The Ducks will clash with the Tennessee Volunteers or the Ohio State Buckeyes (depending on who wins the first-round game) in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2025. The College Football Playoff Executive Director Rich Clark clarified which bowl game Oregon would play in after a member of the media asked:

Rich Clark on which bowl game the Ducks will play in:

" No, they will still be in the Rose Bowl for their quarterfinal. That grouping, that winner will be advancing to the semifinal at the Cotton Bowl."

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