Oregon football is 11-0 on the year and ranked No. 1 in the country with one game remaining and in a normal year in which the College Football Playoff was only four teams, the Ducks would likely have to win out in order to make the field (just look at what happened to Georgia last year).
Dan Lanning and the Ducks survived a scare this past weekend in Madison as the Wisconsin Badgers took Oregon down to the wire. Oregon eventually won thanks to a 10-0 fourth-quarter showing, 16-13.
In the midst of a bye week and after being named the No. 1 team in the playoff for a third straight week with one game left, it's time to seriously ask: did the Ducks lock up a playoff spot?
While Oregon did lock up a spot in the Big Ten title game in their first year in the conference which is more than impressive, the Ducks still have some work to do in the playoff chase. It would take a massive meltdown in the final two games in order to knock Oregon from No. 1 to completely out of the playoff, but weirder things have happened before.
Honestly, making the Big Ten title game could hurt Oregon if it loses to Washington next week.
I don't see that happening as Washington is a shell of what it was last year under Kalen DeBoer, but a loss to the Huskies could set up for a scary Big Ten title game against either Ohio State or Indiana.
Let's say Oregon does lose the finale against Washington, there's a chance that the Ducks fall to 6-7 in the rankings because it's a "bad" home loss. Then they face a top-five team in the Big Ten Championship. A loss there, especially an ugly one, could drop Oregon completely out of the playoff hunt, especially since a Group of Five team has to make it.
A win over Washington obviously punches Oregon's ticket. A loss to Washington on Nov. 30 calls for scary hours. Beat Washington and Oregon is in.