Oregon Ducks have Big Ten’s best shot to make College Football Playoff according to ESPN preseason FPI

New to the Big Ten but not new to fielding really strong football teams, the Oregon Ducks apparently have a pretty good shot of making it to the College Football Playoff. If you ask ESPN’s Football Power Index, there’s not a team in the Big Ten that has a better shot of making it to the College Football Playoff this coming Oregon football season.

Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks are looking to showcase their strength as a program and their potential to be a true national title contender. This season is as good as any to really get that going.

According to ESPN’s preseason FPI projections, the Oregon Ducks have an impressive 76 percent chance of making it to the College Football Playoff. Again, that’s better than any other team in the Big Ten. This projection underscores the Ducks' status as a possible national title contender heading into the season.

Sitting just behind the Oregon Ducks is a team that is a bit more used to Big Ten football. The Ohio State Buckeyes, a team that is routinely in playoff conversations seemingly at any given turn, hold No. 2 in the Big Ten in this regard. And that second-best chance among Big Ten teams to make the playoff equals 67.2 percent for the Buckeyes. 

Third in the Big Ten in this metric would be the Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State has a pretty solid foundation and looks capable with a ton of talent on the roster, so it shouldn’t shock anyone that Penn State has the third-best odds among Big Ten teams at 59.1 percent.

Oregon given best preseason chance in Big Ten to make College Football Playoff, according to ESPN’s FPI

Here’s how the Big Ten and the conference’s teams’ various chances of making the College Football Playoff look, according to ESPN’s FPI.

• Oregon Ducks - 76 percent
• Ohio State Buckeyes - 67.2 percent
• Penn State Nittany Lions - 59.1 percent
• Michigan Wolverines - 28.5 percent
• USC Trojans - 13.4 percent
• Washington Huskies - 6 percent
• Iowa Hawkeyes - 7.4 percent
• Rutgers Scarlet Knights - 5.6 percent
• Nebraska Cornhuskers - 4.9 percent
• Maryland Terrapins - 4.8 percent
• Wisconsin Badgers - 3.1 percent
• UCLA Bruins - 2.8 percent
• Northwestern Wildcats - 1.4 percent
• Minnesota Golden Gophers - 1 percent
• Illinois Fighting Illini - 1 percent
• Purdue Boilermakers - 0.7 percent
• Michigan State Spartans - 0.6 percent
• Indiana Hoosiers - 0.5 percent

The Big Ten is entering a new era. It sure would be something to see the Ducks find a way to make a splash in their new conference in the first season. But with the roster that Dan Lanning has assembled, that certainly feels plausible.