Ranking Oregon's Remaining Games
We are at a part of the season where wins and losses matter but so do style points. Oregon fell in a spot Tuesday that has them right in line for a playoff spot. Coming in at No. 6 is nearly ideal if you aren’t in the top four.
Oregon just has to win in order to move into the top four. Inevitably Michigan and Ohio State will play each other and one will lose. This isn’t soccer, one will lose. Even if Washington wins out and ends up at No. 4 or 5 at season’s end, Oregon will have a chance to play/beat them.
The Ducks have four regular season games left on the schedule. Here is my ranking of those remaining games in order.
- OSU – The Beavers will really have very little to lose at the end of the season. They likely won’t be competing for a playoff spot and will be bowl eligible. Meaning they can play spoiler to big brother once again and will leave it all on the table. Furthermore the conference realignment movement might give them a little extra incentive to beat Oregon. And make no mistake, they are a good football team. This is a very dangerous game for Oregon.
- ASU – Who will know the Oregon defense better than anyone not at Oregon? The guy who spent a year running the offense against it in practice for a year. Dilly doesn’t have the horses but he’s shown he can scheme his team up to be competitive. ASU at home, sandwiched between USC and OSU, makes this a very dangerous game.
- USC – A couple weeks ago I would have been locked up with this ranking. Although I never really worried about USC all that much. Just too many holes and too many mistakes made. I also don’t think Oregon will have any trouble getting up for this game as beating the Trojans will be a pretty good motivator in itself.
- Cal – Maybe Oregon has a bit of a slide here coming off the big Utah win. I kind of doubt it. Oregon is superior to Cal in every way and if the Ducks were able to slow down Utah’s run game, they’ll have no problem with Cal’s. Oregon wins this one big.
