Pac-12 Football: Oregon Up to No. 6 in College Football Playoff Rankings
Oregon did not play this past weekend, but it moved up one sport to No. 6 in this week's College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday.
Utah did not play either, and the Utes advanced one place to No. 7.
Oregon benefited from Penn State's loss to Minnesota.
However, even if the Ducks or Utah win the rest of its games, it would probably still need some help in terms of losses by other teams ranked ahead of it.
The best chance for Oregon or Utah to wind up in the top four is for both to win the rest of their regular-season games, then meet in the Pac-12 championship game. The winner of that game would then have a quality victory to show the 13-person selection committee. If Oregon or Utah faces any other team in the conference title game, it might not provide the quality opponent Utah or Oregon would need to impress the committee.
Oregon has a better chance than Utah to make the playoff, because the Ducks' lone loss was to Auburn, which is No. 12 in this week's CFP rankings. Utah's only loss was to USC, which has four losses and lost by 32 points to Oregon. Oregon's best wins are against USC and Washington, each of whom has four losses, and the Utes' best win is against Washington, by five points.
Oregon's best hope is for Auburn to beat Georgia this Saturday and Alabama on Nov. 30. Not only would that raise the status of the one team that beat the Ducks, but it also might eliminate No. 5 Alabama and No. 4 Georgia from playoff contention.
The top eight:
1. LSU
2. Ohio State
3. Clemson
4. Georgia
5. Alabama
6. Oregon
7. Utah
8. Minnesota
