Pac-12 Football: Oregon, Utah in Top 10 of First College Football Playoff Rankings
Pac-12 teams Oregon and Utah are not among the top four in the first College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night, but they are within striking distance.
Oregon is seventh in CFP rankings, and Utah is eighth. That puts both in position to wind up in the top four when the final CFP rankings are released on Dec. 8.
The best possible scenario for both is for each to win the rest of their regular-season games and play each other in the Pac-12 championship game. That would give the winner of that game a quality victory late in the season.
Oregon and Utah are just sort of hanging around at this point. Most of the attention will be focused on why Ohio State is ranked No. 1, ahead of LSU, or why Penn State is No. 4, ahead of defending champion Clemson.
The Pac-12 had been virtually dismissed as a player in this year's CFP after Oregon lost to Auburn in the season opener. But the Ducks have won eight straight since then. Their best wins are against USC and Washington, both of whom have four losses, so they are still seeking a win over a quality team to push them up the rankings.
Utah is in worse position, since it has only one quality win, a road victory over Washington, so the Utes desperately need Oregon to be its foe in conference title game.
Here is the top 15 in the first CFP rankings:
1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. Alabama
4. Penn State
5. Clemson
6. Georgia
7. Oregon
8. Utah
9. Oklahoma
10. Florida
11. Auburn
12. Baylor
13. Wisconsin'
14. Michigan
15. Notre Dame
