Oregon Ducks Drop Out of Top 25 in Updated AP Poll After Loss to Georgia Bulldogs

The Oregon Ducks entered their week one matchup ranked No. 11.

Author:
Graham Metzker
Publish date:
Sep 6, 2022 2:56 PM EDT

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The Oregon Ducks were blown out of the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday, getting dismantled by the reigning national champions Georgia Bulldogs by a score of 49-3.

And upon the Ducks' arrival back in Eugene, more bad news was already waiting for them -- this time in the latest iteration of AP's Top 25 College Football Poll.

Oregon dropped completely out of the top 25 after week one. Oregon has the most votes out of teams not in the top 25 with 131 votes, placing them firmly at No. 26 heading into week two.

On the other side of the country, and the other side of the poll, Georgia was bumped up just one spot to the No. 2 team in the country behind Alabama.

The Ducks' performance was certainly nothing to write home about: the Ducks punted four times to the Bulldogs' one, the Ducks couldn't score a touchdown while the Bulldogs scored seven touchdowns, Bo Nix threw two interceptions and no touchdowns and Stetson Bennett threw two touchdowns with no interceptions.

Oregon's poor performance shouldn't be glossed over. Yet, a complete drop out of the top 25 still feels harsh.

Looking around the Pac-12 won't make Duck fans feel much better. The highest-ranked team in the Pac is now the USC Trojans, coming in ranked No. 10. The Trojans started their new coaching regime with a matchup against Rice, easily winning 66-14.

The Utah Utes, who started the season as the top-ranked Pac-12 school at No. 7, dropped their first game in a thrilling 29-26 loss to the then-unranked Florida Gators.

Florida now assumes the No. 12 position, while Utah is stuck at No. 13. Utah and Notre Dame are the two teams in the week two AP Top 25 Poll that started their seasons with a loss.

Oregon State (5), UCLA (1) and Arizona (1) join Oregon as Pac-12 schools receiving votes outside of the top 25.

Luckily for the Ducks, the worst seems to be out of the way -- for now. They will get a significant downgrade in competition when they host Eastern Washington in Autzen Stadium this week. Even after coming off of a tough loss, the Ducks should be able to handle their business against the Eastern Washington Eagles.

Looking a bit further down the schedule, however, you can see the road ahead for Oregon isn't without its tests. In two weeks time, Oregon will welcome No. 20 BYU to Eugene for what looks to be a great game.

BYU jumped five spots this week after beating South Florida 50-21. If the Ducks can put forth a dominant performance against Eastern Washington next week, there may be a top-25 battle in Autzen in two weeks time.