This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Oregon deserved better treatment Tuesday, but the Ducks are well positioned to eventually move into the College Football Playoff's top four and stay there.
And Utah or another team from the Pac-12 South may have a lot to say about whether or not Oregon becomes a semifinalist. That's especially true of the Utes, who potentially could play the Ducks twice before the final selections are made.
Those are the natural conclusions from a Pac-12 perspective, regarding Tuesday's first weekly Top 25 rankings issued by the CFP selection committee. Having three teams from the SEC West ahead of No. 5 Oregon actually is good news for the Ducks. Oregon should have been ranked above No. 4 Mississippi, but that problem may solve itself as soon as Saturday, when Ole Miss hosts No. 3 Auburn.
The committee generally treated the Pac-12 well, with five teams in the Top 25: Oregon, Arizona (No. 12), Arizona State (No. 14), Utah (No. 17) and UCLA (No. 22). That's remarkable representation for the South division, and all five Pac-12 teams were ranked at least as high as their positions in the AP Top 25.
Committee chair Jeff Long told ESPN that Oregon received credit for beating No. 8 Michigan State at home and UCLA on the road. The Ducks obviously took a hit for losing at home to Arizona, which lost to USC at home and barely beat California.
Oregon, of course, must address its own issues this week against Stanford, which has beaten the Ducks each of the past two seasons. Otherwise, Utah — and the South champion, in the Pac-12 title game at the San Francisco 49ers' home — are by far the biggest remaining challenges for the Ducks. Oregon's other games are at home against Colorado and Oregon State.
That makes Utah a major player in this discussion. And even if the Utes lose to Oregon on Nov. 8 at Rice-Eccles Stadium, they could earn a rematch with the Ducks in the conference championship game if they win their other four contests.
Arizona, Arizona State and Utah have one loss apiece. Any of them would have to win out in the regular season and beat Oregon in the title game to have any conceivable shot at the top four. But if the South winner's second loss comes against Oregon, it would be in strong contention for one of the other New Year's Six bowl bids, as assigned by the CFP committee.
Unlike the AP Top 25, the committee's rankings are not compiled from each member's published ballot. So there's no way of knowing how close Oregon came to Tuesday's top four.
Yet it seems clear to me that the Ducks will break into the top four at some point and remain there through Dec. 7, as long as they keep winning. Of course, there's bound to be some paranoia about the SEC from a Pac-12 viewpoint, particularly with Alabama lurking at No. 6. To feel completely comfortable, the Ducks likely need two teams from the pool of Auburn, Ole Miss and Alabama to be eliminated, one way or another. No. 1 Mississippi State is the Ducks' biggest ally, facing Ole Miss and Alabama in November.
Oregon would benefit if the Pac-12 South winner comes into the championship game with an 11-1 record. The Ducks also would stand to gain if Utah beats Arizona State on Saturday and moves up in the rankings, in advance of next week's meeting.
This much is certain: Oregon picked the right year to book Michigan State. Even if the Big Ten is not highly regarded, the Ducks' 46-27 victory over the Spartans in early September gives them just enough credit for ambitious scheduling.
The Ducks also could help themselves by making a better impression defensively. In that sense, beating Stanford and Utah in what are likely to be low-scoring games would work in Oregon's favor.
Twitter: @tribkurt —
Playoff positioning
College Football Playoff selection committee's first weekly Top 25:
1 • Mississippi State (7-0)
2 • Florida State (7-0)
3 • Auburn (6-1)
4 • Mississippi (7-1)
5 • Oregon (7-1)
6 • Alabama (7-1)
7 • TCU (6-1)
8 • Michigan State (7-1)
9 • Kansas State (6-1)
10 • Notre Dame (6-1)
11 • Georgia (6-1)
12 • Arizona (6-1)
13 • Baylor (6-1)
14 • Arizona State (6-1)
15 • Nebraska (7-1)
16 • Ohio State (6-1)
17 • Utah (6-1)
18 • Oklahoma (5-2)
19 • LSU (7-2)
20 • West Virginia (6-2)
21 • Clemson (6-2)
22 • UCLA (6-2)
23 • East Carolina (6-1)
24 • Duke (6-1)
25 • Louisville (6-2)