It's Unlikely, but the Oregon Ducks Still Have a Path to the Playoffs

While it is still very unlikely, Oregon still has a path to get to the College Football Playoff. It would take a Herculean effort, but the opportunity is still absolutely there. 

Now, this is not a piece saying that Oregon is either good or deserving of a playoff spot, but they still have a chance to get there with two losses. With one of their losses being to an unranked opponent, Oklahoma State, the path is very obvious: they have to win out. 

Oregon needs to be 10-2 to have a chance at being considered for the Playoffs. A 9-3 Ducks team with losses to Oklahoma State, UCLA, and Ohio State will not get you into the Playoffs.

So, how does this get done.

Well, the first step in this chase is getting a win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Usually, this would seem like a very winnable game, but this year, that is not the case. Nebraska is coming off a very hard-fought game against Indiana, in which they feel like they should have won. 

That's a game that could take a lot out of a team, both physically and emotionally. The comedown from a game like that is tough; the climb back up is even harder, so Saturday, Oregon needs to take advantage of it.

Then, it is a trip to Illinois to take on one of the weirdest teams in the Big Ten and the country, really. They have a little bit of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in them every week. 

The game that will determine everything is when they host Northwestern on Halloween. That's an incredibly salty team that will require your best effort to beat them. If you win that game, that sets up the showdown of the year in Columbus. Hopefully by then they have the quarterback situation settled and they have some momentum. If they steal that game in Columbus, they are well on their way.

It is then back-to-back games against the Michigan teams that they need to win. At that point, they will set up a finale against Washington for everything.

If they can run that schedule, then they deserve to be a playoff team. That's a major 'if' because the rest of this schedule is brutal. 

The path is there for the Oregon Ducks to get back into the College Football Playoff conversation; they just need to move mountains to get it done. If they take it one game at a time, they will still have a chance to get it done.