In this edition of the "way-too-early," we look at a potential College Football Playoff bracket about 10 months away.
We are still about 10 months away from the 2026 College Football Playoff, but it is never too early to look at what a potential bracket would look like.
For the Oregon Ducks, this bracket is one that has them just sneaking into the College Football Playoff.
On3's Brett McMurphy took pen to paper on Tuesday and mapped out his "way-too-early" playoff bracket, and it, again, would be a very solid playoff. The rankings go as follows:
- Notre Dame Fighting Irish
- Georgia Bulldogs
- Ohio State Buckeyes
- Miami Hurricanes
- Texas Longhorns
- Texas Tech Red Raiders
- Indiana Hoosiers
- Oregon Ducks
- Utah Utes
- Texas A&M Aggies
- Oklahoma Sooners
- UTSA Roadrunners
Oregon sits nestled nicely at No. 8, but that is toward the bottom of the at-large bids. Remember last year that there were just 10 at-large teams, as there ended up being two group of five teams that were highly ranked conference champions.
Yes, if that was a mess to read, it was also a mess to watch last season.
Now, in this scenario, the Ducks would have an awesome game against Utah, setting up a potential showdown with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who are McMurphy's eventual national champions.
This pairing would give America exactly what they wanted last year instead of getting Oregon and James Madison in the first round. That certainly would garner a ton of interest nationally and would be one of the most-viewed games ever.
To get the No. 8 seed, the Ducks would need to roll through their regular season while only slipping up a couple of times. Personally, I think that the Ducks are going to carry a lot of the similar feeling that the Indiana Hoosiers had last year.
They will be a decently veteran and experienced group, and they have a favorable, but not-so-easy schedule.
The marquee matchups are a September tilt against USC and then a back-to-back matchup against Ohio State and Michigan to begin November.
It's those three games that stand in the way of the Ducks getting to the Big Ten Championship and eventually the top seed in the tournament.
For my money, I would switch Ohio State and Oregon simply because of Ohio State's tough schedule. I do believe that Oregon will have a legitimate chance to win the conference, and I think they will get it done.
However, this isn't my bracket, and this one says that the Ducks are the No. 8 seed. While it's not what they are striving for, they would have the opportunity to be the third team ranked 8th or lower to make it to the National Championship.
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