The first College Football Playoff rankings gave Oregon something it didn’t have in the AP Poll: a foothold.
Despite three losses and a slide out of the top 25 in the AP rankings, the Ducks landed at No. 23 in Tuesday night’s initial CFP Top 25. That doesn’t make the road easy by any stretch, but it does keep Oregon in the conversation with five regular-season games still to play and only 12 spots available in the playoff field.
The resume is messy. Oregon has already lost to Oklahoma State, UCLA and Illinois.
But there’s a counterweight in the form of two wins over ranked teams, with the Ducks having beaten No. 20 USC and No.
25 Boise State. That matters in a race where every quality result gets weighed against every stumble.
The biggest swing game is right in front of them. A win over No.
12 Ohio State in Week 10 would give Oregon a major boost. A loss, on the other hand, would almost certainly knock the Ducks out of the playoff picture.
Rece Davis laid out just how tight the margin is during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.
"One we thought was officially cooked, but stay with me on this one... Oregon is not dead yet," Davis said on The Pat McAfee Show.
"Great win against Northwestern. But there's a wide path.
Not a wide or an easy one. But if they win out, it's not crazy to think that they can get into the Big Ten Championship game and win the conference."
“I don't favor them to do it because they've been the epitome of inconsistency,” he added. “But in this season, anything is possible."
That’s the heart of Oregon’s case. Three losses usually slam the door on a team’s postseason hopes this late in the year, but 2026 has been anything but ordinary. Upsets have piled up, and the AP Poll’s top five has been in constant motion, leaving room for a team like Oregon to hang around.
The catch is simple: the Ducks likely have to run the table. Their remaining schedule includes Nov. 7 at Ohio State, Nov. 14 against Michigan, Nov. 20 at Michigan State and No.
28 Washington. Win those, and the Ducks would still need help elsewhere to reach the Big Ten Championship game and keep their CFP path alive.
That outside help is part of the equation too. If USC drops another game and Oregon beats Ohio State, the Ducks would hold the tiebreaker over both.
Oregon likely needs UCLA to win out, Illinois to lose again and Indiana to take another loss. If that chain falls the right way, the Ducks could reach the Big Ten Championship game, and a win there would lock up a playoff berth.
There’s another wrinkle. If UCLA wins out, that would cover two of Oregon’s needs by giving the Bruins wins over Illinois and USC.
The most likely path to the Big Ten Championship, though, would involve USC beating No. 4 Indiana on Nov.
So the door is still open, even if only a crack. For Oregon, it starts with Columbus.
In Other News...
Ohio States CFP Ranking Just Reignited A Frustrating Committee Debate
The first College Football Playoff rankings of 2026 immediately stirred up the kind of familiar arguments that seem to arrive every November, and Ohio State fans know the drill well enough by now. Miami landed at No. 1, followed by Georgia, Utah, Indiana and Alabama, but the order raised fresh questions about how the committee is weighing head-to-head results, strength of schedule and the value of unbeaten records in a crowded field.
Hunter Yurachek tried to walk through the committees thinking, but the explanations only sharpened the debate around several placements, especially UCLA sitting behind teams with losses and Utah climbing so high with just one ranked win. For Ohio State, the broader concern is less about one specific slot than the same old uncertainty about what the rankings are really rewarding, and whether the committees logic will hold once the bracket starts to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio State Has A Legit CFP Ranking Complaint After First Bracket
The first College Football Playoff rankings of the 2026 season immediately stirred the usual arguments, with Alabama landing in the top five despite a mixed record against ranked opponents and Notre Dame showing up lower than it did in the AP poll. The committee also drew attention for the way it handled strength of schedule, a familiar flashpoint this time of year, and it did not take long for the Buckeyes to have a reason to feel slighted.
Hunter Yurachek said the committee did not consider Ohio States head-to-head win over Indiana when it made its first bracket. For a program that has spent the early part of the season trying to stack rsum points against quality competition, that omission stands out, especially when the rankings are already inviting scrutiny elsewhere. Ohio State may not love the opening picture, and this is the kind of detail that tends to linger until the committee explains itself a little more fully. [Read more 🡒]
Lincoln Riley Explains Tense Ohio State Exchange After USC Statement Win
USCs 30-18 win over Ohio State ended with a little more edge than the scoreboard alone suggested, as Trojans coach Lincoln Riley and Buckeyes athletic director Ross Bjork had a brief verbal exchange on the field afterward. Riley was asked about it later and downplayed the moment, saying it was simply part of the emotions that spill over after a game like that and that the two moved past it quickly.
For Ohio State, the exchange was a small postgame footnote to an outcome that already stung, but it still drew attention because it happened in plain view after a high-profile nonconference matchup. Riley did not get into what started it, leaving the specifics out of reach even as he tried to brush off any bigger meaning from the scene. [Read more 🡒]