Oregon, Stanford USC, UCLA all Fall in Week 6 Pac 12 Power Rankings. Arizona, ASU, and Utah Rise.
Saturday Blitz Week 6 Pac 12 Power Rankings
Oregon let this past one slip away. Losing at home to Arizona 31-24 never should have happened, but it did, and once again they are going to have to play catch-up the rest of the season to get back into the college football playoff conversation.
The Ducks loss once again exposed what we have always worried about with them: their weakness in the trenches. Arizona ran the ball right down their throat, and Mariota was hurried and hit all night. The loss came down to two plays in the trenches: Mariota’s offensive line allowing him to get sacked and fumble the football on the Ducks’ last drive, and Arizona’s offense line and Terris Jones-Grigsby pummeling forward on a third down running play to get the first down against Oregon’s defensive front. The Ducks are great everywhere else, but the lack of physical play could do them in again.
A trip to UCLA will give us a better indication of which team will remain in the playoff race, but things certainly don’t get any easier for Oregon. That nightmare in Stanford is also looming on the horizon, so there are still plenty of games Oregon could lose.
They still barely lost to Arizona, and with Michigan State, they have a better resume than anybody else in the conference with a loss. But that loss has kept them out of the No. 1 spot.