Saturday Blitz
Fansided

Pac-12 football: Midseason awards and superlatives

By Patrick Mayhorn

GENE, OR - OCTOBER 13: Linebacker Justin Hollins #11 of the Oregon Ducks, place kicker Peyton Henry #47 of the Washington Huskies, punter/holder Race Porter #46 of the Washington Huskies and cornerback Thomas Graham Jr. #4 of the Oregon Ducks watch as Henry's field goal attempt to win the game misses in the final seconds of the regulation at Autzen Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Eugene, Oregon. The Ducks won the game in overtime 30-27. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
GENE, OR - OCTOBER 13: Linebacker Justin Hollins #11 of the Oregon Ducks, place kicker Peyton Henry #47 of the Washington Huskies, punter/holder Race Porter #46 of the Washington Huskies and cornerback Thomas Graham Jr. #4 of the Oregon Ducks watch as Henry's field goal attempt to win the game misses in the final seconds of the regulation at Autzen Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Eugene, Oregon. The Ducks won the game in overtime 30-27. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
7 of 8
Next
(Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
(Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /

Biggest playoff threat: Oregon

This category is tough, because honestly, I don’t think the Pac-12 has much of a chance at the playoff this season. With Washington pretty much out, USC fully out, nothing substantial in the South, and a rough start from Stanford, the traditional powers in the conference are already out. That leaves Colorado, Washington State, and Oregon as the only one-loss teams in the conference.

With what we know about the playoff committee, that one loss thing is super important, as is winning a conference title, and having several signature wins. None of the three one-loss teams in the conference played any good teams in the non-conference. Two of them have lost to an average USC team, and the other lost to an average Stanford team. The best win is Oregon’s over Washington, which isn’t super impressive at this point.

On top of that, Washington State and Colorado aren’t winning out. It hurts to say that, it hurts for those fans to hear that, but we all know it’s true. They aren’t deep enough, or talented enough to survive the second half of the season unbeaten. Oregon may be, meaning they’re just about the only chance the conference has at a playoff appearance.

Even that won’t be easy though, as the Ducks absolutely need some help to get in. Firstly, they need to win out. That’s actually super doable, with the toughest remaining game coming on Saturday against Wazzu, and then five manageable matchups, the toughest of which probably comes against Utah or Arizona State. After that, they need to win the conference title, preferably over a 10-2 USC with a win over Notre Dame.

Outside of that, Oregon would then need the Big 12 winner to have two losses, and a Notre Dame loss (again, to USC would be ideal, though I don’t expect it), and maybe even a surprise ACC win for NC State rather than Clemson. At that point, I think a playoff with Alabama, Ohio State, and questions about Notre Dame, the ACC champion, and the Big 12 champion would put a one-loss Oregon team in. That’s a lot of help.

Home/Pac-12