Playoff positioning for top Pac-12 football teams

The first edition of college football’s playoff rankings was released last night, making us one week closer to where the road for many teams ends and the road to the championship begins.

With three-quarters of the regular season in the books, let’s see where these Pac-12 football teams stack up.

No. 5 Washington (8-0)

With the Huskies being the only undefeated team left in the Pac-12, they’re in a great position to make it all the way through to the top four.

Washington has a tough gauntlet of games coming up, however. The first of which is this weekend when they’ll travel to No. 24 USC. The weeks after that include hosting No. 18 Utah, a road trip to No. 16 Oregon State and finally hosting their rival, unranked Washington State. After struggling versus Arizona, any of these games could be considered a trap. As long as win at least two of these games and the Pac-12 Championship, they should be in a prime position.

No. 6 Oregon (7-1)

Oregon has enjoyed another exciting season with Bo Nix at the helm. Dan Lanning is quickly becoming a top head coach.

The Ducks’ remaining schedule includes visits from Cal, No. 24 USC and a trip to Arizona State to face their former offensive coordinator, head coach Kenny Dillingham. They’ll host their in-state rivals, No. 16 Oregon State that next week. If they’re able to go 4-0 during this stretch AND beat Washington in the conference championship, Oregon would almost be guaranteed to get a spot in the playoffs. First though, the Ducks have to prove that they can finish strong.

No. 16 Oregon State (6-2)

Never say never, folks. D.J. Uiagalelei has been consistently good this season as the leader of a slippery Beavers team.

Although it would be difficult for a 6-2 team to make it, they may go on a dominant run to cap off their season. While their next two games are against sub-par competition in Colorado and Stanford, they face No. 5 Washington at home and travel to Eugene to face No. 6 Oregon the week after. I wouldn’t put it past the Beavers to win at least one of their final two games. But if they can win BOTH and put up a good fight in the Pac-12 football championship, who knows?