Oregon’s modest CFP rankings debut adds pressure ahead of showdown with Iowa

As the College Football season rapidly approaches the end of the year, the race for the College Football Playoff takes over the sport. On Tuesday Night, every team found out where they stand in the race for the Playoff as the College Football Playoff committee unveiled their Top 25 rankings. These rankings will shift a ton over the final weeks of the season, but where you rank in the initial Top 25 is important for where you stand in the Playoff picture.

When the College Football Playoff rankings were revealed and the Oregon Ducks were ranked 9th, it instantly seemed far too low. Given that Oregon is right inside the College Football Playoff bubble, any loss could drop them too far for them to ever recover in a crowded race.

This weekend, instantly brings a big test for the Ducks where they won't get a ton of credit for winning, but they'll go flying down the rankings with a loss. The Ducks are tasked with going to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes who were ranked 20th in the first CFP Rankings.

The Ducks catch Iowa at the worst time as this team has started to play it's best football which means they can test Oregon in this game. While Iowa's offense has become a joke over the years, this team is scoring 34.33 points per game over their last 3 games. Iowa's already shown it could play with the best teams in the conference as they put up the best performance of anyone against Indiana.

For the Ducks, this weekend starts a tough stretch with games against ranked teams in Iowa, Washington, and USC along with another tough game in league vs Minnesota. Dan Lanning's team won't get a ton of credit as their 3 ranked opponents will likely fall out of the Top 25 with any loss. The issue for Oregon becomes a 9th falling outside the Top 11 will make it difficult to get back into the Playoff picture.

When it comes time to debate Oregon's resume, it'll be tough to differentiate them from the other schools in their league. The Ducks' 3 Non-Conference games came against Oklahoma State and Oregon State who already fired their coaches and Montana State.

This team doesn't have any big win to build their resume around as Penn State falling apart hurts the Ducks taking away their biggest win of the year. Over the final 4 weeks of the season, Oregon may need to run the table, otherwise they could miss the Playoff altogether.