Well, the rankings are out. Ducks ranked 16 in the AP, 15 in the coaches, 14 in the BCS. I'll get to the human rankings, but the BCS is the real key. We are still in decent position for a BCS game. 11, 12, and 13 are Tennessee, Clemson, and Arkansas respectively. You have to think that all of those teams will lose another game. Cal is ranked 10 (they are way better than that), but will move up if tlhey beat USC. If we also beat USC, then we move ahead of them. That would have the Ducks around 10. Then we need USC to beat Notre Dame. Ducks at nine. More help, including losses by Florida and Auburn, would be nice. Look, its an outside shot for an at-large bid, but its a shot.
Another possibility is to get the automatic Pac-10 bid to the Rose Bowl. Here is what needs to happen for that to occur. With the crazy tiebreaker system, a three way tie between USC, Oregon, and Cal can get the Ducks to the Rose Bowl. Obviously, the Ducks would need to win out, including beating USC. Cal would need to lose to USC, and USC would need to lose to Notre Dame. Could you imagine the possibility of having to root for Notre Dame. It makes me want to vomit. Unless Cal loses two Pac-10 games, this is the only scenario which gets Oregon the automatic berth. If USC loses to Oregon, but beats Cal AND Notre Dame, USC gets the automatic berth.
Here are my other thoughts on the top-25: LSU is very overrated. Everyone talks about how good they are, but they lost their only two tough games, against Florida and Auburn. Their wins: Kentucky, Arizona, Louisiana-Lafayette, Mississippi State, and Tulane. And they have Fresneck next. That's just not impressive. Sorry, but LSU=Overrated. Same for Notre Dame. Only good win is against Georgia Tech. Decent win vs. Penn State. MSU, Purdue, and especially Stanford all suck. They play a halfway decent game against UCLA before taking on mighty Navy, North Carolina, Air Force, and Army. And they are still in line for a national title? I thought that Notre Dame was supposed to play the toughest schedule every year? Instead, they load up with the service academies, with North Carolina and Stanford to boot. UCLA is the only decent game in a six game stretch. Hey, Notre Dame, why don't you schedule a home and home with the Ducks and get your whoopin. That's right, Eugene isn't a big enough "media market" for the mighty Irish to play in. Its okay, we already know we are better than you. After all, you were blown out by the JV Beavers. Twice. Other than that, I actually think that the top-25 looks pretty good. I think that Clemson, Ga Tech, and Arkansas might be a tad overrated, but they'll have chances to prove themselves. I also think that Wisconsin may be underrated, but they haven't played anyone. They still have Penn State and Iowa, so they'll have some better games.
Anyway, Ducks looking good for at least the Holiday Bowl. But a run for the Roses is still a possibility. I don't think that we'll be going to El Paso this year (thankfully).
GO DUCKS!!!
--Dave