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The Oregon Ducks had a rough weekend.
Oregon’s senior field goal kicker, Camden Lewis, barely missed on a 45-yard attempt to tie the game on the final play at the University of Washington on Saturday. With 60,000 Huskies fans screaming louder than a Seattle-manufactured Boeing 737 jetliner, the final kick slowly veered to the right and barely missed. If he had made the field goal, the game would have been tied at 36 points apiece and moved into overtime.
Washington won 36-33 and moved to 6-0 on the season. The victory catapulted the Huskies from #13 to #5 in this week’s SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 rankings.
With the loss, though, Oregon took the biggest tumble of the week in my poll. Now 5-1, the Ducks plummeted from #10 a week ago all the way to #26.
How could Oregon fall completely out of the rankings this week?
It’s time to grab my rule book and show the evidence.
The goal of the SwampSwamiSports.com Top 25 (now in its sixth season) has been to provide a clean slate every year. I don’t even provide a ranking until after the first month of play. Each team is given a chance to perform on the field – regardless of conference. If they beat all comers, a team will be moved up in the rankings. Ties are broken by the records of the opponents which your team has beaten through the current week.
After Saturday’s tough loss, Oregon is now 5-1.
According to my ranking rules, the Ducks must fall below any remaining unbeaten teams (there are now only 11 left) and any 6-1 teams (nine remain). That means that Oregon’s ceiling this week would be the #21 position.
Oregon’s best win has come over a now 4-3 Colorado Buffaloes team. If the Buffs had won their game against Stanford last Friday, Colorado would have a 5-2 record instead of 4-3.
A win by Colorado would have given Oregon the #23 slot this week.
Let’s take a look at all of the 5-1 teams and their “best win” of the 2023 season which is utilized to determine this week’s rankings:
#21 Texas – Won @ 6-1 Alabama 34-24
#22 Ole Miss – Won @ 5-1 Tulane 37-20
#23 Utah – Beat 5-2 Florida 24-11
#24 Tulane – Won @ 4-2 Memphis 31-21
#25 Duke – Beat 4-2 Clemson 28-7
Now, let’s review the other 5-1 teams which didn’t make the cut this week:
#26 Oregon – Beat 4-3 Colorado 42-6
#27 Georgia State – Beat 4-3 Marshall 41-24
#28 Tennessee – Beat 4-3 Texas A&M 20-13
#29 UNLV – Beat 2-5 Hawaii 44-20 (the Rebels have played a very easy early schedule)
That is why 5-1 Oregon dropped to #26 this week.
In addition to beating 4-3 Colorado, the Ducks other wins have come against FCS division Portland State (3-3), Texas Tech (3-4), Hawaii (2-5), and Stanford (2-5).
With six games against Pac-12’s top tier to be played, Oregon has plenty of chances to knock off one or more teams with an impressive won-loss record.
If they do, we’ll see the Ducks fly back up the SwampSwamiSports.com rankings again!
Speaking of mediocre teams…
This week, we welcomed a couple of newcomers to our Top 25 rankings from the Mid-American Conference.
The Toledo Rockets (#19) and Miami (Ohio) Redhawks (#20) both won this weekend to move to 6-1 for the season. Sadly, neither of our poll newbies has notched a win in 2023 over a team with a winning record.
This directly points a finger at a weakness in my rankings. Since each team’s won-loss record plays a critical role, teams from lesser known (and less respected) conferences will get a little bit more respect in my poll.
That’s OK at this point of the season!
Lest you forget, 2022’s Tulane Green Wave (which finished 12-1) and 2021’s UT-San Antonio teams vaulted into my rankings long before they appeared in the AP or Coaches Poll. If a mid-major program wins every game on its schedule, why shouldn’t they be rewarded THIS year?
In this week’s rankings, the #7 team is 6-0 Liberty from Conference USA. The #8 team is 6-0 James Madison of the Sunbelt Conference. Our #10 team is unbeaten (6-0) Air Force from the Mountain West Conference.
I say that we celebrate them as being three of the remaining 11 unbeaten football teams – at least for one more week!
Enjoy America’s newest thrill ride – the Colorado Buffaloes!
The Colorado Buffaloes have been the darlings of college football in 2023. After finishing 2022 with a 1-11 record, this year’s Buffs shot out of the gates with a 45-42 upset of TCU in Fort Worth. The team is currently at 4-3 despite a devastating 46-43 double overtime loss at home last Friday night to Stanford. CU is now 1-1 in double overtime thrillers in 2023.
Coach Deion Sanders has brought a renewed enthusiasm and excitement to Boulder. It’s hard to believe, but Colorado has experienced just one winning season since 2005. There have been five other coaches come and go during that 17-year drought.
Coach Prime’s new Buffs are built on speed on offense and defense. In year one, they do not have a lot of quality depth on the roster. That should be expected when more than half of last year’s roster is gone and replaced with transfers and freshmen.
Colorado’s remaining schedule in the Pac-12 is filled with tough games. The Buffs will travel to play 4-2 UCLA, are at home for 5-1 Oregon State and surging 4-3 Arizona, and finish the season with back-to-back road games at 4-2 Washington State and 5-1 Utah.
A 6-6 finish for Colorado will make them the most desirable .500 college football bowl team in history. The Buffs have a bye this week to get over last Friday’s devastating loss to Stanford. Coach Deion Sanders’ team must regroup and focus on the final five games of the season ahead.
Win or lose, Colorado has been quite entertaining to watch this season!
Now, on with the countdown!
