Oregon Hopes to be No. 1 or No. 2 Seed After Routing Arizona
The Oregon Ducks have done their part. Now it is up to the College Football Playoff selection committee to pick them as one of the top 4 teams to play in the inaugural College Football Playoff for the national championship.
On Friday night, the Ducks routed the Arizona Wildcats 51-13 to win the Pac-12 championship game.
Marcus Mariota the talented junior quarterback for Oregon likely clinched the Heisman Trophy with his three rushing and two passing touchdowns against Arizona giving him 53 touchdowns on the season and just 2 interceptions.
Oregon has reached nearly every milestone except one, a national championship. The football program has ended its season ranked No. 2 twice. In 2010, the Ducks also played for the national title but lost to Auburn.
Now its victory Friday night is certain to clinch the No. 1 or No. 2 seed for the CFP.
The Ducks, in the most recent rankings released this week, were No. 2.
Oregon with its win on Friday moved to 12-1 this season and revenged its only loss of the season a defeat at home to Arizona 31-24 back on October 2.
Since the first and only loss of the season to Arizona, the Ducks as an entire unit both offensively and defensively turned their season around.
Oregon since is 8-0 with a winning margin that averages 26 points.
The Ducks have scored 40 points or more in eight consecutive games and have gained 500 or more yards in seven consecutive games.
Mariota and his Ducks offense began slowly and were not in sync until after halftime. However, the defense for Oregon held Arizona to 25 first half yards and just 2 first downs.
In the end, Mariota finished with 313 yards passing on 25 for 38. This season, Mariota has 3,782 yards passing and another 669 yards rushing.
For Arizona, the night was nothing but ugly. The loss could knock the Wildcats out of one of the major bowls.
The Wildcats trailed 30-0 before scoring a touchdown on a 69-yard pass that came against a broken coverage for Oregon. The second touchdown did not come until the last play of the game.
It appears Oregon is peaking at just the right time as the postseason is quickly approaching. After a battle with injuries all season, the Ducks will have three weeks for players to recover from injuries, including Hroniss Grasu the starting center.
The Ducks only pinnacle not reached is the No. 1 ranking at season’s end. However, this season they have put themselves in position to win that elusive prize and let’s see if they can finish strong.
