College Football: 10 teams doomed to be worse in 2016
By John Buhler
The Oregon Ducks will start the year ranked in the AP Top 25. For as consistently strong as the football program has been for the last 15 years, the Ducks should certainly be given the benefit of the doubt and be ranked to start each season.
The problem for the Ducks is that Mark Helfrich isn’t Chip Kelly, nor is he quite Mike Bellotti. Oregon still recruits very well because it has to since not many four and five-stars live in this Pacific Northwest state. It doesn’t help that the Pac-12 North might be deepest it has ever been entering 2016.
As many as five teams in the Pac-12 North (sorry, Oregon State) should be in the mix for bowl eligibility. Oregon should be better than both California and Washington State this season, but the Ducks will have to play both pass-heavy offenses on the road this season.
Oregon’s biggest challengers in the Pac-12 North are the Stanford Cardinal and the Washington Huskies. The winner of Stanford-Oregon is usually a test to see which team will win the Pac-12 North. It’s a huge rivalry game for both schools, but Oregon cannot overlook what might be the best Huskies team in well over a decade.
David Shaw is an incredible coach in Palo Alto and everybody knows that. Washington has former Boise State head coach Chris Petersen helping turn this middle of the pack team into a national power once again. He may not be Don James, but Petersen is already one of the best coaches in the Pac-12.
Oregon is fortunate to not draw UCLA out of the Pac-12 South, but dates with USC in Los Angeles on November 5th and with Utah in Salt Lake City on November 19th will be every bit as challenging as Stanford and Washington out of the Pac-12 North.
The Ducks went 9-4 (7-2) last season. They could finish with an identical 9-4 record at the end of the year due to easier non-conference games against Nebraska and Virginia. However, it will take a Heisman caliber season from tailback Royce Freeman to help the Ducks be better than 7-2 in the Pac-12.
Oregon can afford maybe one strategic loss in conference play to reach the Pac-12 Championship. The Ducks are likely to drop two of the four against Stanford, USC, Utah, and Washington. They may just be the third best team in the Pac-12 North and that’s it. A road loss to either Cal or Wazoo makes things so much worse for the Ducks in 2016.
Next: 4. Baylor Bears.