Oregon needs to run up score vs. Arizona to impress playoff committee

The Oregon Ducks have to destroy the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday night to help their case of making the College Football Playoff should they win out.

Earlier this year, we all thought the Pac-12 eliminated itself from the College Football Playoff. The Pac-12 has only played in the playoff in two of the five years it’s existed. However, both Oregon and the Utah Utes are still alive to make it in 2019, but they’ll need help.

Oregon finds themselves at No. 6 with an 8-1 (6-0) record with their only loss coming to the Auburn Tigers on a neutral site in the season opener. The Utes are right behind the Ducks at No. 7 with an 8-1 (5-1) record with their lone loss coming against the USC Trojans by a touchdown to open up Pac-12 play.

Both seem to be on a collision course to meet in Santa Clara for the Pac-12 Championship. Though both could still reach the College Football Playoff as a one-loss Power 5 champion, they’ll probably need help to get in. Whoever wins the Pac-12 Championship will likely have their only top-25 win of the season.

Both contenders will want the other to win out until they meet at Levi’s Stadium. Oregon also wants Auburn to win out so the Ducks’ neutral-site loss won’t look as bad coming to possibly the fifth-best team in the SEC. Though the Tigers have to play both the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs and the No. 5 Alabama Crimson Tide, they do get them at home this season.

Overall, Oregon has the better shot of getting in over Utah as a one-loss Power 5 champion because the Ducks would have gone 9-0 in the Pac-12 and won the conference title bout. But even that may not be enough. So what the Ducks need to do is start blowing out the opponent, starting with running up the score against the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday night in Autzen Stadium.

If the Ducks beat Wildcats by 28-plus points and run up the score, that might be enough to impress the College Football Playoff committee to bump them up a spot or two. Keep in mind Committee Chairman is Oregon Athletic Director Rob Mullens, who will be recused when they talk about the Ducks.

Mullens won’t be able to pound the table and say his school is one of the four best in the country because his Ducks beat Arizona like they were the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The Selection Committee has to come to that conclusion themselves. Oregon’s win over Arizona must be thorough and of complete domination.

The Ducks would have time to make statements against the Arizona Sun Devils and the in-state rival Oregon State Beavers before theoretically facing Utah. They may also want Utah to do the same, as well as Georgia above them lose and hope for the Clemson Tigers to stumble and eliminate themselves.

Oregon may be one of 11 teams with a semi-legitimate shot of reaching the College Football Playoff. However, they need to start getting bonus points by running up the score on their remaining Pac-12 opponents to give themselves the best resume possible for the Selection Committee.

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