Tag: USA TODAY/Coaches poll

Ducks drop to No. 11 in latest ESPN College Football Power Rankings

After a disappointing win over Cal, the Ducks dropped a spot in ESPN’s power rankings despite staying put at No. 10 in the coaches’ poll.

After an uninspiring win over the California Golden Bears on Friday night, the Oregon Ducks stayed put at No. 10 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, but the College Football Power Rankings at ESPN didn’t show the same level of confidence in Eugene.

ESPN dropped the Ducks a single spot down to No. 11, noting that the slim victory over a bad Cal team was not worthy of a spot in the top-10.

The late Friday night time slot seems to always fit Pac-12 After Dark madness like a glove, and Cal traveling to No. 9 Oregon was no exception. It didn’t matter that the Bears were 1-4, with their sole win coming against an FCS opponent, or that Oregon was looking for a rebound after a bye week following a bad loss to Stanford. Chaos was in order. Oregon escaped with a 24-17 victory, but continued looking like a ghost of the team that upset Ohio State in Week 2. The offense with Anthony Brown under center (90th nationally in passing) seems to have hit its ceiling if not its floor, too. Surviving and advancing is never a bad result, but when it comes to the playoff chase, Oregon is lacking in not just style points, but convincing victories.

With the win, Oregon improved to 5-1 and held onto control over the Pac-12 North, keeping alive their hopes of returning to a Pac-12 title game and potentially being in the conversation for a trip to the College Football Playoff. However, anyone who has watched the Ducks up to this point knows that they have no business being discussed for that, at least at the moment.

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Oregon Ducks move down to No. 10 in USA Today Coaches Poll

The Ducks got bumped down a spot in the USA Today Coaches Poll as a flurry of upsets take place in the Top-10.

It was a wild week in college football and one where you have to be relatively relieved that the Oregon Ducks weren’t involved.

No. 1 Alabama lost, No. 4 Penn State lost, and No. 5 Oklahoma barely survived a shootout in the Red River Showdown against No. 21 Texas, winning in the fourth overtime. No. 10 BYU also lost, as did No. 13 Arkansas, and No. 18 Auburn.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there were some big shakeups in the USA Today Coaches Poll this week. While they were off and nursing a lot of wounds, the Ducks, unfortunately, dropped to No. 10 in the rankings, getting passed by Michigan State.

Here is how the top-10 looks:

  1. Georgia Bulldogs
  2. Iowa Hawkeyes
  3. Oklahoma Sooners
  4. Cincinnati Bearcats
  5. Alabama Crimson Tide
  6. Ohio State Buckeyes
  7. Michigan Wolverines
  8. Penn State Nittany Lions
  9. Michigan State Spartans
  10. Oregon Ducks

With a winnable game against Cal coming up this Friday, the Ducks then embark on a tough stretch of the schedule, traveling to UCLA. Luckily for Oregon, both Oregon State and Stanford lost on Saturday, clearing the way for them to take the top spot in the Pac-12 North once again.

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Oregon Ducks drop to No. 9 in USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll after loss to Stanford

After their gutpunch of a loss to Stanford in OT on Saturday, the Ducks dropped to No. 9 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

The Oregon Ducks are no longer fooling the voters in the coaches’ poll. After a brutal gutpunch of a 31-24 loss in overtime to the Stanford Cardinal, the Ducks dropped to No. 9 in the latest USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll.

The loss on Saturday wasn’t a huge shock, seeing as a lot of the problems that have ailed the Ducks all year came back to bite them in the end. However, it did happen in a shocking fashion.

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Leading by 7 points with the ball and under three minutes on the clock, ESPN’s win-prediction meter gave Stanford a 0.1 percent chance of winning the game. You already know what happened next. The Ducks allowed the Cardinal to drive down the field, and with the help of some asinine calls, Stanford forced OT and eventually won the game.

The loss is more on the Ducks than it is on the refs, but the end result is the same: Oregon is on the outside looking in when it comes to the College Football Playoff.

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The Ducks have a much-needed bye week now, which will give them a chance to try and get healthy, but several players, like CJ Verdell and Bennett Williams, are likely to miss significant time going forward, which is going to hurt Oregon’s season-long outlook.

After the bye week, Oregon hosts Cal, and the travels to UCLA (who also lost as the only other ranked team in the Pac-12 on Saturday) which will be their next big opportunity to jump up in the rankings.

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Ducks move up to No. 3 in the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll

Oregon ranked No. 3 in the AP poll last week, and now the USA Today Coaches Poll has moved them ahead of Oklahoma as well.

Oregon is now 4-0 and 1-0 in Pac-12 play and the Ducks’ early success is reflected in the latest USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Top 25 Poll.

With their 41-19 win over Arizona, the Ducks passed Oklahoma for the No. 3 spot. The Sooners squeaked by West Virginia 16-13 at home. Oregon gained nearly 100 votes last week on OU and now has passed them.

Georgia is still comfortably in the No. 2 slot as the Bulldogs have 91 more votes than Oregon.

In other Pac-12 news, UCLA moved up four spots to No. 20 with its 42-24 win over Stanford. Oregon State, surprisingly, didn’t make its first appearance in the poll this season even though the Beavers stunned USC late last night. Oregon State received just seven votes despite going 3-1 in September.

It was the first win for OSU at the Los Angeles Coliseum since 1960.

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Oregon moves up to No. 4 in the USA TODAY Coaches poll

Oregon moved seven spots to No. 4 in the USA TODAY Coaches poll thanks to its 35-28 win at Ohio State.

This is what happens when you defeat the No. 3 team in the nation on the road.

Oregon moved seven spots all the way to No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Top 25 Poll.

With the new ranking, what seemed impossible now seems possible. The Ducks are in prime position to have a season for the ages and an appearance in the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2015.

Yes, there is A LOT of football remaining, but this kind of victory shoots expectations into the stratosphere.

In other Pac-12 movements in the poll, USC went from No. 15 to completely out of the poll with its 42-28 loss to Stanford.

UCLA had a bye, but still moved three spots up to No. 13. Utah also dropped out after its 26-17 loss to BYU. Arizona State also improved their standing to No. 21 after the Sun Devils 37-10 win over UNLV.

Oregon moves up one spot to No. 11 in USA TODAY coaches poll

The Ducks moved up one spot to No. 11 in the first USA TODAY coaches poll of the regular season.

Thanks to North Carolina’s 17-10 loss at Virginia Tech, the Ducks moved up a spot to No. 11 in the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Top 25 Poll that is usually released every Monday.

The first poll of the regular season was a day late since the college football week was a little longer in Week 1 with Ole Miss defeating Louisville Monday night.

Oregon began its season with a narrow 31-24 victory over Fresno State on Saturday. The new ranking sets up a huge matchup when the Ducks go to Columbus to face No. 3 Ohio State, who also moved up one spot with its win over Minnesota 45-31.

Making the biggest jump in the poll is Chip Kelly’s UCLA team who went from unranked to No. 16 with their 38-27 upset over LSU.

USC stayed at No. 14 even with their dominating 30-7 win over San Jose State. After just missing out on the Top 25 in the preseason, Utah enters the poll for the first time this season at No. 18 with the Utes’ 40-17 win over Weber State.

Washington, formerly No. 20 in the country, was dropped out of the poll as the Huskies were stunned 13-7 by Montana in Seattle in what many are saying is Washington’s worst loss in program history.

The USA TODAY Sports AFCA football coaches poll is conducted weekly throughout the regular season using a panel of 65 head coaches at Football Bowl Subdivision schools. The panel is chosen by random draw, conference by conference plus independents, from a pool of coaches who have indicated to the American Football Coaches Association their willingness to participate. Each coach submits a Top 25 with a first-place vote worth 25 points, second place 24, and so on down to one point for 25th.

Ducks are No. 12 in initial USA TODAY AFCA Coaches Poll

Oregon is ranked 12th in the first USA TODAY coaches poll of the 2021 season with Ohio State, the Ducks’ Week 2 opponent sitting at No. 4.

It’s that time of year again where football fans flock to their computers to see where their favorite football team is in the rankings.

The first USA TODAY AFCA coaches poll of the 2021 season came out today and the Oregon Ducks were ranked No. 12. Whether that’s too high (it’s not) or whether it’s too low (it is) remains to be seen, but the glaring name every Duck fan out there has to be looking at is No. 4.

Ohio State.

Oregon’s Week 2 opponent, the Buckeyes, sit in the Top 5 of the first poll, making it even more obvious how big a game this is going to be on Sept. 11.

The Ducks are the top-ranked Pac-12 team, but USC is just below Oregon at No. 14. Washington is the only other conference school that makes an appearance as the Huskies are ranked 21st.

Utah, Arizona State, UCLA, Stanford, and California all received votes, but not enough to reach the Top 25.