So, some people think Oregon got a bad break. Too bad, Ducks. You were really lucky 13 seasons ago. The scales evened out. We’ll explain.
After Ohio State’s blowout of Oregon in the Rose Bowl yesterday, my colleague Matt Zemek wrote how it was unjust that the top-seeded Ducks had to play a team as talented as the Buckeyes in the quarterfinals.
While I agree that the playoff seeding system, I am here to make the counter argument that Trojans fans do not need to feel particularly bad for the Ducks. In fact, Oregon’s playoff bracket draw was actually justice 13 years in the making.
Let me take you back to 2011. Oregon and Stanford finished tied for first in the Pac-12 at 8-1 in conference play. At the time, however, the conference utilized a divisional format to determine its conference title game participants. Because the Ducks had beaten the Cardinal head-to-head, Oregon won the Pac-12 North and advanced to the first ever Pac-12 Championship Game, while an 11-win Stanford team stayed at home the first weekend in December.
The champion of the Pac-12 South that year was 10-2 USC, who had beaten Oregon in Eugene in November. However, due to NCAA sanctions, the Trojans were ineligible for postseason play that season. Thus, the Ducks’ title game opponent was instead a 6-6 UCLA team that had fired its head coach the week prior to the game.
The Pac-12 had three double-digit win teams in 2011, and a fourth that won eight games. But because of a bracketing fluke, Oregon drew a 6-6 team in the conference title game, essentially handing them a free ticket to the Rose Bowl.
13 years later, the Ducks returned to Pasadena on the other side of the coin. Ironically, their opponent this time was an Ohio State program that had fallen victim to a similar NCAA injustice of a bygone era as one that rendered USC ineligible for the postseason in 2011.
In 2012, Ohio State finished the regular season 12-0 under first-year head coach Urban Meyer. However, due to NCAA sanctions regarding players receiving impermissible benefits (which, similar to USC’s Reggie Bush scandal, wouldn’t even cause anyone to bat an eye if it happened today), the Buckeyes were ineligible for postseason play. Hence, 10-2 Nebraska played 7-5 Wisconsin for the Big Ten title, while an Alabama team with a loss got to play for a national title instead.
In 2024, the Buckeyes faced no such sanctions. Nor did they face much opposition from the Ducks, who fell behind 34-0 in the second quarter, effectively rendering the game over before halftime.
It was a tough draw for Oregon, whose reward for finishing ranked No. 1 in the final CFP rankings was a date with arguably the most talented team in the country. But USC fans who remember what happened in 2011 need not feel any sympathy for their rivals from the north.
13 years later, justice was finally served.
