Head-to-Head is Important
A lot of Oregon fans had some fear going into Tuesday night, thinking that the playoff committee might rank Ohio State ahead of the Ducks, even though Oregon went on the road and beat the Buckeyes in Week 2.
Despite that, Ohio State had been more impressive via the ‘eye test,’ having blown out many of their opponents, though they have a weak strength of schedule to date. The Ducks stack up well next to the Buckeyes, but their wins haven’t been as convincing, and with Ohio State being a traditional power, it would not have been shocking to see them grab a top-4 spot in the rankings.
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That isn’t what happened, of course, and the Ducks were rewarded largely because of their win over Ohio State. Kirk Herbstreit said before the rankings were released that Oregon’s win over the Buckeyes is quite possibly the best win in all of college football at this point, and the committee’s decision reflected that as well. For now, the Ducks are ranked ahead of the Buckeyes, and as long as they keep winning, that should remain the case.
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