For the last two weeks Oregon has been jumped twice in the BCS rankings, first by Florida two weeks ago and now by Kansas State this week, in two weeks they have gone from the number 2 ranked team to the number 4 ranked team in the country.
But here is the kicker, all this happened while Oregon has still yet to lose a game. In fact, in these two weeks they beat Washington 52-21 and Arizona State 43-21.
Alabama still holds the number one spot and will undoubtedly stay there until they drop a game.
But now the Ducks are looking up as they have seemingly been punished for winning games and staying undefeated. This is tough. Admittedly, I am not a big fan of Florida and Kansas State being able to jump a team in the rankings that is still undefeated and is still dominating their opponents.
However, in this current BCS system this was the right thing to do.
Ultimately, Oregon has been one of the most impressive and dominating teams in the country and looks to be in serious discussion for the National Title. But it is true that their schedule is much weaker than Florida and Kansas State’s schedules so far.
Oregon has yet to play a top level team that could challenge them, which is probably why they have yet to play in a competitive game this season. Their schedule has simply been too easy so far this season. And I hate that a team can be punished for simply winning the games on their schedule, but in the current BCS system that is how it works.
Florida is also undefeated (7-0) with big wins over Texas A&M, Tennessee, LSU, and now South Carolina from this past week. They have so far played their tough SEC schedule and have taken care of business. They still play number 10 Georgia this weekend and in-state rival number 12 Florida State at the end of the season.
Kansas State is undefeated as well (7-0), they had an early season beat down on Miami 52-13 in week two before they went into Oklahoma and knocked off the Sooners on the road in week four. It was at that point that everyone started to see Kansas State is a legitimate threat. And now this past week they went into West Virginia and beat Geno Smith and the Mountaineers 55-14.
The Ducks have simply not played the same level of opponents that both Florida and Kansas State have thus far.
They have destroyed all of the opponents that they have been matched up with, but in terms of comparing schedules they still haven’t beaten any LSU’s or Oklahoma’s.
Now, their schedule does get much harder at the end when three of their last four games are against ranked opponents; number 9 USC, number 17 Stanford, and number 7 Oregon State. Not to mention that if they win all of those games they will have another tough matchup in the PAC-12 Championship game.
So the Ducks’ schedule does stiffen up at the end and should they finish this season undefeated with the gauntlet that is still ahead of them, then there should be no issue with them moving back up in the polls.
I don’t like the fact that we have to compare schedules to determine who the best team is, but that is how things work in today’s BCS system.
Tyler Rollason is a Winder-Barrow High School graduate and mass communications major at the University of West Georgia. You can e-mail comments about this column to tyrollason@yahoo.com.
