Oregon Football: CBS Sports projects Ducks in playoff after Week 3

We are three weeks into the season and Oregon football is preparing for an important, confidence-boosting Week 4 game against hapless Arizona.

The Ducks are major favorites in Saturday night’s contest in Eugene and while Arizona is winless, Oregon needs to remain focused if it wants to keep all of its goals alive.

Mario Cristobal and the Ducks have two wins over currently-ranked teams, beating Fresno State (now No. 22) in the opener by seven and then-No. 3 Ohio State in Columbus in Week 2. The Buckeyes have since dropped to No. 10 in the rankings but Oregon’s win on the road was still arguably the most impressive in college football this season.

Oregon added a 41-point win over Stony Brook and has really formed a nice resume almost through one full month of action and a comfortable win on Saturday would just add to that.

And throughout the season, some major publications and sites like to release bowl projections and after Week 3 play, CBS Sports had some high hopes for the Ducks’ 2021 outcome.

In fact, Jerry Palm of CBS Sports who releases the weekly bowl projections has Oregon as one of the four playoff semifinalists, facing No. 1 Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.

This would be one heck of a matchup.

How would Oregon football fare in the playoff?

According to Palm, Alabama would be the No. 1 seed with Oregon as the No. 4. In the Orange Bowl (the other semifinal game), he has Georgia as the No. 2 seed with Oklahoma sitting at No. 3.

This would be a fantastic semifinal slate.

How would Oregon fare? Florida showed in Week 3 that Alabama is beatable and although the Gators are a top-15 team in the country and had home-field advantage, it was a refreshing site for other college football contenders. Let’s say Oregon does take down Alabama, they’d have to likely face the Georgia Bulldogs who have looked better than the Crimson Tide this season.

Either way, this playoff run would be tough for Oregon but this is the most wide-open college football has been in years. If there’s any year the Ducks shock the nation, it’s 2021.