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Outlining No. 1 Oregon’s path to a College Football Playoff championship

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Outlining No. 1 Oregon’s path to a College Football Playoff championship


The No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff hardly comes with the easiest road to a championship.

Oregon learned its fate Sunday after the Ducks were awarded the No. 1 seed. Oregon’s potential path to winning the CFP title in Atlanta on January 20 could require wins over Ohio State, Texas and Georgia. Those are among the bluest of college football blue bloods.

To put it into context, Oregon (13-0) may need wins over teams that were among AP Top 25′s preseason top four – Georgia No. 1, Ohio State No. 2 and Texas No. 4. Oregon was No. 3.

The biggest perk as the No. 1 seed is a first-round bye. The Ducks know they’ll open the CFP in the quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl on January 1, facing the first-round winner of Ohio State-Tennessee.

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Should Oregon survive, it’ll advance to the Cotton Bowl on Friday, Jan. 10. The Ducks’ CFP semifinal opponent is the Peach Bowl winner, where Arizona State faces a first-round winner between Texas-Clemson in the semifinals.

The championship game, Monday, Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, could see the Ducks facing No. 2 Georgia or No. 3 Boise State.

Let’s look at each step:

QUARTERFINALS (Rose Bowl): The Ducks know they’re headed to Pasadena. They could face a familiar opponent in Ohio State (10-2), or in Tennessee (10-2), a team Oregon hasn’t played since 2013.

Oregon defeated Ohio State 32-31 on October 12 in Eugene, a back-and-forth game that the Ducks pulled out on an Atticus Sappington 19-yard field goal with 1:47 remaining.

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The Ducks and Buckeyes have played 11 times, with Ohio State leading the series 9-2. However, Oregon has won the last two meetings. This would be the third Oregon-Ohio State Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes won both, 26-17 in 2010, and 10-7 in 1958.

Ohio State appeared on a collision to play Oregon in the Big Ten championship game before it was upset by rival Michigan 13-10 in the regular season finale.

It’s far from a sure thing the Rose Bowl will have one of its traditional matchups. Tennessee was a tough out in the SEC this season. The Volunteers’ best wins came over Alabama and Oklahoma, with losses to Georgia and Arkansas.

Oregon is undefeated in the Tennessee series, having won by blowout margins in 2010 and 2013 games.

SEMIFINALS (Cotton Bowl): One of three teams await Oregon should it advance from the Rose Bowl: No. 4 Arizona State (11-2), No. 5 Texas (11-2) or No. 12 Clemson (10-3) at the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Tex.

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At first blush, the worst matchup is Texas, as the Cotton Bowl means a Longhorns-heavy crowd. Texas’ only two losses this season came to No. 2 Georgia. The Longhorns were dominant at times during their 2024 campaign, including six double-digit wins against SEC competition.

Oregon and Texas have played six times, with the Longhorns leading the series 4-2. The last time they played was the 2013 Alamo Bowl, where the Ducks won 30-7.

Oregon will play a former Pac-12 foe should Arizona State win the Peach Bowl. The Ducks lead the 39-game series 21-18, having split the past four games. The last time Oregon and ASU played was 2023, when the Ducks hammered the Sun Devils 49-13 in Eugene. They’ve never played each other in a bowl game.

Arizona State has been a fan favorite in 2024. Just 3-9 in 2023, second-year coach Kenny Dillingham – a former Ducks offensive coordinator – led a remarkable rebuild as the Sun Devils won the Big 12 championship this season.

Arizona State, led by West Linn High grad Sam Leavitt at quarterback, won its final six games to claim a CFP berth. The Sun Devils had one of the most impressive conference championship game performances, burying Iowa State 45-19.

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Clemson, the 12 seed, is the third Cotton Bowl option for Oregon. The Ducks and Tigers have never played. Clemson have the least impressive resume of the three possible semifinal opponents, its best win coming over SMU in the ACC championship game. Among the Tigers’ three losses was a 34-3 defeat to Georgia in the season opener.

CFP CHAMPIONSHIP (Atlanta): If Oregon gets this far, the most likely foe is Georgia (11-2). The No. 2 Bulldogs drew a decidedly easier route to the January 20 championship game than Oregon, as its side of the bracket includes No. 3 Boise State, No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 10 Indiana and No. 11 SMU.

Oregon has played two of the six championship game possibilities this season in Penn State (won 45-37 in Big Ten championship game) and Boise State (won 37-34 in Eugene).

With so many potential championship-game opponents, let’s focus on a No. 1 vs. 2 matchup. It won’t be lost on anyone that the last time Oregon and Georgia played, it was Dan Lanning’s 2022 UO debut, where the Bulldogs won 49-3 in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Said Georgia coach Kirby Smart of Lanning, his former defensive coordinator: “He’s going to do a really good job at Oregon. He’s relentless, and they’ll bounce back from this. He knows that we’ve got better players. He’ll never says it, but he knows we’ve got better plays, and I respect how he works.”

Georgia has an impressive resume, with two wins over Texas, and a 31-17 win over Tennessee. The Bulldogs’ losses were 41-34 to Alabama, and 28-10 to Mississipppi.

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Of the remaining possibilities, Boise State is most appealing. The Broncos’ only loss this season came to the Ducks, an incredibly competitive game where Oregon had to score the game’s final 10 points to win 37-34. The Broncos have running back Ashton Jeanty, who is battling Colorado’s Travis Hunter for the Heisman Trophy as college football’s most outstanding player.

–Nick Daschel can be reached at 360-607-4824, ndaschel@oregonian.com or @nickdaschel.

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Where Oregon Ducks rank in industry recruiting rankings for 2027 class

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Where Oregon Ducks rank in industry recruiting rankings for 2027 class


With the winter evaluation period of high school football recruiting now behind us, we’ve seen some of the top recruiting sites update their rankings over the past few weeks and start to reset their boards for the 2027 class. In February, On3 shifted players around after getting fresh looks at the class, and 247Sports did the same earlier this week.

So with Oregon’s handful of commits getting new ratings, where does the Ducks’ class rank nationally in this cycle?

If you look at sites individually, it looks different, with 247Sports having Oregon sitting at No. 13 in the nation. At Rivals, though, they take the industry ranking, which factors in their own rankings, plus an average from 247Sports and ESPN.

In the industry rankings, Oregon sits at No. 9 in the nation, with five commitments.

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Going into the summer months, the Ducks are in a great spot, leading or among the top schools for a handful of the top prospects in the nation, like 5-star QB Will Mencl or 5-star WR Dakota Guerrant. We will see what movement Oregon can make in the coming months after official visits take place early in the summer.

Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions. 



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New Data Shows Oregon E-Scooter Injuries on the Rise

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New Data Shows Oregon E-Scooter Injuries on the Rise


Data released by the Oregon Health Authority this week suggests Oregonians are getting hurt on electric scooters more every year.

In recent years, according to OHA, an “e-scooter-specific code” was developed for health care tracking purposes.

From 2021 to 2024, annual injury reports under this code from Oregon hospitals and emergency departments jumped from 211 to 418.

And in just the first nine months of 2025, there had been 509 such reports.

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“These injuries are not minor scrapes,” said Dagan Wright, an OHA epidemiologist, in a written statement. “They often involve head injuries, broken bones, and other serious trauma that requires emergency or inpatient care.”

The city of Portland signed contracts with three e-scooter rental companies in 2018, as the transportation craze spread across the country. But e-scooter injury diagnosis codes are relatively new in health care reporting, Wright said in the OHA statement.

“While the overall numbers remain smaller than for other transportation-related injuries, the rapid increase over a short period of time is a clear safety signal,” OHA added.

The agency highlighted the story of Portland e-scooter commuter Daniel Pflieger, who it says was riding a scooter home when he reportedly slid on ice. He bruised several ribs.

Sometimes outcomes are worse. OHA identified 17 deaths linked to electric or motorized scooters since 2018, and seven of those occurred in 2025.

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OHA says that e-bikes raise many similar safety concerns as e-scooters. The first full year for which e-bike injuries were coded for reporting was 2023. State data shows 392 reported e-bike injuries that year, 683 in 2024, and 760 in the first nine months of 2025.

“Injuries involving e-bikes and e-scooters share common risk factors—speed, lack of helmet use, roadway design, and interactions with motor vehicles,” Wright said.

Oregon E-Scooter Injuries on the Rise (Source: Oregon Health Authority)

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Oregon women’s basketball playing for March Madness seeding vs. Purdue

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Oregon women’s basketball playing for March Madness seeding vs. Purdue


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At times, the Oregon women’s basketball team has certainly made things much harder on themselves than it needs to be. The team has also produced some miraculous comeback victories, putting itself in position to make women’s March Madness for the second straight season.

March 1, in their final regular season game, the Ducks (20-11, 8-10 Big Ten) finished on the wrong end of yet another tight game to Washington, 70-69. It’s the second time this season Oregon has come back from a double-digit deficit, but ended up losing to the Huskies (20-9, 10-8).

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Those aren’t the only times Oregon has come back from a double-digit deficit, like it did in wins vs. Nebraska and USC. The No. 11-seed Ducks are hoping they won’t need heroics in a Big Ten tournament first-round game against No. 14 Purdue this Wednesday.

Watch Oregon basketball on Peacock

“I think our biggest weakness this year has been our inconsistency,” coach Kelly Graves said, “something we’ve battled all year. The great thing is our kids know, regardless of the score, we’ve got a chance. We’ll make it a game at some point. As a coach, it drives you nuts. Hopefully we can figure it out and play more consistent basketball.”

Oregon’s volatility has seen it earn three double-digit comeback wins this year, but also blow several games in the final moments.

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Against Wisconsin, the Ducks held a 6-point lead with less than a minute remaining, but lost in overtime. Against Illinois, Oregon held a 21-point lead at halftime, blew it in the third quarter, trailed by eight with minutes to play and somehow eked out a win.

That makes UO somewhat of a wild card heading into the conference tournament this week at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

“It’s definitely (been) a rollercoaster,” guard Katie Fiso said. “A lot of highs and a lot of lows. But one thing that I try to see through all games is our grittiness and our toughness. One thing that stays consistent throughout the season is our toughness and our grittiness. The game isn’t over until the last bell rings.”

The Ducks will be taking on a Boilermakers (13-16, 5-13) team that has struggled against most of the top competition in the league, but played Oregon tight in a Feb. 25 Ducks win.

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Graves said when the Ducks went throughout the postgame handshake line after, the Boilermakers felt like their season would end after the regular season. Thanks to some upsets, Purdue is in the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 14 seed.

“We’re playing a team that probably feels like it’s playing with house money,” Graves said. “We’ve got to pick ourselves back up and get it done.”

What channel is Oregon vs. Purdue on today in Big Ten tournament?

Oregon will tip off vs. Purdue on Peacock, with no TV option to watch the game.

Oregon vs. Purdue start time in Big Ten tournament

  • Date: Wednesday, March 4
  • Time: Around 5:30 p.m. PT

Oregon and Purdue will play around 5:30 p.m. PT at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The first game of the day begins at 12:30 p.m. PT, with the next game 25 minutes after the first game ends, and so on. The Ducks play in the third game of the day, so no official tip time is listed.

Oregon women’s basketball schedule 2025-26

Below are the past five games of Oregon’s 2025-26 basketball season. For the full schedule, click here.

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Feb. 15 Washington 51, Oregon 43
Feb. 19 Oregon 80, Nebraska 76
Feb. 22 Indiana 72, Oregon 65
Feb. 25 Oregon 71, Purdue 65
March 1 Washington 70, Oregon 69
March 4 Oregon vs. Purdue (Big Ten tournament)

Purdue women’s basketball schedule 2025-26

Below are the past five games of Purdue’s 2025-26 basketball season. For the full schedule, click here.

Feb. 14 Purdue 72, Rutgers 57
Feb. 19 Iowa 83, Purdue 74
Feb. 22 Maryland 99, Purdue 66
Feb. 25 Oregon 71, Purdue 65
March 1 Purdue 67, Northwestern 62
March 4 Oregon vs. Purdue (Big Ten tournament)

Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football and women’s basketball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com.



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