Kirk Herbstreit has bold assessment of Oregon after Week 10
Kirk Herbstreit has Oregon in his College Football Playoff field.
After a Week 10 that saw Georgia handle Tennessee, Notre Dame bludgeon Clemson, LSU silence Alabama’s Playoff hopes, and Oregon completely dominate another opponent, the ESPN expert has the Ducks slotted at No. 4 in his personal top 10.
Oregon beat Colorado 49-10 Saturday to move up to No. 6 in the latest AP poll. The Ducks opened at No. 8 in the initial CFP rankings last Tuesday, and they should see a similar jump when the new set of rankings are released this week. Will they be ahead of unbeaten TCU or the previous No. 1 team in Tennessee?
They weren’t in the AP poll, but they are in Herbstreit’s eyes.
My top after a WILD WEEK 10
1-@GeorgiaFootball
2-@OhioStateFB
3-@UMichFootball
4-@oregonfootball
Next 2@TCUFootball @Vol_Football— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) November 6, 2022
Oregon has won eight straight games and opened Pac-12 play 6-0 for just the second time since 2012. The eight-game winning streak is also the second such streak for the Ducks since 2014.
They did it with style. A quarterback and an offensive lineman caught a touchdown pass. A linebacker ran for a touchdown. The defense held Colorado to a season-low 10 points and produced a season-best three takeaways. For the eighth time in nine games, Oregon allowed fewer than 150 rushing yards.
“I thought we played a more complete game today,” coach Dan Lanning said after. “We talked about playing a four-quarter game, not just in the middle, and we started off pretty fast on offense, had some success early on defense, and then we’re able to finish the game off closer like we want to be able to play. This was a game we expected to do well, (perform) in dominant fashion. I think for the most part we did that.”
Of course, Lanning also found areas the Ducks can clean up. On Monday, he’ll talk about what medicine the team needed after the game. The Ducks just keep improving.
Herbstreit’s ranking of Oregon in his top four caught some by surprise given the lopsided nature of its Week 1 loss, but there’s no doubt the Ducks are night-and-day different at this point in the season.
They’ll have a chance to prove it in a ranked matchup against hated Washington next Saturday, with kickoff set for 4 p.m. PT on FOX.