Arizona’s 31-24 upset win knocks Oregon out of the playoff hunt for now
Stanford coach David Shaw warned two weeks ago that the strength of the Pac-12 could work against it, and there was no greater example of that than Thursday night.
Arizona, an undefeated yet unranked squad, marched into Autzen Stadium and knocked No. 2 Oregon from its perch with a 31-24 win.
The Pac-12 entered last week with seven undefeated teams, now there are only two.
Many watching the game were quick to blame the officials for the loss. After all, it was a questionable celebration penalty against Oregon that gave the Wildcats a fresh set of downs and ultimately led to the game-winning touchdowns with less than 3 minutes remaining.
But Oregon’s problems were much deeper than a few bad calls (calls that affected both teams) and stemmed from a piecemeal offensive line and a porous defense that Arizona freshman quarterback Anu Solomon carved up in the second half.
The offensive line, which had been decimated by injuries, was abysmal. The Oregon offense only managed 144 rushing yards and quarterback Marcus Mariota was sacked five times and fumbled twice — Mariota’s first two turnovers of the season — including the game-winning strip as the Ducks were driving for the game-tying score.
Defensively, Arizona amassed 495 total yards and gashed the Ducks on the ground with 208 yards rushing. Every time the Ducks blitzed, Solomon had a man in the flat waiting for a pass that turned into big yardage and Oregon had no answer for wheel routes that the Wildcats continued to run for big gains. Arizona sped up the tempo and did to Oregon what Oregon usually does to its opponents.
Honestly, we all should have seen this coming.
Oregon’s struggles against Washington State two weeks ago were warning signs that the Ducks might not have the depth for a championship run. They were able to hold off the Cougars late, but Thursday, Arizona was simply the better team.
This loss will definitely create some angst in the Pac-12 since Oregon was one of the conference’s bell cows. UCLA now assumes the conference’s role as the best hope for a playoff spot, which isn’t a terrible thing. The Bruins looked much-improved in last week’s win against Arizona State and perhaps it was a sign that things were looking up for a Bruins team that struggled on offense through the first few weeks of the season. Right now, UCLA and Arizona are the conference’s only two undefeated teams and it’s a little early to start touting the Wildcats as the flag bearers for the Pac-12.
In fact, it’s a little early to count anyone out and certainly one loss is not the end when it comes to the playoff. However, with teams like Oklahoma, Alabama, Notre Dame and Florida State all undefeated and playing well, Oregon is going to need a lot of help to get back in the playoff hunt.
And it’s just going to need to play better.
As a whole, the Pac-12 is shaping up to be one of the tougher conferences in the country, which could play in its favor during the evaluations by College Football Playoff committee members. But if Pac-12 teams continue to beat each other up and no team establishes itself as the dominate, the conference’s fears of missing out on the inaugural playoff could come to fruition.
For more Arizona news, visit GOAZCats.com.
For more Oregon news, visit DuckSportsAuthority.com.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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