ESPN’s Bill Connelly unveiled the latest edition of his weekly ranking of college football’s remaining unbeaten teams on Tuesday, and Oregon was inside the top-nine.
Last week, after narrow wins over Idaho and Boise State and a dominant victory over Oregon State, the Ducks were sitting at No. 12 in Connelly’s rankings. Now, after nearly half of the nation’s undefeated teams lost during week four, Oregon deserved a bump.
While Connelly’s ranking included 43 teams last week, only 26 remained on the list on Tuesday.
In other words, the Ducks’ bye week was well-timed, allowing the team to evade some early-season chaos while preparing for conference play.
“The more I think about Oregon’s blowout of Oregon State in Week 3, the more comfortable I am with the Ducks,” Connelly wrote. “They were terribly disappointing in Weeks 1 and 2, beating Idaho by 10 and needing two return scores to beat Boise State, but even with those games they’re ninth and 19th, respectively, in offensive and defensive success rate, and the game against OSU was a sign that they still have offensive explosiveness.”