CBS Sports tabs 2 early-season Duck games that will shape playoff race

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When you think of the College Football Playoff race, oftentimes the thoughts go towards pivotal contests in late October and throughout November. After all, that's when the College Football Playoff rankings are revealed week-after-week and it's at the point in the season where the true contenders and pretenders are beginning to show themselves.

But for the Oregon Ducks in 2026, that moment of becoming cemented as a contender or pretender may come sooner than most.

CBS Sports listed the five pre-October Big Ten games that will shape the CFP race, with Oregon being present in two of the five games. The first one will come against the Boise State Broncos, now members of the new-look PAC-12. The two programs have met recently, with the Ducks barely edging out a 37-34 win early in the 2024 campaign.

"If Oregon wants to reach the playoff again, odds are it won't be a win over Boise that puts the Ducks over the top, but the Broncos are expected to be one of the best Group of Six programs in the country this season," CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli wrote. "Which means it's also an enormous opportunity for the Broncos. If Boise pulls off an upset here, it gives them a tremendous advantage over their G6 brethren. Heck, even a competitive loss would be beneficial."

While there isn't a ton to gain for the Ducks against the Broncos, there is a ton to lose. If they fall to Boise State, they'd likely have to run the table and go undefeated across the rest of their schedule to remain in the CFP picture. But even if Oregon gets past Boise State, they have another test exactly three weeks later.

This one will come against the USC Trojans, another team looking to make the CFP.

"It's genuinely remarkable to think that we are in the 13th year of the College Football Playoff and USC is yet to qualify for the event a single time, while programs like Texas Tech, Tulane, SMU and James Madison have," Fornelli wrote. "Well, there's an aura of confidence emanating from Southern California this summer, and the Trojans will enter the 2026 season with serious expectations of finally getting there.

"Winning this game at home against the Oregon team that took the crown of premier Pac-12 program from them before both joined the Big Ten would go a long way toward making it happen. Oregon is who USC wants to be right now, and they can't achieve that without beating the Ducks."

Neither of the games listed have much to do with the standing of Oregon. With victories over Boise State and USC, they wouldn't make a significant leap up the AP rankings, as they'll be favored and expected to win both games. But staving off two CFP wanna-be's and continuing to stack W's as the calendar turns to October and November has to be the goal for the Ducks, regardless of who lines up across from them.

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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Two early-season Ducks games that will shape the CFP race

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