CFP: Oregon Snags Five Seed Against Overmatched James Madison

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What Oregon fans were looking forward to all season has officially happened!

Well…sort of. 

As the 5 seed in this year’s College Football Playoff, Oregon will indeed get to host a Playoff Game at Autzen.

The pulse-pounding opponent?

James Madison of the Sun Belt Conference.

There’s two ways of looking at this;

On the downside, the Ducks will have by far the least-talented matchup of the playoff. The game will likely be over by halftime.

On the upside, Oregon likely has the smoothest path to the semifinals.

After what will, in all likelihood, be a first-round drubbing, the Ducks would head to Miami to match up with Texas Tech, a team that, while certainly a legitimate contender, seems to be the least threatening of the top four teams. 

But enough about opponents, let’s dive into what Oregon’s season has looked like and the reasons why they could be a potential Playoff bracket-buster.

After a 13-1 campaign highlighted by a big ten championship in their inaugural season in the conference, expectations were high for the 2025 Ducks. 

They looked incredibly efficient through the first four games and seemingly had one of the biggest wins in program history at Penn State.

Seemingly, because it turns out the Nittany Lions weren’t good at all.

Who ended up being, as of now, the consensus No. 1 team in the country was who Oregon suffered their only defeat of the season against in Indiana, snapping a three year winning streak at Autzen. 

The Ducks responded very well, with a couple grind-it-out victories in rainstorms and a slew of impressive offensive outputs, the best of which came against USC at home.

Finishing up with a Border War victory in which they kept one of the nation’s most dangerous running quarterbacks completely in check, Oregon certainly looks like a legitimate Top 10 team.

Despite often punching above their weight class, the same can’t be said for James Madison. 

The current spread has Oregon by about 21. I think that’s being generous. A 30+ point win would not surprise anyone, the talent disparity is just too huge. 

Despite the hype and pageantry around the first ever CFP game in Eugene, this should be essentially a warmup for Texas Tech in Miami.

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