Every year there are media darlings in college football. In 2010 it was Cam Newton, willing the Auburn Tigers to victory week in and week out. 2019 had Joe Burrow and his historically great passing season, and of course the media loves teams like Notre Dame and Texas every season, no matter how good they are.
2020 has a couple of candidates for the team that the media loves the most. Clemson, with a loss to the aforementioned Fighting Irish, has Trevor Lawrence, one of the most hyped college football players of all time. Notre Dame and Alabama have looked fantastic, but the media is bored with Alabama being good, and with Notre Dame playing in the ACC, they aren’t as interesting as usual.
But one player looks, to me, like the 2020 media darling: Kyle Trask, QB for the Florida Gators. Trask is on pace for 56 touchdown passes, and over 4,000 yards passing. He is completing 70 percent of his passes on the season, and is a legitimate candidate for the Heisman Trophy. The national media loves this Gator QB.
What does this have to do with Oregon making the playoff? Well, Florida has a loss. Just one single loss to a top five ranked team, and it was a close game. Oregon is only going to have maybe 6-7 games of tape, so they will be competing with the one loss teams for playoff spots. An undefeated season is not a guaranteed playoff berth, because the body of work may just not be enough.
Noah Sewell makes his presence felt against the Cougars
So the question will be, can an undefeated Oregon, without a signature win, get in to the playoffs over a one loss Florida, who will have six huge games in primetime on national television, and a potential Heisman finalist at QB?
If Florida wins out, the Ducks will have to potentially contend with Alabama, assuming the Gators beat them in the conference championship game and Texas A&M, who already beat the Gators.
The media loves the SEC: they always have, and they always will. This year, that love affair and the Pac-12 taking until mid-season to start playing games may keep the Ducks out of the playoff, no matter how well they play.
What do you think it would take from Florida and the SEC for Our Beloved Ducks to make the College Football Playoff this year?
Ryan Robertson
Yuma, Arizona
Top Photo By Tom Corno
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Ryan Robertson is a defense contractor for the United States Marine Corps. A lifelong Duck fan from Grants Pass, he joined the Army out of high school. After four years as an Intelligence Analyst he decided it was time to further his education and pay more attention to his Ducks. One of Ryan’s first memories is of watching the Ducks, led by Joey Harrington, beating up on the Utah Utes in 2001. His grandfather ran track at Oregon in the ‘50s. He loves the Ducks, and has a passionate interest in reading every scrap of analysis centered around the football team.