The 2011 college football season is entering its final few weeks, and the Oregon Ducks are still a top national contender despite their season-opening loss to the LSU Tigers. The match-ups over the next few weeks will decide where exactly each team falls in the college bowl game landscape, but for now the Ducks are projected to play in the Rose Bowl against Wisconsin, according to SB Nation's very own Bill Connelly.
According to Connelly, the Ducks are projected to lose to Stanford next week by the slimmest of margins but win out the rest of the season. If this scenario plays out- in addition to Alabama defeating LSU this weekend and Oklahoma edging out Oklahoma State- the Cardinal (13-0) would find themselves undefeated and in the BCS National Championship Game against Alabama (13-0).
The loss to Stanford would drop Oregon to 10-2, but with losses coming to two top-10 (and possibly top-5) teams in LSU and Stanford, the Ducks would likely be the top two-loss team in the country. Connelly's projections have the Ducks playing the 11-2 Badgers, who would need to run the table from here on out to attain that record, in the Rose Bowl.
Of course, the entire bowl game situation changes if Oregon defeats Stanford next week. Stanford would be knocked out of contention for the BCS National Championship Game with the loss and the Ducks would position themselves as one of the top one-loss teams in the country, placing themselves in the same realm of this week's Alabama-LSU loser as well as (potentially) Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
As bowl season approaches, check out the 2011 College Football Bowl Schedule.