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I’d like to start by offering my condolences to fans of Oregon’s football program because I imagine it must be tough having an undefeated season end via a blowout at the hands of a team you’d already beaten back in October, especially when you were just three more wins away from becoming the first 16-0 national champion in college football history.
Again, my condolences.
But I also have some encouraging news — specifically that you still have a pretty good basketball team to follow, if you’re ready to flip the page. Dana Altman’s Ducks are 12-1 and sitting at No. 11 in Thursday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings heading into Thursday night’s game against an Illinois team I have slotted 17th. So, for our purposes, it’s a top-20 matchup inside Matthew Knight Arena, where the Ducks are listed as 4.5-point favorites. If Oregon prevails, the Ducks will record their fifth Quadrant 1 victory of the season, which would give them more Q1 wins than any other team in the country besides Auburn.
This game with Illinois is actually the first of four straight Q1 opportunities for Oregon, based on current projections. Next up is a home game with Maryland on Sunday. After that, it’s back-to-back road games at Ohio State (Jan. 9) and at Penn State (Jan. 12). So, if Oregon can turn its current three-game winning streak into a seven-game winning streak, the Ducks could be 16-1 with eight Quadrant 1 victories heading into a Jan. 18 home game with Purdue. While still early, that kind of resume in mid-January would have Oregon firmly in the conversation to eventually secure a No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
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