Civil War 2012: Oregon's Last Hope at a BCS Title

No. 5 Oregon could still play for the BCS National Championship.

They would, granted, need a lot of help—but it's possible.

The one thing the Ducks can do?

Lay the wood to No. 15 Oregon State Beavers this week.  Big time.  Demolish them.  Lay out a butt-whipping.  Like 49-13 bad.   

It's plausible.  Kenjon Barner needs to impress Heisman voters. A big day from him, an airshow from Marcus Mariota and a couple mistakes by the Beavers that lead to defensive or special teams touchdowns...that'd do it.  It's not even that unrealistic.

The Beavers are pretty well-regarded.   A beat-down of the No. 15 team would go a long way in the BCS rankings.   

(Except it shouldn't be as close as that score would indicate.)

If that happens, and if:

• USC beats Notre Dame at home;
• Georgia Tech beats Georgia;
• Florida State beats Florida;
• UCLA beats Stanford (giving Oregon the Pac-12 North);

Oregon backs into the national title conversation.

One assumes Alabama will beat Auburn, though one also assumed they would beat Texas A&M.  Come to think of it, one further assumed Kansas State would have no trouble with Baylor.  The lesson here: Sports are weird, and, as the saying goes, that's why they play the games.  

It's far-fetched, I grant you.  And, of course, if any two of the three top teams—Notre Dame, Alabama and Georgia—win out, it doesn't matter if the Ducks win 184-0 Saturday.   

But that's one of the best things about sports. As long as you can still concoct elaborate but possible scenarios under which your team can win a championship, you still have hope.

It all starts with blowing out the Beavers.