Oregon's Loss to Arizona Doesn't Kill the Pac-12's Shot at Playoff Spot

I don't have all the answers. Neither do you. Actually, that's assuming that anyone has any answers for Arizona's stunning 31-24 victory over Oregon on Thursday night. There are guesses—well-reasoned guesses—about what this means in the bigger picture, but they're just that: guesses. 

And that's okay. 

It's Oct. 3, and no one, not even the College Football Playoff selection committee, knows how the Wildcats' upset over the Ducks, the preseason media Pac-12 favorite, is going to impact the four-team playoff field—at least not yet. 

So why would anything, or any team, be marked down as a certainty? That's what Dan Wolken of USA Today wants to know: 

If preseason polls are as meaningless as college football fans would have you believe—the Associated Press and coaches polls are not part of the playoff equation—then what happened Thursday night shouldn't signal the end of the Pac-12's playoff hopes.

Oregon could still win every game going forward and finish as the Pac-12 champ at 12-1. Problems in pass defense and along the offensive line would suggest this could be a hard feat to accomplish, but again, anything is possible.

So too is the idea that Arizona might actually be good. The narrative doesn't have to be that if Oregon doesn't get into the playoff no one from the Pac-12 will. The Wildcats are one of two undefeated teams remaining in the Pac-12, the other being a UCLA team that may have finally found its stride. 

Since Arizona and UCLA play in the Pac-12 South, it will be impossible for both to remain undefeated by season's end, but the larger point is that other teams besides the Ducks are capable of playing great football. 

When Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez took over the program in November 2011, he asked a simple question: "Why not Arizona? Why can't we win it all?" 

That's hardcore coach-speak uttered at every opening press conference, but it won't come to fruition without everyone buying into what the coach is selling. Early returns on the '14 Wildcats indicate that players are buying in. As Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports notes, some of the team's best players are just getting started: 

This speaks to the quality of depth the Pac-12 has. 

Does all of this mean Arizona is undefeated and playoff bound? Absolutely not. The Wildcats could lose next week to USC and every game after that. To take it a step further, maybe the Pac-12 cannibalizes on itself and the conference champion is a three-loss team. 

But the opposite—a playoff field that includes a Pac-12 team—is also a possibility. Technically, the Big Ten isn't out of the discussion yet.

We just don't know, but not everything has to be known on Oct. 3. College football is chaos because it is played by 18- to 23-year-olds who are unpredictable by nature. 

That's part of the fun. 

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football.