Oregon Ducks College Football: National Perception Killing Chance at No. 1

If you looked at this resume, what would you think?

2-0. 120 points in those two games. One home victory and one road victory over an SEC team. Defense has only given up 13 points total in their two games.

Anyone in the top 10 this year would love to have this resume going into Week 3, but only one team does: the Oregon Ducks.

Going into the third week, Oregon is ranked No. 5 and likely has hit the wall in terms of being able to jump teams in the top five without them losing. While Oregon is out on the field taking care of business in a big way, these are the reasons that Oregon will not be ranked No. 1 in the nation.

New Mexico

The first issue is that Oregon has no control over their schedule. To open the season, Oregon took on New Mexico, who only won a single game last year. This game is one that the Ducks were expected to win big, but nobody could have predicted the 72-0 score they won by. While some of the top 10 struggled against lower level opponents, the Ducks had this game wrapped up midway through the second quarter.

Tennessee

To go along with a weak opener, the Ducks may have caught Tennessee a year or two early. The Ducks' second game took them on the road to Knoxville. Playing at Tennessee usually helps the strength of your schedule, but this year the Vols are rebuilding and are a very young team that will certainly struggle to stay afloat in the SEC. Many view Tennessee as a lower half SEC team, so the 48-13 win Oregon had at Neyland Stadium will not impress many.

Jeremiah Masoli

Jeremiah Masoli? How can a player that is not on their team any longer effect their chances of being on the top of the polls?

Perception.

Coming into the season, when people talked about Oregon, the comment would always be that they have a chance to repeat as Pac-10 champions, but their chances took a huge hit when they lost Jeremiah Masoli. Many people across the nation believe that Oregon cannot be as effective without Masoli, and this may be a notion in the back of the heads of the voters. Some are waiting for the loss of Masoli to truly sink in and sink the Ducks' season.

Television

While this may go hand in hand with their schedule so far, the lack of television exposure early in the year has also hurt Oregon. Their first game against New Mexico was only shown locally in Oregon. The Ducks looked to have a great slot this past Saturday night, being scheduled to play at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

While this was a great chance for the Ducks, the game was delayed due to a lightning strike near the stadium. The delay lasted 70 minutes and allowed many college football fans time to find another game to watch. By the time the game restarted, many may have already lost interest.

Pac-10

This is a year in which the Ducks own conference is going to work against them. While the conference will certainly be competitive and hard to win this year, the perception of this conference is that it has a bunch of good teams but no great teams.

USC is not viewed in the same light it usually is due to its postseason issues and for their lackluster play so far this season. Arizona, Stanford, and Oregon State are all solid teams but are not viewed as top 10 teams. With an already weak out of conference schedule, Oregon's own conference may not be of help this year.

Preseason Rankings

Preseason rankings are another reason that Oregon is behind the eight ball. The Ducks started the year at No. 11 and have jumped up to No. 5, but that is likely as high as they will go without a team in front of them losing.

A popular idea has been not to have preseason rankings until a certain week of the season. This would be an advantage to Oregon based on how their season has gone so far. Allowing voters too look at your body of work without already having you preselected could lead to very different rankings.

Portland State and Arizona State

The next two weeks are not going to do Oregon any favors. In the next two games, Oregon can only be hurt, rather then benefit. This week, the Ducks take on Portland State, a FCS team. Most, again, will view this as a team Oregon should beat handily. In two weeks, Oregon will take on Arizona State. Arizona State is a lower half Pac-10 team that will certainly not be ranked. The game is on the road, but is still not a game that will earn the Ducks respect.

Oregon will have to wait three weeks until they play a game that will get them credit with the voters when Stanford comes to Autzen Stadium.

What Could Help?

What Oregon has to do this year is, first of all, take care of their own games and keep winning convincingly. If the Ducks keep winning, these are some things that will help them in the polls.

• Tennessee beating Alabama, Florida or LSU
• Stanford being as good as advertised going into their game at Autzen
• USC starting to look like the USC of old
• Oregon State playing above expectations and making the Civil War count again this year
• Washington living up to all the preseason hype

If Oregon can get some of these things to happen, it will help strengthen their schedule and give the Ducks a chance to prove themselves on the field.