Oregon Football: Ducks Drop to No. 8 in the BCS Rankings

When Clemson lost and Oregon won, many Duck fans began to think about how the Ducks were inching towards the top five by moving up to No. 6.

With the recent BCS rankings now out, Duck fans got a surprise, as the team have dropped to No. 8 behind Oklahoma and Arkansas in terms of teams with one loss.

The question now, is why?

Oklahoma was fresh off a loss to Texas Tech and bounced back with a vastly overrated Kansas State. Arkansas struggled with Vanderbilt, and if not for a missed field goal in the last few seconds, they would have had an overtime battle on their hands. 

This past Saturday, Oregon appeared to come into their game with Washington State under the assumption that the game was already in the win column. The Ducks looked sluggish and completely off their game. 

One unexpected thing to come from the game was Darron Thomas playing a decent first half but not returning as the starter. As the game entered the second half and Bryan Bennett stepped in, the Ducks got some of their swagger back and was able to coast to an easy victory.

On the other side of the ball, the Ducks defense continued their usual style of bend but don't break and even forced some turnovers in the redzone. 

What the Ducks need to do is keep focusing on winning. A win over Washington on the road will not be easy, and then it will be followed up with a date against Stanford—the last place that Oregon lost in conference.

While Oregon seems to have the best loss out of all of the one-loss teams, for now, the Ducks' focus must remain on the task at hand—and that is winning the day.