Revisiting Oregon's Playoff seed: Will path or first-round bye matter more?

December 28, 2024

By NBC Sports via Yahoo Sports: Dan Lanning isn’t the kind of coach who would cry foul or complain. So, when Oregon received the No. 1 overall seed in the first 12-team College Football Playoff bracket, Lanning didn’t focus on the part that the rest of us did: The Ducks’ path to the national championship.

To win it all, Oregon will potentially have to go through the three toughest teams in the bracket — Ohio State (in the quarterfinals), Texas (in the semifinals) and Georgia (in the championship game). On Selection Sunday, the Ducks were the odds-on favorite to win the title, but those three teams had the next-best odds.

“What an opportunity, right?” Lanning said of the Ducks’ draw. “In our world, we always talk about red light, green light. Focus on the things you can control. That’s what we’re going to focus on, and winning a national championship isn’t supposed to be easy.

“If our path’s a little bit tougher, kudos to us if we go through it and take care of business.”

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