This was supposed to be the easy Saturday, the warm-up for rivalry week, the appetizer before college football's main course. For Oregon, however, the check came early with a 31-28 loss to Arizona State.
Whether Oregon ever truly deserved Playoff-contender status is up for debate. The Pac-12 was written off early, but the Ducks and Utah both worked their way back into the conversation. The resume, however, was far from deep, and Saturday's showdown against the Sun Devils figured to be less a challenge to the Ducks' status as simply a test to see if Justin Herbert's team could sell the committee on some style points.