Oregon and Michigan left little doubt that the Ducks are among college football’s No. 1 teams

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Oregon’s Rob Mullens and Michigan’s Warde Manuel, now colleagues in the Big Ten, shared an Uber after a meeting of the league’s athletic directors. The conversation focused on Manuel’s role as chairman of the College Football Playoff committee, a position Mullens held in 2018 and 2019.

It is the chairman’s job to go on TV and summarize the feelings of everyone in the room into a coherent message. When controversy arises, as it inevitably will, the chairman is the one who takes the lead.

“You represent 13, but you become the focus of angry fans,” Mullens said with a chuckle.

Choosing the teams that will play in the first 12-team CFP will be a pressured process, with plenty of room for debate and doubt. When the committee releases its first rankings Tuesday evening, there should be one obvious and easy choice: Oregon at No. 1.

The Ducks Saturday 38-17 at Michigan improve to 9-0. This isn’t great Michigan team, as its 5-4 record suggests, but Oregon still made a statement by walking into the Big House and punching the reigning national champions.

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Oregon received all but one first-place vote last week AP Top 25and the gap between the Ducks and everyone else has only widened since then. No. 2 Georgia had difficulty withdrawing from Florida due to three interceptions from quarterback Carson Beck. No. 3 Penn State lost another top-five match against No. 4 State of Ohioa team that defeated Oregon three weeks ago.

The Ducks don’t have many weaknesses, as Michigan saw firsthand Saturday. Oregon is good on both lines of scrimmage and won the battle up front. The Ducks are having a hard time getting back into it Jordan James and weapons from the outside in Evan Stewart And Traeshon Holdenalthough an injury to wide receiver Tez Johnson was cause for concern.

The player who brings it all together is Dillon Gabrielthe most unflappable quarterback in college football. Gabriel threw for 294 yards, completed 22 of 34 passes and also ran for a touchdown of 23 yards. Some of Oregon’s biggest plays happened because he was able to sense pressure and avoid it while keeping his eyes downfield. Michigan didn’t sack him once, meaning Oregon effectively neutralized the strongest part of Michigan’s team.

“I think everyone in the country needs to recognize what kind of quarterback we have,” coach Dan Lanning said. “He is a very special player.”

Michigan couldn’t keep up, and that wasn’t a surprise to anyone who’s watched the Wolverines this season. Michigan is basically the same team it was in Week 2, when the Wolverines lost by 19 Texas. Davis Warren has been solid in his return to the starting quarterback role, but other than cutting down on turnovers, the Wolverines haven’t shown much improvement from the start of the season to this point.

The running game has declined, like Kalel Mullings was held less than 20 meters from the ground for the second game in a row. The defense hasn’t improved noticeably, and with injuries piling up, it’s unrealistic to expect the lights to come on in the final month of the season.

When Warren got the starting quarterback job back, the message was that Michigan didn’t need him to be Superman. Except, well, it does. Or at least that’s what happened Saturday if the Wolverines had a chance to upset Oregon. Warren played turnover-free football and threw two touchdowns, but it wasn’t nearly enough to keep up with the high-powered Ducks.

“The most important thing that is asked of us is to win the football game,” Warren said. “That’s exactly what it comes down to. As an offense, we have to start quicker.”

Two plays from Saturday’s game showed why, in addition to being limited to a few key positions, Michigan is also losing the strategic battle. One of those was Gabriel’s 23-yard touchdown run after a quarterback draw. Gabriel said the Ducks noticed on film that Michigan likes to play a lot of games with its defensive line, with players switching rush lanes after the snap. If players don’t get into the right holes quickly enough, a hole in the defense can open up. Gabriel saw one of those gaps and slid into the end zone.

“The touchdown run was something we set up,” Gabriel said. “(It was) just a benefit, a check we wanted to get. The boys up front played the games very well. We were talking about the QB draft, waiting for games.”

The other play was Michigan’s fourth-and-5 call in the red zone when the Wolverines had a chance to get within a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The person throwing the ball on a must-have-it play wasn’t Warren, who made some nice red zone throws in the game. It wasn’t Orji, who at least plays quarterback and practices throwing the ball. It wasn’t even Donovan Edwardswho is 4-for-4 in his career as a passer. Instead, Michigan had done just that Semaj Morgana wide receiver, throwing to Orji in the end zone.

The reason for calling that game is to create an element of surprise. But Oregon spent time studying Michigan’s trick plays after the Wolverines used some of them last week State of Michiganand edge rusher Matayo Uiagalelei did his job covering Orji when he leaked out of the backfield.

“We spent a lot of time on that, an inordinate amount of time,” Lanning said. “I think this is an incredible piece by Matayo that will remain somewhat unsung. We’re talking about working your land. Do your job and don’t worry about working someone else’s land. He has done a great job working his land on that stretch.”

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Great teams are ready for anything. Mediocre teams make mistakes, like lining up the snapper on a punt, which Michigan did to give Oregon a free first down after the defense came up with a stop.

For three years, Michigan was the team that did everything right. The Wolverines are a shadow of their former selves, and it has taken away much of the aura of playing in Michigan Stadium. The Ducks handled the environment with ease, just as a No. 1 team should, and left little doubt about where they belong in the initial CFP rankings.

“It took our best,” Lanning said, “but our best is good enough.”

(Top photo of Dan Lanning and Dillon Gabriel: Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)