Baby steps.
With Nebraska and Oklahoma both losing over the weekend, the idle Oregon football team moved up to No. 4 in the Associated Press poll released Sunday, the highest the Ducks have ever been ranked.
But, with the ultimate prize going to the top two teams in the final Bowl Championship Series rankings Dec. 9, Oregon still has a couple more steps to take to reach its ultimate goal.
And it doesn’t look like it will get any better today when the weekly BCS poll is released. According to the Web site collegebcs.com, Oregon will remain No. 5 in the BCS, with Miami, Florida, Texas and Nebraska rounding out the top four.
The Ducks (9-1 overall, 6-1 Pacific-10 Conference) are already guaranteed at least a share of the Pac-10 crown and a trip to Tempe, Ariz., for the Fiesta Bowl, but need a win over Oregon State on Saturday in the Civil War, and some luck, to get to the Jan. 3 Rose Bowl, the site of this year’s national championship.
Assuming they end up in Tempe, the Ducks’ opponent will be the winner of the Big 12 championship game between Texas and Colorado, if neither team receives a bid to the Rose Bowl. The Big 12 championship will be broadcast on ABC before the Civil War game Saturday.
With a 65-7 win over Washington, Miami (10-0 overall) will most likely move into the top spot in the BCS with a matchup against Virginia Tech in the regular season finale on Saturday. Florida (9-1 overall) earns a trip to Pasadena with a win this week over Tennessee, ranked fifth by the Associated Press, and a victory in the SEC Championship game Dec. 8.
Oregon has not played since the 21-20 win over UCLA in the Rose Bowl on Nov. 10.