I would bet it's still above all of those in that metric. And it still has the biggest midwest recognition. If I just asked my wife who the best team in the Pac 12 was, I guarantee shed say Oregon.
That's fair. And to be honest, I narrowly picked Washington.
There's just a part of me that feels like Oregon tried to catch lightning in a bottle, missed, and is on the downswing. That doesn't mean they can't recover, but every year they fade even slightly it gets harder and harder to regain what they lost. The Willie Taggart experience was a major misstep. It's unknown whether Cristobal will improve things, especially now that Herbert is gone. I think after they burst onto the scene and now appear to have faded somewhat, their few good years look to be scheme and "smoke and mirrors" more than anything else, and that perception will hurt.
And I just don't think they have the history that I can say they're just "one coach away" from being back, like you can say about true helmet teams.
They still have good recruits. They are still in a weak enough PAC-12 that going 12-1 with a CCG win may be a better than even shot at a 4-team CFP bid, and 13-0 against their schedule, even if it's perceived weak, will get them in. After that, anything can happen.
But my prediction is that they're on the downslope, not holding steady or at the bottom of a trough and a return to upslope.
