Oregon's victory over Michigan left little doubt that the Ducks are the No. 1 team in college football

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — 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 centered on Manuel's role as chairman of the College Football Playoff committee, a job Mullens held in 2018 and 2019.

The chair's job is to summarize the feelings of everyone present on television into a coherent message. When controversy arises, as it inevitably does, the chairman is the one who takes the fight upon himself.

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

Selecting the teams that will play in the first 12-team CFP will be a pressurized process with plenty of room for debate and doubt. When the committee releases its first rankings Tuesday night, there should be a clear and simple decision: Oregon at No. 1.

The Ducks defeated Michigan 38-17 on Saturday to improve to 9-0. This isn't a great Michigan team, as the 5-4 record would suggest, but Oregon still made a statement by going to the Big House and beating the reigning national champions.

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Oregon received all but one first-place vote in the AP Top 25 last week, and the gap between the Ducks and everyone else has only widened since then. No. 2 Georgia struggled to pull away from Florida due to three interceptions by quarterback Carson Beck. No. 3 Penn State lost another top-five matchup to No. 4 Ohio State, a team Oregon beat three weeks ago.

The Ducks don't have many weaknesses, as Michigan saw firsthand on Saturday. Oregon is good on both ends and won the battle at the top. The Ducks have a tough running back in Jordan James and weapons on the outside in Evan Stewart and Traeshon Holden, although an injury to wide receiver Tez Johnson was a concern.

The player who brings it all together is Dillon Gabriel, the most steadfast quarterback in college football. Gabriel threw for 294 yards, completing 22 of 34 passes and also ran for a 23-yard touchdown. Some of Oregon's biggest plays came because he could sense the pressure and evade 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 realize what kind of quarterback we have,” coach Dan Lanning said. “He’s a really special player.”

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

The running game has regressed as Kalel Mullings was held to less than 20 yards on the ground for the second straight game. The defense hasn't gotten much better, and with the injury numbers now adding up, it's not realistic to expect the lights to come on in the final month of the season.

Oregon finished with 470 total yards, while Michigan finished with 270 yards. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

When Warren regained the starting quarterback job, the message was that Michigan didn't need him to be Superman. Except, well, it kind of does. Or at least on Saturday, when the Wolverines should have a chance to upset Oregon. Warren played turnover-free football and threw two touchdowns, but that wasn't nearly enough to keep up with the high-powered Ducks.

“The most important thing that’s required of us is to win the football game,” Warren said. “That's exactly what matters. As an offense, we have to start faster.”

Two plays from Saturday's game showed why Michigan is not only limited at some key positions, but also losing the strategic battle. One of those was Gabriel's 23-yard touchdown run on a quarterback play. Gabriel said the Ducks noticed on film that Michigan likes to run a lot of plays with its defensive line, with players switching rush lanes after the snap. If players don't get into the right gaps quickly enough, it can create a gap in the defense. Gabriel spotted one of those holes and slid into the end zone.

“The touchdown run was something we planned,” Gabriel said. “(It was) just an advantage, a check that we wanted to achieve. The guys up front handled the games really well. We talked about the QB draw and expected 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 throws in the red zone in the game. It wasn't Orji, who at least plays quarterback and practices throwing the ball. It wasn't even Donovan Edwards, who was 4-for-4 as a passer in his career. Instead, Michigan had Semaj Morgan, a wide receiver, throwing to Orji in the end zone.

The reason for calling this game is to create an element of surprise. But Oregon spent time studying Michigan's trick plays after the Wolverines used several of them last week against Michigan State, and edge rusher Matayo Uiagalelei did his job covering Orji as he leaked out of the backfield.

“We spent a lot of time on this, an inordinate amount of time,” Lanning said. “I think this is an incredible piece from Matayo that will go a little unsung. We are talking about managing your land. Do your job and don't worry about farming someone else's land. He did a great job of managing his land on this piece.”

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

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

“We wanted to do our best,” Lanning said, “but our best is good enough.”

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