EUGENE -- Mark Helfrich called his shot two weeks ago when, one day after a home loss to Arizona, the second-year head coach predicted Oregon could be right back in the thick of things -- and soon.

He was prescient: The Ducks once again have another shot at the College Football Playoff.



Oregon's 45-20 victory against Washington on Saturday was its second straight -- and 11th straight against the Huskies -- and moved it up three spots in the Associated Press poll to No. 6.



The return to form arrives at an opportune time, with the first standings from the playoff's 13-member selection committee due Oct. 28. Though no one knows where the Ducks will ultimately stand in the eyes of Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice -- both on the committee -- and their peers, they've become a trendy playoff pick once again for non-committee members.



Two ESPN analysts included Oregon in their final four Saturday evening, though CBSSports.com has it on the outside looking in with a team it already beat, Michigan State, included.



Still, even being in the discussion is a far cry from where Oregon stood two weeks ago.



Helfrich isn't saying told-you-so about his team's rebound, though, as his team prepares to face California (4-3, 2-3 Pac-12) on a quick turnaround Friday at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.



"College football is so exciting as a fan or for you guys to follow it the way you do has to be, you know, unbelievably, endlessly entertaining," Helfrich said Sunday evening in his weekly press conference to recap the previous day's game.



With gloom-and-doom projected on the horizon for the Ducks after Arizona -- and with a patchwork offensive line and a defense ranked in the lower 20 percent in college football, little looked sunny for UO -- Helfrich's Oct. 3 forecast called for "a ton of movement nationally."



What's followed since hasn't been so much movement as much as seismic activity in the top 10, which softened the blow of Oregon's own drop.



The latest losses were by then-No. 4 Baylor and No. 5 Notre Dame on Saturday. Like Oregon's blocking for running back Royce Freeman, the top-10 chaos has created wide-open gaps that the Ducks have shot through, propelled by victories against UCLA and Washington.

Despite Freeman's four touchdowns and an injury to Thomas Tyner -- running backs coach Gary Campbell said he hurt his shoulder on the opening kickoff -- Helfrich said Sunday that the offense will still be distributed by committee.

"Although Royce is a special guy Byron (Marshall) needs to touch the ball, Thomas needs to touch the ball, Kenny Bassett came in and gave us some quality carries as well," he said. "For us the 'committee' is good. There are going to be things that happen in games, whether it's game plan dictated or readiness dictated, guys are going to have to carry the load differently game in and game out."

The return of confidence in the Ducks (6-1, 3-1) comes on the heels of the return of some confidence by the team in itself, too.



After Arizona, "(players) came in disappointed, frustrated and looked each other directly in the eye and said, let's fix this together," Helfrich said. "There was no pout element to it at all. We can't sit here and say what if we had these receivers back or these offensive linemen back. We are who we are right now and our guys are competing their tails off.



"... I think the last couple weeks we've practiced with a little bit more of a grittier edge physically, competitively. That's shown up."



Oregon's offensive line has allowed two sacks in the last two games compared to 12 in the previous two. Don Pellum's defense hadn't held an opponent to fewer than 5.0 yards per play this season until Saturday, when the Huskies' average was 4.3 yards.



The Huskies didn't score a touchdown until their eighth drive, success Helfrich said was due to "a bunch of factors" from Washington's offensive scheme, to tackling better in the open field, and swarming the ball in the open field. Oregon forced two turnovers; Washington had just one in its first six games.



"We're playing better and that's encouraging," he said, adding that breakdowns in Oregon's punt and kick returns were "frustrating" errors.



"Definitely not our best or we'd certainly hope it's not our best. ... We didn't probably play up front offensively as well as we did the week before at UCLA. We tackled better on the perimeter against some very good skill people. It was a different style of offense that we faced last night compared to last week or Cal or probably anybody else we'll see in the future, so that was a good step but there's a ton we can improve upon."



Should they continue their winning ways, there are a few spots the Ducks could reclaim in the rankings, too.



-- Andrew Greif | @andrewgreif