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#4 Utah falls to a two-loss Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship game
With Oregon losing to Arizona State in the desert it took a lot out of this conference title game, since both the Ducks and Utes would have likely gone in with only one loss on their resume and being ranked ahead of the eventual Big XII champs. However now it is only Utah, who I predicted to win the Pac-12, that can somehow finally represent the conference for the first time since that 2016 Washington debacle, when they had no shot against Alabama.
For the Utes to jump into the top four it really doesn’t take too much – if LSU beats Georgia in the SEC title game and Alabama doesn’t blow out Auburn, the committee will probably give the benefit of the doubt to a conference champion.
While the Pac-12 is having a down-year, with only three teams having won at least nine games, and that loss to USC at the Colloseum was quite bad, this team has a pretty good shot at being there when the final rankings come out. If the Utes were to lose to Oregon, they would obviously fall out of contention and could actually drop all the way outside the top ten, which would heavily influence the bowl game they will end up playing in.
Even though the Utes’ schedule has only featured one ranked team so far, they do have a pretty good case if they win out.
They beat the then-17th ranked Arizona State Sundevils pretty decisively at 21-3, they beat up on Washington State and Cal, who have proven to do well outside the conference, they showed perseverance in a comeback against Washington and these last two weeks they demolished UCLA and Arizona by a combined score of 84-10.
After probably dishing out another whooping to Colorado on senior day, they will face up with Oregon, who just saw their playoff dreams get crushed. While style points might matter in that matchup, it will be tough to leave a one-loss conference champion out, when they would be winners of nine straight as well.
