Pac-12 Championship Preview: Conference on Conference Violence

Pac-12 Championship Preview: Conference on Conference Violence

by Gabriel Rauch for wannamakeabet.com

#12 Utah vs #4 USC Friday Dec 2nd, 8PM EST on FOX

The Pac-12 Championship matchup is set this Friday night, when Utah (12) will be playing USC (4) at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Everything is aligned for another Pac-12 team to make the playoff since Washington back in 2016 and for USC to reach what has eluded them since the playoff system began in 2014.

USC has to win first, and to do that they have to break the implosion cycle of the past few years that has plagued the Pac-12. 

First off, since the playoff began only two Pac-12 teams have made it: Oregon in 2014, which lost in the championship to FSU; and Washington in 2016, which lost to Alabama in the first round. These two appearances are the lowest number of any Power 5 conference:

• SEC: 10 (Alabama 7, Georgia 2, LSU 1)
• ACC: 8 (Clemson 6, FSU 1, Notre Dame 1)
• Big 10: 6 (Ohio St 4, Michigan 1, MSU 1)
• Big 12: 4 (Oklahoma 4)
• Pac-12: 2 (Oregon 1, Washington 1)

Does this make the other four Power 5 conferences that much better than the Pac-12? Not necessarily, but they all seem to know to get out of their own way and have a representative in the playoff, which has been the Pac-12’s main issue. Just in the last three years, Utah (2019), USC (2020) and Oregon (2021) have all had a chance at making the playoffs and lost in the Pac-12 Championship game to get knocked out of the running. This is what I’m referring to as the Pac-12 implosion. 

Will USC break the cycle? For starters, USC finally has a competent coach at the helm under Lincoln Riley, and the Heisman front runner Caleb Williams. They also have the revenge factor of playing Utah for the second time this season. While USC has the best offense in the Pac-12, Utah has a defense that has been on fire since the last time they played USC in October and is the #1 scoring defense in the Pac-12. USC did hang 42 on their defense last time, but Utah has stepped up since then, their defense not allowing more than 20 points in a game. I see Utah as the more well rounded team and they will win a close game that likely knocks USC and the Pac-12 out of a playoff berth.  History will repeat itself and a cycle of implosion for the Pac-12 continues. 

The Pick: Utah +3 and Utah ML

Also any non USC or Utah Pac-12 fans, email me at gabriel.rauch@gmail.com and let me know who you want to win this game. As an Arizona alum, I would like USC to get a playoff berth for the conference, but as stated above, I wouldn’t count on it.