Wow-what a shame Oregon had that slip-up at Arizona State because they looked unbeatable against No. 5 Utah-a supposed defensive juggernaut-and playing at that level would have represented the PAC-12 admirably in the final four. I think if we look at it real close the Utes probably earned a lot of those impressive defensive averages against far inferior teams. For example Idaho State, UCLA, and Arizona collectively scored 10 points against Utah, but USC, Washington, and Oregon averaged over 30 points each. It’s really kind of a travesty that a team that is playing as well as Oregon did yesterday won’t be getting a chance to be in an expanded version of the current playoff system. I believe I heard one of the announcers after the game say that the only winner of the PAC-12 Championship Game was the CFP Committee. With the PAC-12 eliminating themselves it really simplified the problem of choosing the Final Four. If LSU knocked off Georgia then the winner of the Big-12 gets in-exactly how it happened.
One thing that the PAC-12 really excels at during the football season is cannabilizing itself and No. 5 Utah losing a game against a conference opponent that would have catapulted them into the national final-four is the ultimate example. Not sure how far they’ll drop in the polls but it should be significant after that mess of a game. Besides winning the PAC-12 Championship Game 37-15 and going to the Rose Bowl the Ducks have other things to be excited about looking forward, one being that CJ Verdell who carried the ball 18 times for 208 yards and 3 rushing TD’s is only a Sophomore. Where the hell was the vaunted Utah run defense? Equally exciting on the other side of the ball for Oregon was Freshman Defensive End Keyvon Thibodeaux who seemed to be in on every significant defensive play for Oregon while picking up 4 solo tackles, 2.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss and a blocked punt-hell of a day!
Senior Duck QB Justin Herbert didn’t play his best game of the year but he did a good job of managing the offense, even participating in what looked to be an homage to Marcus Marriota at the beginning of the game–rushing 7 times for 20 yards. It sure surprised Utah and really put them back on their heels long enough for Oregon to get a nice 20-0 cushion by the break. Utah finally got going a bit in the third with two Tyler Huntley passes for scores, one a 24 yard TD pass to Senior RB Zack Moss, and the second another 25 yard TD pass but this time to Junior WR Samson Nacua. Other than adding one more point on a two-point conversion, that would be all the scoring Utah would get while Oregon put up a field goal in the third and two more scores in the last quarter-both by CJ Verdell. First, a sizzling 70 yard TD run with 7 minutes left in the 4th and the second a 31 yard TD run after a Tyler Huntley pass interception by Oregon.
Utah QB Tyer Huntley connected on 17-of-29 for 193 yards and 2 TD’s but also threw two picks, one late in the game that led to an Oregon TD-putting the game completely out of reach. RB Zach Moss rushed 19 times for Utah, picking up 113 yards, while Huntley almost rushed as many times, 14, but it was an effort that ended in frustration almost every time-only picking up 2 yards total on the night. For Oregon, QB Justin Herbert and RB CJ Verdell accounted for all but 31 of the 432 total yards for the Ducks with Verdell rushing for 3 TD’s and Herbert throwing one to Junior WR Johnny Johnson III. Oregon’s Freshman Place Kicker Camden Lewis was perfect on the night hitting all three of his field goals and all four PATs.
Besides the frustration built in from their loss to Arizona State the previous week and all the expert opinions they had to listen to who were insisting how difficult it would be for them to get much accomplished against the great Utah defense, Oregon definately played as though they had a big chip on their shoulders with the Defense accounting for 6 sacks on Huntley and collecting 9 tackles for loss against a single sack and 3 tackles for loss by the supposedly superior defense of Utah. Head Coach Kyle Whittingham understatedly had this to say after the game; “Unfortunately we came up short tonight. Disappointing thing is we lost in the one area we’ve been undefeated this year: line of scrimmage. We didn’t win the line of scrimmage for the first time all season, which is, like I say, disappointing. Surprising really.”
No. 11 Utah’s post season game will be against Texas in the Valero Alamo Bowl on Tuesday, December 31st, at 4:30pm on ESPN, while No. 6 Oregon will take on No. 8 Wisconsin at 2:00pm, January 1st, on ESPN in the Rose Bowl. That should be a hell of a game.