USC Gets Rematch With Utah in Pac-12 Championship Game
It took every game of the regular season to get down to a final two, but the Pac-12 Championship Game is finally set. The USC Trojans will have an opportunity to avenge their only loss of the season as they take on the Utah Utes. The Pac-12 Championship Game will take place on Friday, Dec. 2. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 pm PT from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
The Trojans locked in their appearance in the championship game last week when they took down UCLA 48-45. They then needed to wait until the final whistle of the Pac-12 regular season to learn their opponent.
Utah came into Saturday’s game against Colorado about as far as possible from controlling their own destiny. The Utes needed four games to go their way on this final weekend. The good news started Friday night when UCLA took down Cal. Utah beat Colorado easily on Saturday, then watched as Oregon State beat Oregon and Washington took down Washington State.
Those results created a three-team tie for second place between Oregon, Utah and Washington, all at 7-2 in conference. Utah won the tiebreaker due to its strength of conference record.
The Season’s First Meeting Between the Utes and Trojans
The first Utah – USC game was one of the games of the year in the Pac-12. Utah quarterback Cameron Rising ran for a touchdown on 4th and goal with 48 seconds left to draw the Utes within one. Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham elected to go for a two-point conversion and the win. Rising again found the endzone to put Utah ahead 43-42.
USC couldn’t put together a final drive and Utah landed arguably the biggest win of the Pac-12 season.
Rising finished that game with 415 yards passing, two passing touchdowns and three rushing touchdowns. Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid was completely unstoppable, finishing with 16 receptions for 234 yards and a touchdown.
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For USC, quarterback Caleb Williams was oustanding. He threw for 381 yards and five touchdowns. Wide receivers Mario Williams and Jordan Addison both had more than 100 yards receiving. But defensively, the Trojans did not register a sack and had just one tackle for loss.
The game was also notable for two roughing the passer calls that went against USC. The first negated an interception by Calen Bullock with USC holding a 14-0 lead. The second came on an incomplete pass on third down to keep a Utah drive alive. The Utes scored touchdowns following both penalties.
USC players were emotional after the game, having put everything on the line in a hostile environment. Offensive lineman Justin Dedich said this week he truly believed the Trojans could reach the Pac-12 championship game following that loss. He said based on the way the team reacted to that loss, he knew they had the right mentality to go on a run and make it to this point.
USC head coach Lincoln Riley said following USC’s win against Notre Dame on Saturday night that they didn’t care who they lined up against in the championship game. They knew it would be a good team. But it’s easy to imagine that USC players will be happy to get a second shot at Utah this season.
