No. 13 Oregon defeated No. 5 Utah 37-15 Friday night to win the Pac-12 Conference championship.
That's great news, obviously, for the 11-2 Ducks; it's their fourth league championship of the decade and will result in the team earning a berth to the Rose Bowl.
BOX SCORE: NO. 13 OREGON 37, NO. 5 UTAH 15
The bad part for the conference: The Utes' loss means the Pac-12 will be left out of the College Football Playoff for the third consecutive season. No team in the first five years of the playoff has made the field with more than one loss, which both Utah and Oregon now have, and there's seemingly not enough chaos scenarios out there to change that in 2019.
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Utah entered the game ranked No. 5 in the committee's rankings, putting it in a good place to make the field with a conference championship game win and a loss by No. 4 Georgia – which plays committee No. 2 and Amway Coaches Poll No. 1 LSU – in the SEC title game.
But a slow start doomed Utah (11-2), which will likely see either Georgia or the Big 12 champion – both Oklahoma and Baylor have just one loss – claim the last spot.
“We didn’t really think far ahead but it’s obvious what was at stake, more than just the Rose Bowl,” Utah left tackle Darrin Paulo said. “It’s disappointing. I can’t really wrap my head around it right now. We knew that Oregon was a good team and we knew that we can’t overlook them so we didn’t look beyond that but we knew, everyone knew, what was at stake besides the Rose Bowl.”
The Utes were driving on their first series, but Oregon stopped them on third-and-1 and then fourth-and-1 to get the ball. The Ducks then marched on a nine-play, 67-yard touchdown drive to take a 7-0 lead.
A three-and-out by Utah turned into three more points for Oregon, and its next series ended in a three-and-out that was capped by a blocked punt.
Play stalled a bit for both teams from there – Oregon went three-and-out, Utah's Tyler Huntley threw an interception and then the teams exchanged three consecutive three-and-outs – until Oregon struck suddenly by going 70 yards in just three plays for another touchdown and a 17-0 lead.
Another fourth-down stop by the Oregon defense turned into three more points and the Ducks took a 20-0 lead into halftime.
Utah started the climb back in the second half, turning its first series – following another Oregon three-and-out – into a touchdown by Zack Moss. Oregon went three-and-out again, but the defense stepped up for its third fourth-down stop of the game.
The Ducks used that momentum to extend their lead with a field goal, but Utah drove down again to score and got the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 23-15.
After an exchange of punts, Oregon put the dagger in.
Running back CJ Verdell busted through for a 70-yard score that made it 30-15 Ducks. Verdell, who later added a 31-yard score, finished with 208 yards on 18 carries, part of an impressive 239 yards rushing against the Utes, who entered the game ranked No. 1 against the run.
Oregon continues to hit the gas 🔥 pic.twitter.com/96bp3xslck
— ESPN (@espn) December 7, 2019
“Unfortunately we came up short tonight,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “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.”
Verdell said the Ducks drew some added motivation from talk of Utah's supposed greater physicality.
“Definitely put a little chip on our shoulders,” Verdell said. “We try not to focus on the outside noise too much. Hearing they’re the most physical team in the Pac-12 made us want to come out here and work even harder.”
Ducks quarterback Justin Herbert, considered a potential top NFL QB prospect, had his decision to return for his senior season in his hometown rewarded with a conference championship. He wasn't fantastic against Utah, but he avoided mistakes and threw for 193 yards and a touchdown.
“It’s validation,” Oregon coach Mario Cristobal said of Herbert and the rest of his senior class reaching the Rose Bowl. “It’s validation for all that they’ve done. I don’t know if anyone here has been through a 4-8 season (as the Ducks did in 2016). I’ve been through one of those. It’s about as horrible and miserable as it gets. It causes some people to break down, some people to quit, some people to leave. Then there’s a core that just puts their foot in the ground and says, ‘We’re going to change things.’ ”
Contributing: Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oregon takes down No. 5 Utah in Pac-12 title game, eliminates conference from Playoff
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2019-12-07 12:13:31Z
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