USC or Oregon have been in five of the nine Pac-12 championship games since the league began hosting them in 2011, but have never played in the conference title online. That will change on Friday night when Trojans no. 13 will face the Ducks, who are in Washington’s place after the Huskies informed the league that they will not be able to play due to COVID-19 problems.
This is the conference title match that was predicted in the pre-season league media poll; however, the route to a battle between USC and Oregon in the championship game made some weird twists in an already odd year. The Ducks (3-2) rose to No. 9 in the AP Top 25 poll during a 3-0 start and finished 15th in the top college football rankings before consecutive losses to Oregon and Cal . chances of making a noise on the national stage.
On the other hand, the Trojans enter the competition with a perfect score of 5-0 and are looking to make a statement. While Ohio has the same record, Buckeyes is ranked 4th in the football playoff rankings, while USC is ranked 13. So, even with a dominant victory over the Ducks, the Trojans are very unlikely to can make the semifinals. However, USC has a lot to play for and a major bowl offer is at stake. Let’s take a closer look at the match and the stories to follow before making a few selections of experts both up and against the spread.
Stories
USC: The Trojans have won three of their games dramatically and could just as easily be 2-3 after narrow victories at Arizona State, Arizona and UCLA. But give USC credit because, although his air strike seemed ineffective at times, second defender Kedon Slovis repeatedly made important plays at important moments. It helps to have three excellent receivers in Amon-Ra St. Brown, Tyler Vaughns and Drake London, who combined to catch 12 of Slovis’ 15 touchdown passes. A victory in this game would make USC 6-0 for the first time since 2006, which was the culmination of Pete Carroll’s term as coach. Reaching this stage in 2020 would be huge for current coach Clay Helton, who needed a good season to cool the talks in the hot seats.
Oregon: Cristobal is not in the hot spot, but has been reported to be a candidate for the Auburn job, even though his third season in Oregon did not go well as planned. Coming from a 12-2 season with a Rose Bowl victory, the Ducks had a lot to replace. In addition to the loss of defender Justin Herbert, Oregon was also hit by a wave of layoffs. Among them was the left striker Pena Sewell, whose departure left Cristobal using five new starters on his offensive line. The offense was not the main issue of a 41-38 loss to Oregon, which reduced the number of undefeated ducks. Beavers ran all over Oregon in that game before the offense fought a loss to Cal the following week. But with Washington 3-1 unable to play this week and the Ducks holding a 3-3 tiebreaker with Stanford, the Ducks are where they want to be – playing in the Pac-12 title game with a chance to gain some player experience young people in a large setting.
Viewing information
Event: Pac-12 Championship Game
Date: Friday, December 18 | Time8 pm ET
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – Los Angeles
TV: FOX | Live broadcast: fuboTV (Try for free)
Oregon at USC
Latest odds:
USC Trojans -3
Nothing this Pac-12 season makes sense, so why should the title game? An undefeated USC would be a better representative for the league during the bowl season than a two-loss Oregon team that doesn’t really deserve to be in the league title game. But the magic of the USC clutch is bound to run out at some point, and you can bet the ducks are ready to wash away the taste of consecutive losses for enemies under 500 leagues. Choose: Oregon (+3)
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