Oregon Upsets Utah To Win The Pac-12 Title

Don’t tell the University of Oregon Ducks that, after suffering a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Pac-12 rival Arizona State University, and after wrapping up their regular season with a win against in-state rival Oregon State University, that they didn’t have anything left to play for.

Afterall, their 8-1 conference record earned them a chance to play in the Pac-12 Championship game, and knock off the University of Utah Utes to earn their first conference title since 2014.

Despite the fact that they entered the game as underdogs, with the entire national media acting as if it was a foregone conclusion that the Utes would end up victorious, the Ducks put an emphatic exclamation point on an otherwise stellar 2019 season, pulling off a stunning but decisive upset over the University of Utah by a final score of 37-15.

All week long, all everyone heard was how the University of Utah boasted a stellar defense, featuring a slew of guys who would be playing in the NFL as soon as next season. But it was the Ducks’ defense, led by star freshman Kayvon Thibodeaux, that dominated the game and owned the line of scrimmage. Oregon held Utah to less than 310 yards of total offense, and allowing only 3.3 yards per carry to the Utes’ running game anchored by running back Zach Moss and quarterback Tyler Huntley.

Further, the Ducks’ front seven harassed Huntley all evening long, limiting him to only 193 yards passing (with a final QB Rating of only 18.9), and forcing him to throw two interceptions in the game; Utah’s senior quarterback had previously thrown a grand total of two interceptions all year long entering last Friday’s game.

Meanwhile, against the much-discussed defensive front of Utah, the Ducks’ running game ran up and down the field seemingly at will. Senior running back CJ Verdell finished off his season in style, running for 208 yards – his second-highest rushing total of the season – and three touchdowns. As a team, the Ducks finished with 239 yards rushing on 41 carries.

Oregon’s running game did enough damage to where quarterback Justin Herbert could do just enough to “manage” the game, given his 193 yards passing (his second-lowest total of the year) and one touchdown pass. All he had to do was hand the ball off to the guys behind him, and watch them do their work.

The box score doesn’t tell the full story of Oregon’s dominance. The Ducks went up 20-0, and held that lead until just after halftime. Even after the Utes cut the score to 23-15 late in the third quarter, the Ducks again responded with two touchdowns on their next four offensive drives to put the game away for good, and earn the conference championship.

The newly crowned Pac-12 champions found out two days later that they will head to Pasadena, California, to take on the University of Wisconsin Badgers in the 2019-2020 Rose Bowl. It marks the fourth trip to the Rose Bowl for Oregon in the past decade, though they have yet to play Wisconsin in any of those matchups. The Badgers most recently lost in the Big 10 conference championship game to Ohio State University, but finished the season with a 10-3 record and #8 overall ranking.