How does Pac-12's changes to the conference championship game affect Oregon Ducks?
On Wednesday afternoon, the Pac-12 conference announced some major news that will significantly impact the upcoming football season.
Starting in 2022, the two teams with the highest conference winning percentage will play each other in the Pac-12 Championship Game at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Friday, Dec. 2.
"The measure was passed with unanimous support from the league head coaches, athletic directors and board of directors," the conference said in a statement.
The Pac-12 North and South Divisions and the schedule will remain in place for the 2022 season. However, the scheduling for the 2023 season and beyond will be examined after this year.
The NCAA on Wednesday approved the deregulation of the current rule that limited an individual conference to determine their football championship game participants.
“Our goal is to place our two best teams in our Pac-12 Football Championship Game, which we believe will provide our conference with the best opportunity to optimize CFP invitations and ultimately win national championships,” Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff said in a statement. “Today’s decision is an important step towards that goal and immediately increases both fan interest in, and the media value of, our Football Championship Game.”
If the new model had been adopted in 2011, Oregon would have played in the Pac-12 Championship game six times instead four since 2011.
Today's changes affect Oregon in several ways. Instead of Oregon possibly being consensus to play in the conference championship, USC and Utah will likely be the two favorites despite being in the same division.
The 2022 schedule will remain the same as Oregon will likely be a contender to play in Las Vegas for the Pac-12 title, but it is possible Utah and USC could be ranked ahead of the Ducks in the preseason Top 25 when it's released in August.
How this affects Oregon and other Pac-12 teams moving forward is the conference could eventually adopt a 3-6-6 scheduling model in which league teams would play three permanent opponents, then rotate through the rest over two years (six one year, six the next). That way not only could the Pac-12 eliminate divisions altogether, but each team would play one another more frequently.
The goal is to maximize more appealing matchups across the Pac-12 and not having divisions would ensure the best conference championship matchup for television partners and primetime matchups.
Contact Register-Guard sportswriter Antwan Staley at astaley@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @antwanstaley.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: How does Pac-12's changes to its championship game affect Oregon?
