Oregon falls flat in Pac-12 Championship amid Cristobal and Miami Hurricanes speculation

LAS VEGAS — Sometimes you're the hammer, and sometimes you're the nail.

Oregon has mostly been the hammer in the Pac-12, playing in its third consecutive conference championship Friday. But against the Utah Utes, the Ducks have been the nail.

In Oregon's first meeting in Salt Lake City, the Ducks were rolled 38-7 — the worst loss in Mario Cristobal's era as coach. Friday wasn't any better as the Utes once again steamrolled the Ducks 38-10 in the Pac-12 Championship.

This year, Utah had Oregon's number as the same problems that plagued the Ducks (10-3) during their first meeting reared their head again. Penalties, lack of a running game and turnovers were the culprit Friday night. It also didn't help that Cristobal has been rumored to be the next head coach at his alma mater.

The Miami Herald is reporting that the University of Miami is closing in on Clemson's Dan Radakovich to be its new athletic director. The Herald also reports that the school is interested in Cristobal, a native of Miami, to be its next head coach.

More: Reports says Miami is coming after Cristobal as its next coach

Miami is rumored to be willing to spend upward of $8 million to obtain Cristobal as coach. Oregon, according to multiple sources, offered Cristobal an extension of $7 million, but he has yet to sign it.

After another difficult loss to Utah, Cristobal didn't exactly do anything to dispel rumors that he would be Miami's next coach in Coral Gables.

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"When you say someone has offered, I haven't talked to anybody," Cristobal said when asked if he intended to accept Miami's coaching position. "So let's not create narratives as we sit here in this press conference.

"Oregon is working on some stuff for me and that's what I have right now."

Oregon fans can't help but feel this situation with Cristobal is a lot like the man he replaced four seasons ago in Willie Taggart. In 2017 after the Ducks defeated the Beavers to wrap up the regular season, Taggart accepted the coaching position at Florida State.

More: Game balls from the Pac-12 championship game

Oregon played in the Las Vegas Bowl that season with Cristobal as the coach but lost to Boise State 38-28 with a lot of controversy surrounding Taggart's departure.

After Oregon's nine-point victory against Oregon State last weekend, Cristobal flew home to Miami to see his ailing mother, who is suffering from an undisclosed illness. He flew back to Eugene on Sunday afternoon.

Cristobal stressed if there was anything to report about his future, he would report it himself.

"I don't know what to tell you," Cristobal said. "If I had any plans, if I had a decision to make or if I had something to report I would.

"Do I expect people to come at me, yes I do as it happens every single year. There's nothing else to report besides that. Whenever there is, I will be sure to get it to you.

"I'm not going to get into hypotheticals as we just finished off a game that we played and coached very poorly in."

Because of the Pac-12 championship results, Utah will be headed to their first-ever Rose Bowl appearance. Oregon, on the other hand, will likely be headed to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl, which will be played on Dec. 29.

More: Takeaways from Friday's Pac-12 championship game

This was a devastating ending to the season for Oregon as it had national championship aspirations just two weeks ago. Utah not only crushed those dreams but also ended the Ducks' bid to win three consecutive Pac-12 championships.

Oregon still has one of the best victories on any college football team's resume by going to Columbus and defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes in Week 2. The Ducks flirted with danger in a few of their outings this season, but Utah exposed Oregon's inconsistent passing game.

The Ducks were held to 221 yards of total offense and 74 on the ground. Oregon entered Friday night's game averaging 214 rushing yards per game.

After two out of three losses to end the year, Oregon players say they will just need to rebound to avoid this same result in the bowl game.

"We have to move on," Oregon safety Verone McKinley III said. "We know bad things happen and we didn't like the outcome of this but what can we do about it?

More: The boxscore from Friday's game

"We can sit here and reflect on it and get whooped in the bowl game, or we can send a message heading into next year."

Contact Antwan Staley at astaley@registerguard.com and follow him on Twitter @antwanstaley.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon falls flat in Pac-12 title game amid Cristobal, Miami rumors