Pac-12 championship: Oregon Ducks are once again routed by Utah Utes as Utes are headed to the Rose Bowl

Register-Guard
·4 min read
A detailed view of the Oregon Ducks logo in the end zone at Allegiant Stadium before the Pac-12 Championship Game between Oregon and the Utah Utes.
A detailed view of the Oregon Ducks logo in the end zone at Allegiant Stadium before the Pac-12 Championship Game between Oregon and the Utah Utes.
Oregon Ducks quarterback Anthony Brown (13) is brought down by Utah Utes defensive tackle Junior Tafuna (58) during the first half of Friday's Pac-12 championship game in Las Vegas.
Oregon Ducks quarterback Anthony Brown (13) is brought down by Utah Utes defensive tackle Junior Tafuna (58) during the first half of Friday's Pac-12 championship game in Las Vegas.

Utah wins the Pac-12 championship 38-10 over Oregon and is headed to the Rose Bowl for the first time with its first Pac-12 title. The Ducks are likely headed to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on Dec. 29.

Fourth quarter

Oregon gets its first TD of the night when Travis Dye runs 2 yards for the score with 5:17 left to cap a 12-play, 90-yard drive that took 4:57 off the clock. Utah leads 38-10. Dye has 82 yards rushing on 15 carries and has moved into fifth place on the Ducks' career rushing list, passing CJ Verdell and Jonathan Stewart tonight.

Utah extends its lead to 38-3 with 10:21 left in the game as Tavion Thomas runs for a 3-yard touchdown to cap an 11-play, 62-yard drive that took 6:32 off the clock. Thomas has two rushing touchdowns.

Third quarter

Utah extends its lead to 31-3 with 6:33 left in the third quarter on a two-play, 45-yard drive when TJ Pledger runs 4 yards for a touchdown after a 41-yard run by quarterback Cameron Rising to set up the touchdown. Rising then runs for the two-point conversion for the Utes.

Oregon drives 51 yards in nine plays to get a 42-yard field goal from Camden Lewis with 10:32 left in the third quarter to pull within 23-3 of Utah on the first possession of the second half.

Second quarter

Utah gets a 50-yard field goal from Jadon Redding on the final play of the first half after an interception from Anthony Brown with eight seconds left in half to make it a 23-0 Utes lead over Oregon at halftime.

In the first game, Utah led 28-0 at halftime after scoring on a punt return on the final play of the first half. In Friday's Pac-12 championship game, the Ducks gave up nine points in the final 30 seconds of the half to see a 14-0 deficit turn into 23-0.

Oregon has three first-half first downs, 65 yards of total offense, is 0-for-5 on third down and has five penalties for 51 yards.

Tight end Dalton Kincaid beats catches an 11-yard TD pass from Cameron Rising with 27 seconds left in half and a 20-0 Utah lead over Oregon after a bad snap causes a misfire on the PAT. Once again, the Ducks give up a touchdown to Utah in the final minute of the first half to make a bad deficit worse just before halftime.

First quarter

Anthony Brown throws a pass over the middle on third-and-5 right to Utah star linebacker Devin Lloyd, who returns pick 34 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead over Oregon with 4:16 left in the first quarter. Lloyd baited Brown into the throw and undercut it for the interception.

Tavion Thomas walks into the end zone untouched for a 2-yard touchdown to cap a 9-play, 61-yard drive as Utah takes a 7-0 lead over Oregon with 10:47 left in the first quarter on the first possession of the Pac-12 championship game. Utah converted a fourth-and-1 on the drive and caught a pass interference penalty in the end zone on Oregon to convert a third-and-12 from the 17-yard line to the Oregon 2-yard line to set up the touchdown.

Gameday info

RECORDS: No. 10 Oregon (10-2, 7-2 Pac-12) vs. No. 17 Utah (9-3, 8-1). Rankings are College Football Playoff rankings

WHEN: 5 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Allegiant Stadium, Paradise, Nev.

TV: ABC. Announcers: Chris Fowler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst), Holly Rowe (sideline reporter)

RADIO: KUJZ-FM (95.3) and KUGN-AM (590)

LATEST LINE: Utah is favored by 2 1/2 points.

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WEATHER FORECAST: Domed stadium.

Gameday Info

HISTORY: Oregon is 4-0 in Pac-12 Conference championship games and has the most wins and its fifth appearance will be the most in conference championship game history. The Ducks beat UCLA 49-31 in the first Pac-12 title game, downed Arizona 51-13 in the 2014 contest, crushed Utah 37-15 in the 2019 game and beat USC 31-24 in last year's game. The Utes are making their third title game appearance in four years, having also lost to Washington 10-3 in the 2018 title game. The Pac-12 North is 9-1 in conference title games with the only South win coming in 2017 when USC beat Stanford 31-28. The Utes have won two of the past three meetings against the Ducks with a 38-7 win in Salt Lake City on Nov. 20 and a 32-25 win over Oregon in 2018 in Salt Lake City. Kayvon Thibodeaux holds the conference championship game record with 2 1/2 sacks set against Utah in 2019 and his blocked punt in that game is the only one in conference title game history. Thibodeaux was the MVP of the 2020 game against USC.

PAC-12 CONFERENCE: Conference football standings

OTHER PAC-12 GAMES: Saturday: USC at California, 8 p.m. (Fox Sports 1).

Ashley Conklin, The Register-Guard

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon football gameday: What to know for the Pac-12 championship game between Oregon and Utah