NCAA / utah utes

Championship weekend kicked off Friday evening from the west coast as the Oregon Ducks & Utah Utes faced off in the Pac-12 Title game. The Utes came into the contest at #5 in the latest CFP rankings & with #4 Georgia playing #2 LSU on Saturday, in excellent shape to move up into that 4th spot. At 11-1, & one of the most efficient teams in the country on both sides of the ball, Utah came in a 7-point favorite, but flopped badly from the start. - Oregon HB CJ Verdell started out what was about to be a massive game with a 3-yard TD run to open the scoring at a little before the midway point of the first quarter. After Johnny Johnson III hauled in a 45-yard TD toss from QB Justin Herbert, just minutes into the second quarter the Ducks had jumped out to a surprising - and commanding - 17-0 lead. Camden Lewis tacked on his second FG of the half later in the second quarter to make it 20-0 Oregon. Utah was unable to mount much of anything despite Zach Moss getting his touches. Utes QB Tyler Huntley threw a pick and wasn't nearly as efficient as he had been throughout the season as they took the 20-0 deficit into the locker room. - - There was some hope for Utah in the 3rd quarter though as the Utes came out and finally scored just over 3 minutes into the second half when Huntley found Moss for a 24-yard TD pass. Lewis added his 3rd FG to extend it to 23-7 Ducks, but Utah answered back with Huntley's second TD pass of the quarter. The subsequent 2-point try was good and just like that Utah had it down to a one-possession game at 23-15 heading into the 4th quarter. - Then CJ Verdell took over. The Ducks' leading rusher broke a 70-yarder at the 7:09 mark of the 4th quarter to put Oregon back up 2 scores at 30-15, and then put the game away with a 31-yard scamper with less than 3 minutes to play to extend the lead to 37-15. Verdell finished up his massive day with 208 yards on the ground on 18 carries with 3 TDs. It was an explosion for the speedy Verdell, who came into the game with 963 yards and 5 scores rushing on the season. - It was a shocking performance from the #1 rushing defense in the nation. The Utes came in surrendering just 56.3 yards per game on the ground on the season. With Verdell leading the way, Oregon shredded the Utes' dominant run D for a total of 239 yards on 41 carries. I predicted that Utah could have trouble with the Ducks' overall team speed and they certainly did in this one. - - They also hit on explosive pass plays of 45 & 50 yards in the game, causing all sorts of problems for the nation's #3 total defense. QB Justin Herbert didn't pile up the numbers, but he didn't need to, finishing up 14 of 26 for 193 yards and 1 TD with 0 INTs. On the other side, Utes' QB Tyler Huntley also finished with 193 yards through the air, but threw a pair of INTs to go along with the 2 3rd-quarter TD passes on 17 of 29 passing. Star HB Zach Moss managed 113 yards, but it wasn't nearly enough for the Utes. - Oregon punched their ticket to the Rose Bowl as Pac-12 Champs while simultaneously knocking the conference out of the CFP playoff. Utah was looking like they were going to crash the CFP party, but now the door has been swung wide-open for the Big XII Conference. The winner of Oklahoma - Baylor should have the inside track to that 4th spot should LSU take care of Georgia. Utah may still find themselves in a New Year's Six Bowl, but it really depends on how far the committee drops them. They now only have a pair of wins over 7-5 teams on their resume, and lost to the two best teams they played all season long in USC & Oregon.