Oregon and Utah Are Setting the Pace in Pac-12 Football

While 10 football teams in the Pac-12 Conference are remarkably mediocre to average with overall records ranging from 3-6 to 5-4, two others are separating themselves from the pack.

Oregon is 6-0 in conference play, 8-1 overall and leads the West Division. The Ducks lost to then #16 Auburn 27-21 to open the season, but haven’t lost since. On November 2nd, the Ducks walloped USC 56-24 in Los Angeles. Oregon fell behind 10-0 in the first quarter, but went into overdrive after that. QB Justin Herbert threw three second half touchdown passes to WR Juwan Johnson and ran for one score himself in the second quarter. The Ducks are #7 in the AP College Football Poll.

Utah is emerging as the top team in the East Division. Utah is 5-1 in conference play (losing to USC 30-23 on September 20th) and 8-1 overall. Like Oregon, Utah overcame a deficit on the road in their November 2nd win at Washington. The Utes trailed the Huskies 14-3 in the second quarter and 21-13 in the third before outscoring Washington 20-7 the rest of the way to secure a 33-28 victory. Utah moved up one spot to #8 in the AP Poll, right behind Oregon.

Oregon and Utah do not play each other in the regular season, but are looking like the favorites to meet in the Pac-12 Championship, with at least the theoretical possibility of the winner getting serious consideration for the College Football Playoff. That’s probably a long shot, based on the play of the conference as a whole in terms of strength of schedule, among other factors, but it’s something to shoot for. Both schools have byes for the weekend of November 9th, and return to action on November 16th, with Oregon hosting Arizona, and Utah hosting UCLA.