USC has eyes on Pac12 title, January bowl game
No. 13 USC’s reward for being the only unbeaten team in the Pac12 is a championship game that’s just as weird as the rest of this college football season.
After clinching the South Division title and rallying past UCLA last weekend, the Trojans ( 50) spent two days of their short week preparing for Washington in the championship game before learning they would actually face Oregon ( 32), which didn’t play last week and has more losses than three other Pac12 teams heading into Friday’s championship game in Los Angeles.
What’s more, the Ducks have been brutally tough on USC in recent years, winning every matchup but one between the schools since 2011. Oregon flattened the Trojans last year on the way to the conference title with a 32point win that raised questions about head coach Clay Helton’s job security.
“It’s one of those weeks where you’ve got to embrace and love the grind,” Helton said. “This is what it’s all about.”
If Helton and his Trojans feel any resentment toward the process that landed them in this patchwork matchup Friday night at the Coliseum instead of being declared the conference’s champion outright, they aren’t sharing it. USC will play its third game in 13 days against a wellrested opponent, but the Trojans are only thinking about the opportunity to earn a conference title and a January bowl game for the second time under Helton.
“When you face adversity, what defines you is when you overcome it,” USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said.
Although the Ducks are much more rested, they haven’t had the easiest championship week, either: After their game against Washington last week was scrapped due to the Huskies’ COVID problems, Oregon was tentatively matched up with Colorado in Los Angeles this weekend before being pushed into the title game.
The Ducks are also on just the second twogame skid of coach Mario Cristobal’s tenure, having lost to Oregon State and Cal. Oregon hasn’t won a game in nearly a month, but the league title game provides an opportunity for the Ducks’ first backtoback Pac12 championships since Chip Kelly won three straight from 200911.
“I think we’ve been rewarded with this for sticking to our protocols,” Oregon quarterback Tyler Shough said. “Obviously we would love to have those losses back, but every opportunity we can, we’re going to take advantage of it. We’re going to take advantage of it this week, and do it unapologetically. If we’re in this opportunity, we might as well win it.”
If the Trojans stay unbeaten, they’ll almost certainly get a berth in the Fiesta Bowl. If the Ducks continue their mastery over USC and the Pac12, they’ll throw one last wrench into the gears of this conference season.
Briefly: Two other conference championship games will be held Friday, with Buffalo ( 50) playing Ball State ( 51) in Detroit for the MidAmerican title and UAB ( 53) playing at Marshall ( 71) for the Conference USA crown. ... The Sun Belt Conference championship game Saturday between No. 9 Coastal Carolina ( 10) and No. 17 LouisianaLafayette ( 91) was canceled because of a positive coronavirus test in the Coastal Carolina program. ... UCLA, which will face Stanford on Saturday, announced that it will not pursue a bowl bid if it becomes eligible by winning the game. A notice on the school’s website said the decision “was led by the football studentathletes.”