The Pac-12 Championship was one of the more confusing conference championship games to predict. In the end, it was the USC Trojans and the Stanford Cardinal. UCLA, sadly, did not make it to the Pac-12 Championship due to their unfortunate last two losses to Washington State and USC. The Bruins have 8 wins and 4 losses. All four of these losses came from conference play (38-23 vs. Arizona State, 56-35 vs. Stanford, 31-27 vs. Washington State, 40-21 vs. USC). The Bruins started the season ranked 13th in the country. They rolled to 4 straight wins and climbed as high as #7 in the nation. They lost two consecutive games to Arizona State and Stanford and fell out of the top 25. The Bruins won three straight after their losing streak. But that streak was snapped on a late touchdown by Washington State with 3 seconds left in the game. UCLA shocked #13 Utah 17-9 in Salt Lake City, but got creamed by crosstown rival USC a week later. This post will be about the Pac-12 Championship game, even though UCLA did not play in it.
USC started the season in top 10, sitting at #8 in the country. They defeated their first two points by an NCAA-high 99 combined point margin. Unranked Stanford stunned 6th-ranked USC 41-31 in the Trojans' first real test of the season. USC bounced back by crushing Arizona State 42-14 in the desert. After a bye week, the Trojans lost two straight, being shocked at home 17-12 by the struggling Washington Huskies and beaten on the road at then-#11 Notre Dame. The Trojans were unranked and had 3 wins and 3 losses. They came back to Los Angeles one week later and denied #3 Utah's path to the College Football Playoff 42-24. They won three more games after that, until they crumbled against then-#23 Oregon 48-28. They came back to LA unranked, but that didn't stop them from defeating then-#22 UCLA 40-21, winning the Pac-12 South for the first time.
Stanford was ranked #21 at the beginning of football season. The Cardinal suffered a season-opening 16-6 loss at the Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Ten conference. They defeated #6 USC two weeks later and kept on winning. During this win streak, they set some program records in their 56-35 demolishing of #18 UCLA. Stanford kept winning and rose up to #7 in the country. Then they barely lost to the unranked Oregon Ducks 38-36 at home. They won their last 2 games against rival UC Berkeley (35-22) and #6 Notre Dame (38-36). The Cardinal had 10 wins and 2 losses.
Stanford rolled up a 13-0 lead on USC in the first half. First, they drove down to USC's 23-yard line and kicked a field goal. In the second quarter, sophomore running back Christian McCaffrey threw a touchdown pass to Stanford senior quarterback Kevin Hogan. Yes, it is written down correctly. A running back threw a touchdown pass to the quarterback. A pair of field goals from each team made the halftime score 13-3 Stanford. USC scored two touchdowns to start the third quarter to take a temporary 16-13 lead. Stanford took control of the reins from then on. First, Hogan had a 6-yard touchdown rush to take the lead back 20-16. The Cardinal added salt to USC's wound by sacking USC senior quarterback Cody Kessler, who fumbled the ball. The ball was picked up by Stanford defender Solomon Thomas and returned all the way back for a Stanford touchdown. Yes, it is that same play from UCLA's games against Colorado and USC. USC scored another touchdown, but could not complete the two-point conversion to come within a field goal of Stanford's now-27-22 lead. It was all Stanford from that point on. Christian McCaffrey scored two more touchdowns (one reception and one rush) to expand the lead to 41-22, which was the final score. Stanford won their third Pac-12 title in four seasons.
The final rankings came out the next day. USC dropped from 20th to 25th while Stanford moved up from 7th to 6th. UCLA remained unranked, unfortunately. The bowl games were announced too. Ten of the teams from the Pac-12 had reached a bowl game. Arizona (6-6) will play against New Mexico (7-5) in the New Mexico Bowl. Number 22 Utah (9-3) will play against "Holy War" rival BYU (9-3) in the Las Vegas Bowl. Washington State (8-4) will play against Miami (8-4) n the Sun Bowl. Washington (6-6) will play against Southern Mississippi (9-4) in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. UCLA (8-4) will play against Nebraska (5-7) in the Foster Farms Bowl (That's a low-tier bowl game Bruin fans. I'm not the happiest person out there, either.). California (UC Berkeley, 7-5) will play against Air Force (8-5) in the Armed Forces Bowl. Number 25 USC (8-5) will play against Wisconsin (9-3) in the Holiday Bowl. Arizona State (6-6) will play against West Virginia (7-5) in the Cactus Bowl. Number 15 Oregon will play against #11 TCU in the Alamo Bowl (where then-#14 UCLA defeated then-#11 Kansas State last season). Finally, #6 Stanford (11-2) will play against #5 Iowa (12-1) in the granddaddy of them all, the classic Rose Bowl game, located at the very same Rose Bowl where UCLA football hosts some of their games.
The 2nd College Football Playoff was released as well. The four playoff teams are the top-ranked Clemson Tigers (13-0), 2nd-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (12-1), 3rd-ranked Michigan State Spartans (12-1), and 4th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners (11-1). In the College Football Playoff, four teams go to special bowl games (Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Peach Bowl). The #1 seeded team (Clemson) will play against the #4 seed (Oklahoma), as the #2 seed (Alabama) will play against the #3 seed (Michigan State).
The Heisman trophy is given to the best player in college football in a season. The last five winners were all quarterbacks. In 2010, it was Auburn's Cam Newton (current starting quarterback at the NFL team Carolina Panthers). In 2011, it was Baylor's Robert Griffin III (current backup quarterback at the NFL team Washington Redskins). In 2012, it was Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel (current starting quarterback at the NFL team Cleveland Browns). In 2013, Florida State's Jameis Winston (current starting quarterback at the NFL team Tampa Bay Buccaneers), and in 2014, Oregon's Marcus Mariota (current starting quarterback at the NFL team Tennessee Titans).
This year's Heisman campaign was known for most of the season as the "Year of the running backs". For over half of the season LSU's Leonard Fournette led the nation for the Heisman campaign. After LSU's three-game losing streak, he was knocked out of the Heisman race. Replacing him was Alabama running back Derrick Henry. The top 3 Heisman candidates were announced after the final Playoff rankings came out. Two of the three Heisman front-runners are running backs. These running backs are Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffrey. The last spot for the Heisman top 3 was Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson. Personally, I think that Christian McCaffrey should win the Heisman trophy. This isn't just because of how he and Stanford dominated UCLA earlier this season, but also, he knows how to break through opposing defenses and make big runs out of them. This applies to his receiving plays too. Anyways, let's see how these bowl games end up and who wins the Heisman trophy.
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