Campus Clash- Pac 12 Championship
(12) Utah Utes at (4) USC Trojans
Utah: They needed four things to happen to advance. The first was Oregon State beating Oregon in the Civil War, UCLA needed to beat California, Washington needed to defeat Washington and most importantly, they had to handle their business against the Colorado Buffaloes. Alright, let’s recap. UCLA did defeat California, Washington beat Washington State, The Beavers fought to come back and defeat Oregon and most importantly, the Utah Utes won against Colorado. To some analysts, they were a projected favorite not to just win the Pac-12 as a whole, but they were predicted to be a playoff team and I could understand why. They’ve been a consistent group in the conference and win the games they’re supposed to do too. It hasn’t been an easy year for them. In the opener back in September, they fell short to the Florida Gators. What stands out about this Utah team is how they can jump out to big leads early on. The perfect example of that is what they did against Colorado. By halftime, they were up 42-0 and ended up winning that game, 63-21 behind 234 yards passing and three touchdown passes from Cameron Rising. This is a very balanced offense. As a defense, they’re just in the middle to me. Not good or bad, but they do just enough to get off the field when necessary. On Friday night, they will look to win another conference championship when they face Lincoln Riley’s Trojans of Southern California in Vegas.
USC: I’ve had a lot of fun watching them the last two weeks. Look how they handled business against the UCLA Bruins back in week 12. It was a shootout as anticipated and the defense delivered with three key takeaways in the win. To close out the regular season, they hosted one of their biggest rivals in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and handled their business against them. With C.J. Stroud struggling against the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, Caleb now has catapulted himself into the favorite to win the Heisman. He was impressive against the Fighting Irish in rivalry week and added to his impressive numbers. On the year, Caleb has thrown for over 3,500 passing yards with 34 touchdown passes and three interceptions. The number of picks he’s thrown show me how well he takes care of the football. The Heisman is the equivalent of an MVP award and I don’t think the Trojans offense is as strong without Caleb. Take him away this year and they aren’t in the position they’re in right now. I remember the days when USC was a powerhouse in college football with Pete Carroll as the Head Coach. With the right recruits and such, Lincoln Riley can revive this program. He’s one of the best offensive minded guys in the country and if Caleb were to win the Heisman, this would be the third player to win the award under Lincoln’s watch with Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray being the first two to win. Friday, they will be in Las Vegas for the Pac-12 title game.
Utah X-Factor: Micah Bernard– With Tavion Thomas ending his collegiate career to focus on the NFL Draft, this is who the Utes have built their running game around. Micah is a shifty runner that can take the ball out the backfield on handoffs and he can catch the ball out the backfield as well. I remember in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State, he made a spectacular catch were displayed some of the best body control I’ve seen from a Running Back making the catch. Expect Micah to make his presence felt early on.
USC X-Factor: Eric Gentry– He’s a stat sheet stuffer and does the things that don’t impact the stats always. If you look at Eric, he doesn’t look like your typical Linebacker. Standing at 6’6 and weighing a little over 200 pounds but has a 7’1 wingspan. Back when he was at Arizona State, he was an EDGE player. Now under Alex Grinch’s coaching, he plays more off the ball where he can affect more of the game. In space, he’s an excellent tackler and he can move sideline to sideline. Eric does everything for this defense such as covering Running Backs and Tight Ends. Even when he rushes the passer, Quarterbacks must take him into consideration because of his wingspan.
Final Thoughts: Championship week is one of my personal favorites of the season. These two met earlier in the year and Utah handed the Trojans their only loss of the regular season. Months later, here we are for the right to claim the Pac-12. I don’t expect much defense to be played in this one. In fact, I have a feeling this game will be EXACTLY like the regular season showdown, a ton of points and the ball flying around. The key matchup in this game is the Utah Defensive Front against the USC offense. Containing Williams will be key. In the last two weeks, both Notre Dame and UCLA had a tough time keeping the Quarterback contained in the pocket. Don’t allow him to buy time to keep the play alive. Utah must use ball control when playing this group with this prolific offense. As I said last week, they can’t do anything if they’re on the sideline, right?
Prediction: USC 45, Utah 42
