Can a Pac-12 South team win the conference championship?

After six years of watching northern teams take the conference crown, is this the year the Pac-12 south steps up?

Many college football bloggers, journalists, radio hosts, and other assorted media members are calling the Pac-12 South the toughest division in all of NCAA football this season.

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Out of the six division members, four are in the preseason USA Today Coaches poll top 25. Five of the six received votes to be in the top 25. Only the dreadful Colorado Buffaloes are not considered contenders for the South title and a shot in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

However, despite the quality of competition in the South division, a team from that division has not won the conference title since 2008, when it was shared between the USC Trojans and the Arizona State Sun Devils. Since that year, the Oregon Ducks and the Stanford Cardinal have claimed ownership of the Pac-12 every December.

With Heisman trophy candidate and former Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota off to the NFL, and the Cardinal taking a strong step backwards in 2014, is this the year that a south team finally wins the championship game?

The poll says no, ranking Oregon at No. 5, the highest mark for any Pac-12 team. Of the southern squads, the USC Trojans, at No. 10, are the preseason champions, although UCLA at No. 14 and Arizona State at No. 16 would not shock anyone if their respective programs took the South crown. The Arizona Wildcats were the representatives last year, and they cannot be counted out. While Utah is not a favorite, their status as a dark horse contender is exciting their fan base.

Any of those teams could make their way to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, for the Pac-12 championship game, but would any of them have a chance against the one program that was terrorized the west coast for the last six years? Can the Ducks be beaten by a team other than Stanford?

The Wildcats did it last year, but the game was in Tucson and the rematch was barely even competitive. Arizona State has shown no ability to even hang with Oregon in the last few years, and there is little reason to expect this season to be any different. The Trojans have beaten the Ducks before, and their talent and depth has been replenished after years of harsh NCAA penalties. In fact, if you were to pick a contender capable of finally ending the north’s dominance, it would have to be the Trojans.

A talented, veteran squad led by a senior quarterback is exactly the sort of team that is needed to beat the rampaging Ducks. The teams have not met since 2012, when Oregon pulled out a 62-51 victory in southern California, getting vengeance for the previous year’s defeat. This year, the programs square off in Eugene, on November 21, in what is sure to be a game with playoff implications.

The 2014 Trojans were terrible on the road, losing at Boston College, at Utah, and at UCLA, while posting an impressive late season beat down of Notre Dame on their home field. An inability to win on the road is usually a sign of a young team.

Hopefully the players learned from the mistakes last year and will be able to come together away from their friendly California field. Otherwise, they will have no chance to beat the Ducks in the regular season, let alone claim the south title and hand out a second defeat in the championship game.

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Can the Pac-12 South finally win a conference championship game?

By Brenton Lillie | Aug 4, 2015

After six years of watching northern teams take the conference crown, is this the year the Pac-12 south steps up?

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