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Utah Football: 3 takeaways from crushing loss to Oregon in Pac-12 Championship

By Gavin Jernigan

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 06: Running back Zack Moss #2 of the Utah Utes carries the ball against the Oregon Ducks during the first half of the Pac-12 Championship Game at Levi's Stadium on December 06, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 06: Running back Zack Moss #2 of the Utah Utes carries the ball against the Oregon Ducks during the first half of the Pac-12 Championship Game at Levi's Stadium on December 06, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 06: Head coach Kyle Whittingham of the Utah Utes shakes the hand of a player while his team warms up prior to the start of the Pac-12 Championship game against the Oregon Ducks at Levi’s Stadium on December 06, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 06: Head coach Kyle Whittingham of the Utah Utes shakes the hand of a player while his team warms up prior to the start of the Pac-12 Championship game against the Oregon Ducks at Levi’s Stadium on December 06, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

2. Pac-12 woes continue

Another year goes by that the Pac-12 fails to produce a team to make the College Football Playoff. As the season progressed, Utah and Oregon had the two best chances to make the playoff, and both teams blew the opportunity in the end. Had Oregon not loss to the Sun Devils, they would undoubtedly be in the playoff with a Georgia loss. However, this lack of consistency is a trend within the Pac-12 Conference as a whole.

Paul Finebaum suggested that the country didn’t wanted to see Utah make the playoff. Although his comments were heavily criticized at the time, they now become completely validated with Utah’s loss to the Ducks. Additionally, the narrative that the Pac-12 is “just a bunch of bad teams beating up on each other” also appears to be more legitimate.

The Pac-12 joins the ACC as the bottom of the Power 5 conferences, and continues to slip away as Clemson is able to consistently represent their conference in the playoff. Frankly, the American Athletic Conference, as a whole, performed much better than both the Pac-12 and the ACC in 2019.

Teams like Memphis, Cincinnati, UCF, Navy and SMU all would have been at the top of both the Pac-12 and the ACC this year. And, therefore, the Pac-12 is in danger of losing its Power Five credibility.

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