The 2019 Pac-12 Football Championship Game was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

game played on Friday, December 6, 2019, at

Levi's Stadium Levi's Stadium is an American football stadium located in Santa Clara, California, just outside San Jose in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has served as the home venue for the National Football League (NFL)'s San Francisco 49ers since 2014. T ...

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...

, to determine the

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champion of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

. The game featured the North division champions

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and the South division champions

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, and was the conference's ninth championship game. This game was the last to be held at Levi's Stadium before the game moves to

Allegiant Stadium Allegiant Stadium is a domed stadium located in Paradise, Nevada. It is the home stadium for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL), the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Rebels college football team, the Las Ve ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

starting in 2020. With sponsorship by the 76 chain of

gas station A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasoline ...

s, the game was officially called the 2019 Pac-12 Football Championship Game, presented by 76. Oregon won the game and the conference title by a score of 37–15.

Previous season

The

2018 Pac-12 Football Championship Game The 2018 Pac-12 Football Championship Game was played on November 30, 2018 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California to determine the champion of the Pac-12 Conference in football for the 2018 season. It was the eighth edition of the Pac-12 ...

featured North Division champion

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

against South Division champion

in the conference's 8th edition of the game. The Huskies won in the game's lowest total scoring, 10–3.

Teams

The 2019 Pac–12 Football Championship Game was contested by the Oregon Ducks, North Division champions, and the

Utah Utes The Utah Utes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Utah, located in Salt Lake City. The athletic department is named after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. The men's basketball team is known as the Runnin' ...

, South Division Champions. Oregon and Utah had met 32 times previously before this game, with Oregon holding a 22–10 advantage in the series. The two teams did not meet during the 2019 regular season.

Oregon

clinched its spot in the Championship Game after its November 16 win over

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. This was Oregon's third overall appearance in the Championship Game, having won in their prior two appearances. This was Oregon's first appearance in the game since

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, the year when the Ducks made their way into the first ever

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

and to the National Championship Game. Oregon had a 10–2 regular season record in 2019, and was 8–1 in Pac-12 play. The Ducks were designated as the home team, based on the two teams' record over their best common opponent,

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

(Oregon won while Utah lost).

Utah

Utah secured its spot in the Championship Game with its November 30 win over

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. This was Utah's second appearance in the Championship Game, having also appeared the year prior. Utah entered the game with an 11–1 record, and 8–1 in Pac-12 play.

Game summary

Statistics

Utah received the opening kickoff, but their first drive ended in a turnover on downs at the Oregon 33 yard line. Oregon scored on their first possession with a three-yard run by

C. J. Verdell CJ Verdell (born August 16, 1999) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He played college football at Oregon. Early years Verdell attended Mater Dei High School in Chula Vista, California. As a senior, he rushed for 2,399 y ...

. They took a 10–0 lead on the next possession with a 23-yard field goal by Camden Lewis. Early in the second quarter, the Ducks extended the lead with a 45-yard touchdown pass from

Justin Herbert Justin Patrick Herbert (born March 10, 1998) is an American football quarterback for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Oregon, where he won the 2019 Pac-12 Championship and was named ...

to Johnny Johnson III. Camden Lewis converted another field goal, from 30 yards out, to make the score 20–0 Oregon at half-time. Oregon received the second half kickoff, but was forced to punt after a three-and-out. On Utah's first possession, they scored their first points of the day via a 24-yard touchdown pass from

Tyler Huntley Tyler Isaiah Huntley (born February 3, 1998), nicknamed "Snoop", is an American football quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Utah Utes, leading them to two South Div ...

to Zack Moss. Oregon added three points with a 25-yard field goal by Lewis. Late in the third quarter, Utah scored again with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Huntley to Samson Nacua, and converted a two-point conversion from Huntley to Nacua to make the score 23–15. In the fourth quarter, Oregon put the game out of reach with two long touchdown runs by C. J. Verdell, the first a 70-yard run, and the second a 31-yard run. Oregon wound down the remaining seconds to win by a score of 37–15. C. J. Verdell ran for 208 yards and three touchdowns and was named game MVP.

Aftermath

Oregon, who had been ranked 13th heading into the game, moved up to sixth in the final

rankings, and received a bid to the Rose Bowl against Big Ten runner-up

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, where they won 28–27. Utah moved down from fifth to 11th and received a bid to play

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

in the

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and ...

, where they lost 10–38.

References

{{Oregon Ducks football navbox Championship Pac-12 Football Championship Game Utah Utes football games Oregon Ducks football games Sports competitions in Santa Clara, California American football competitions in California Pac-12 Football Pac-12 Football