It’s not how the Pac-12 was hoping to kick off their inaugural conference championship game. A heavily favored Oregon and a 6-6 UCLA team with a fired coach that backed their way into a title game appearance because of NCAA sanctions to USC.
The No. 8 Ducks were a 31-point favorite over the Bruins; they ended up winning by 18 in a 49-31 rout with UCLA’s final touchdown coming within the last few minutes of the game.
Yep. Not how commissioner Larry Scott had envisioned it at all.
“Of course I acknowledge there is disappointment around the fact that we’ve got a 6-6 team that fired their coach this week,” Scott said Friday. “But I don’t spend a lot of time trying to script what happens on the field or what happens as a result of NCAA committee infractions.”
Thank goodness for play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson, who makes even a one-sided affair exciting.
And thank goodness the Bruins played hard for Rick Neuheisel. UCLA may not be very good, but at least they played with a purpose.
They’ll still be going to a bowl, too. As we noted earlier this week, the NCAA approved a bowl waiver for UCLA in the event they lost the Pac-12 title game and finished the regular season 6-7. That prediction came to fruition, and interim coach Mike Johnson will likely be coaching UCLA in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. (Earlier in the day, Boise State’s Chris Peterson turned down a lucrative offer from UCLA)
The Ducks, meanwhile, are Rose Bowl bound to take on the winner of tomorrow’s Big Ten championship game. Oregon had national title hopes at the beginning of the season, and despite a season-opening loss to LSU, weren’t out of that picture until USC came into Autzen Stadium a couple weeks ago and won 38-35.
But a 11-2 regular season record and a third straight conference championship is nothing to be disappointed about if you’re coach Chip Kelly. Additionally, LaMichael James’ 219-yard performance tonight put him over 1,500 yards on the season for the third straight year.
James will be remembered as one of the Pac-10/12’s best.
But this season, this championship game, won’t for the Pac-12.
