No. 11 Utah Rallies to Win Pac 12 Championship 47-24, Crushes USC’s College Football Playoff Hopes

Bothered by a leg injury, Williams would remain in the game, but hobbled through the final three quarters. Their chances of a berth in the College Football Playoff lay in his hands, but because of the injury, one of the best offenses in the country suddenly looked pedestrian, distorted, and stagnant.

No. 11 Utah ran off 21 unanswered points, to rally past USC 47-24, in front of a sold out crowd of 61,195, crushing the Trojans chances of making the College Football Playoff.

The victory gave Utah their second straight Pac 12 title, and their fourth appearance in the game in the last five years.

USC finishes the regular season 11-2, with their only two losses coming against the Utes.

Allegiant Stadium, home to the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, is less than a five-hour drive from USC’s campus and less than a six-hour drive from the University of Utah. The school’s two reds, oddly close to each other on the Pantone scale, made the entirety of the indoor venue look like the red sea.

Only it wasn’t Moses who led his team to victory, it was Utah quarterback Cam Rising who threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns in the victory.

Williams was brilliant in the first quarter, rushing for over 80 yards and throwing for 108 yards and two touchdowns to Tahj Washington and Raleek Brown that gave USC a 17-3 lead early in the second quarter. But everything changed after the injury.

Utah absorbed the USC onslaught and ran off 14 unanswered points to tie the game at 17-17 at the half. It was the first time the Pac 12 Championship had been tied at halftime since its current iteration 12 years ago.

Utah opened the second half with a long 57-yard touchdown from Rising to Money Parks that gave the Utes their first lead of the game. A lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the contest.

On one-leg, Williams tried to get the Trojans back in the game, finding Mario Williams on a slant for a 12-yard touchdown that cut the Utah lead to 27-24 midway through the fourth quarter.

But Utah responded two plays later when Rising found tight end Thomas Yassmin on a 60-yard catch and score that all but sealed the victory for the Utes.

Williams couldn’t answer the call. He threw an interception in the red zone on USC’s next drive, and the rout was on.

USC’s resurgence from 4-8 to the precipice of the College Football Playoff is noteworthy and remarkable, but the questions will remain on what could have been had their Heisman Trophy quarterback not got hurt.

Not to mention, the value in playing in Conference Championship games anymore in the modern era.

No. 5 Ohio State or No. 6 Alabama will likely leapfrog USC into the Final Four, but neither of those two teams will play this weekend. But that’s a conversation for another day.