A year ago Washington and Utah fought toe-to-toe in a defensive battle for the Pac-12 Championship that could have gone either way. It was well-scouted by both teams, intense, but ended in a razor-thin 10-3 Huskies triumph.
This time, it will be the opposite of that with 11-1 Utah and 10-2 Oregon on stage at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
No. 5 Utah is clearly the class of the Pac-12, either division. The Utes are winning league games by a 29-point margin. Teams may hang for a quarter or two, but as the contests wear on, Utah simply smothers its opponents and it will be no different Friday night. If you’re looking for late fourth-quarter decisive plays that push one team past the other, you’ll be disappointed.
No. 13 Oregon can’t stop Zack Moss and Tyler Huntley. Oregon will not be able to consistently score on Utah’s much-respected defense — by far the best the Ducks have played against since losing to Auburn.
You have to hand it to Oregon going in. The Ducks get it.
Oregon’s entire organization has dealt with Utah with politeness, admiration and compliments. They’ve gone out of their way to not trigger Utah.
Oregon played the West Coast politically correct safe zone media ticket.
Oregon players and coaches have shown nothing but respect for the Utes, avoiding any slight, fully understanding any bulletin board fodder discovered by Kyle Whittingham’s operations crew will be used as nuclear fuel. Nobody uses a misplaced slight better in holding opponents accountable.
Unfortunately for Duck Nation, a pundit that covers the SEC, two time zones away and on national television left a pasture nugget for them. To their collective horror, a member of the media with a national voice, Paul Finebaum, declared the nation did not want to see Utah play in the College Football Playoff.
Atomic nuclei, meet the fusion chamber.
Sorry, Ducks. Just duck.
You guys get the Finebaum fallout.
Even if you’ve tiptoed around all week and minded your manners and thrown nothing but respect towards Utah, a price will be paid for accountability’s sake.
“Every level of this defense is good,” Oregon offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo told The Oregonian this week. “It’s all over the film, it’s all over everything they do. They’re coached really, really well. They’ve got really good players on both ends from sideline to sideline, top to bottom and they’ve proven that. We’ve got to go out and we’ve got our hands full. It’s going to be fun; it’s going to be a great test.”
To beat Utah, Oregon will have to operate on all cylinders and its offense would have to be that legendary fearful unit of yore that can score TDs on drives of six and plays with chunk yardage.
But Oregon hasn’t played that way of late, gaining just 174 yards through the air last week against Oregon State in a 24-10 win. The week before, the Ducks lost to Arizona State 31-28.
This is not the same Oregon team that narrowly lost to Auburn in the opener 27-21 and beat Nevada 77-6 the following week.
Can the Ducks beat Utah?
One way is for Oregon’s defense to somehow come up with at least five Utah turnovers. That will do it.
But with Huntley’s accuracy, maturity and decision-making this season, that isn’t going to happen. Oregon’s 17 interceptions do trump Utah’s 13 on the season. That, and only that, is the wafer-thin margin of hope for the Ducks.
The big issue Friday night is how is Oregon going to consistently score and move the chains against this Utah defense?
“You’re going to have a tough time finding a weak spot on their defense,” Oregon quarterback Justin Herbert told reporters this week. “They’re so well-coached and they’ve got really athletic and talented guys. It’s a challenge for sure but we’re going to do our best to watch film and do what we can do.”
Utah’s first Pac-12 title is just hours away.
This week’s picks:
Utah 38, Oregon 17
Oklahoma 28, Baylor 21
Appalachian State 28, Louisiana 17
Central Michigan 17, Miami (Ohio) 14
Florida Atlantic 24, UAB 14
Memphis 34, Cincinnati 31
LSU 28, Georgia 24
Boise State 28, Hawaii 24
Clemson 34, Virginia 24
Ohio State 34, Wisconsin 31
Last week 9-5; Overall 127-71 (.641)