Utah takes on Oregon on Saturday at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., in the biggest game of the season for the Utes (8:30 p.m. MST, ESPN).
For Utah and Oregon, it’s simple — the team that wins both of their final two games punches their ticket to the Pac-12 championship game. If Utah or Oregon wins out, they don’t need help from another team to qualify for the Pac-12 championship game.
First, the No. 10 Utes have to beat the No. 12 Ducks in a night game at Autzen Stadium. Even with the status of star Oregon quarterback Bo Nix up in the air, that’s a tough ask.
Then, Utah has to beat Colorado, which fired its coach midseason and is 1-9, in Boulder next week.
There’s an unlikely scenario where the Utes clinch their place in the Pac-12 championship game on Saturday.
The Utes have to beat Oregon, then No. 7 USC has to beat No. 16 UCLA at the Rose Bowl (6 p.m. MST, Fox), and Colorado — 30.5-point underdogs — has to beat No. 17 Washington in Seattle.
This scenario would put Utah at 7-1 in conference play and USC at 8-1 in conference play (USC plays Notre Dame to close out its season), while dropping Oregon to 6-2, UCLA to 7-3 and Washington to 5-3. Utah would own the head-to-head tiebreaker against Oregon and would go to the Pac-12 championship game against USC even if the Utes lost to Colorado.
There’s paths for Utah to go to the Pac-12 championship game even if the Utes lose to the Ducks, but it requires UCLA to beat USC, Utah to beat Colorado, and depends on other teams’ results in convoluted multi-team tiebreaks.
A much more in-depth article about those tiebreak scenarios will be coming on Sunday in the event Utah loses to Oregon, UCLA beats USC and Washington beats Colorado.