O/NSO: Pac-12 Championship Game – No. 4 USC and No. 11 Utah edition
The Obvious: With a golden opportunity to win the Pac-12 Championship, positioning itself to advance into the College Football Playoffs semifinals, and the prospect of avenging its only loss of the 2022 season, the CFP No. 4 USC Trojans (11-1, 8-1 Pac-12) will meet the CFP No. 11 Utah Utes (9-3, 7-2 Pac-12) in Friday’s Pac-12 Championship Game (5 p.m. PT/ FOX) at sold out Allegiant Stadium (65,000) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Not So Obvious: The Trojans, who will be wearing their home uniforms as the top seed on Friday, are looking for their first Pac-12 Championship Game title since 2017 when quarterback Sam Darnold led the Trojans to a 31-26 victory over Stanford in Santa Clara’s Levi Stadium. A win in 2022 over the Utah Utes on Friday night in Vegas would position the Trojans to be – depending on the outcome of Saturday’s other conference championship games – as the No. 4 seed in the final College Football Playoff rankings, which will be announced on Sunday. And to top it all on Friday night, a rare occurrence to administer a payback to the Utah Utes, who on October 15 in Salt Lake City, upended USC 43-42 on a last-minute touchdown and two-point conversion.
