Pac-12 Football Championship Game Explained

Pac-12 Conference Football Championship Game
Sport:Football
Conference:Pac-12 Conference
Years:2011–2023
Most Recent:2023
Current Champion:Washington
Most Championships:Oregon (4)
Sponsors:76 (2016–2023)[1]
All Locations:Eugene, Oregon (2011)
Stanford, California (2012)
Tempe, Arizona (2013)
Santa Clara, California (2014–2019)
Los Angeles (2020)
Paradise, Nevada (2021–2023)
All Stadiums:

The Pac-12 Football Championship Game was an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game from the 2011–2021 seasons had the champion of the North Division against the champion of the South Division. The inaugural game was held during the 2011 season.[3] In 2022 and 2023, the two teams with the highest conference winning percentage faced off in the championship game.[4]

The game was scheduled to be played in Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada through 2022.[5] In 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the game was hosted at the home stadium of the division winner with the better conference record, which was the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, home of the USC Trojans. From 2014 to 2019, the game was played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The first three editions were also held at the home stadium of the division winner with the better conference record: Autzen Stadium in 2011, Stanford Stadium in 2012, and Sun Devil Stadium in 2013. The game was usually held on the first Friday following the conclusion of the regular season.

The winner of the game was awarded the Pac-12 Conference's automatic berth in the Rose Bowl Game, unless the team was selected to play in the College Football Playoff (CFP), and/or in seasons where the Rose Bowl hosts a CFP semifinal.

Television broadcast rights to the game were shared by Fox Sports in even years and ESPN in most odd years, with the 2019, 2021, and 2023 editions on ABC. ESPN Radio held the radio rights.[6]

History

In 2011, the Pacific-10 Conference added Colorado and Utah, bringing the membership total to 12 teams and becoming the Pac-12. Consequently, the conference split into two six-team divisions and created an annual conference championship game.

In the first season of the newly expanded Pac-12 in 2011, USC finished first in the South Division with a 7–2 conference record but was ineligible to play in postseason games due to NCAA sanctions. UCLA (5–4) represented the South Division in the inaugural Pac-12 Football Championship Game as its second-place team.[7] Oregon represented the North Division and defeated UCLA to become the conference's first football champion to be determined by a championship game.

Through the 2021 season, 9 of the 12 conference members have appeared in the Pac-12 Football Championship Game. All six teams of the South Division have made at least one appearance, while only Oregon, Stanford, Washington have represented the North Division. The North Division representatives won the first six contests and have a 9–2 overall record in the series through the 2021 season.

From 2011 through the 2021 season, the conference used to play the winner of each respective division, the South and the North against one another in the conference title game. Starting in the 2022 season, the Pac-12 elected to have the teams with the two highest conference winning percentage regardless of division play in the conference title game.[4]

Broadcast rights to the game are held by ESPN and Fox Sports on a 12-year deal that began in 2012, where the rights alternate between ESPN in odd years and Fox in even years. Fox broadcast the inaugural game in 2011.[8] [9]

Team selection criteria

From 2011 through 2021, the conference used division standings based on each team's overall conference record to select conference title game participants. In the event there was a tie two for first place, the championship game berth went to the winner of the season's head-to-head contest between the two teams. If three or more teams were tied, the following tiebreakers were used to determine the division champion:[10]

  1. Head-to-head (best record in games among the tied teams).
  1. Record in games played within the division.
  1. Record against the next highest placed team in the division (based on record in all Conference games, both divisional and cross-divisional), proceeding through the division.
  1. Record in common Conference games.
  1. Highest ranking in the SportSource Analytics poll entering the final weekend of the regular season.

Starting in 2022 the two teams with the highest conference winning percentage will face off in the championship game.[4]

Home/away designation

The designated "home" and "away" teams are selected using a similar procedure:[10]

  1. Head-to-head result, if applicable
  1. Record against the next highest placed common opponent in the conference (based on the record in all conference games), proceeding through the conference
  1. Record in common conference games
  1. Highest ranking in the SportSource Analytics poll following the final weekend of regular season games
  1. Team with the most wins in school history

Results

During the era of divisional play, every Pac-12 South program represented the division at least once, but USC or Utah have represented the South in 6 out of 7 seasons beginning in 2015, and only USC and Utah have ever won the Championship Game from the South. Only three schools (Oregon, Stanford, and Washington) represented the North division; each has won the Championship Game multiple times.

Results by year

Below are the results from all Pac-12 Football Championship Games played. The winning team appears in bold font, on a background of their primary team color. Unique among the "Power 5" Conferences, the Pac-12 holds the game on a Friday night following the last regular season game, rather than on a Saturday. Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.

YearNorth DivisionSouth Divisionwidth=250SiteAttendanceMVP
2011[11] style=8 49UCLA Bruins31Autzen Stadium • Eugene, OR59,376RB LaMichael James, Oregon
2012[12] style=8 2717 UCLA Bruins24Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA31,622QB Kevin Hogan, Stanford
2013[13] style=7 3811 Arizona State Sun Devils14Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ69,535RB Tyler Gaffney, Stanford
2014[14] style=3 518 Arizona Wildcats13Levi's Stadium • Santa Clara, CA45,618QB Marcus Mariota, Oregon
2015[15] style=7 4124 USC Trojans2258,476RB Christian McCaffrey, Stanford
2016[16] style=4 419 Colorado Buffaloes1047,118S Taylor Rapp, Washington
2017[17] 14 Stanford Cardinal28style=11 3148,031QB Sam Darnold, USC
2018[18] style=11 1017 Utah Utes335,134CB Byron Murphy, Washington
2019[19] style=13 375 Utah Utes1538,679RB C. J. Verdell, Oregon
2020[20] style=^3113 USC Trojans24L.A. Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA0DE Kayvon Thibodeaux, Oregon
2021[21] 10 Oregon Ducks10style=14 38Allegiant Stadium • Paradise, NV56,511LB Devin Lloyd, Utah
YearNo. 1 seedNo. 2 seedSiteAttendanceMVP
2022[22] 4 USC Trojans24style=11 47Allegiant Stadium • Paradise, NV61,195QB Cameron Rising, Utah
2023style=3 345 Oregon Ducks3161,195QB Michael Penix Jr., Washington

In 2011, UCLA, the second-place team in the South Division, played in place of USC, who was ineligible to participate due to NCAA sanctions.

^ In 2020, Oregon represented the North Division due to COVID-19 issues in Washington's program.

2020 game attendance was played behind closed doors due to COVID-19.

Results by team

Notes and References

  1. Pac-12 names 76® as the presenting sponsor of its Football Championship Game . https://web.archive.org/web/20161126132138/http://pac-12.com/article/2016/10/02/pac-12-names-76-presenting-sponsor-its-football-championship-game . dead . November 26, 2016 . October 3, 2016 . Pac-12 Conference.
  2. Web site: Fischer. Bryan. Pac-12 to move football championship game to Levi's Stadium. May 14, 2014. NFL. June 2, 2015.
  3. Web site: Additional Pac-12 2011 Football Telecast Windows Announced. Pacific-10 Conference. June 1, 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110621114346/http://pac-10.org/News/tabid/863/Article/226324/additional-pac-12-2011-football-telecast-windows-announced.aspx. June 21, 2011. June 2, 2015.
  4. Web site: Pac-12 announces change to Football Championship Game format .
  5. Web site: Pac-12 approves 2020 football schedule & for fall sports . Allegiant Stadium . July 31, 2020 . December 13, 2020.
  6. ESPN Radio's 2016-17 Regular College Football Schedule Kicks off with Two Top-25 Matchups . Tara . Chozet . August 31, 2016 . ESPN MediaZone.
  7. Web site: Miller. Ted. What do we call UCLA?. ESPN. November 26, 2011. June 2, 2015.
  8. Web site: Fox Sports To Televise Inaugural Pac-12 Football Championship Game. January 6, 2011. Pacific-10 Conference. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110613062909/http://www.pac-10.org/News/tabid/863/Article/218766/fox-sports-to-televise-inaugural-pac-12-football-championship-game.aspx. June 13, 2011. June 2, 2015.
  9. Web site: Pac-12 Announces Landmark Media Rights Deal With ESPN, Fox Sports Media Group. May 4, 2011. Pacific-10 Conference. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110621104828/http://pac-10.org/News/tabid/863/Article/225167/pac-12-announces-landmark-media-rights-deal-with-espn-fox-sports-media-group.aspx. June 21, 2011. June 2, 2015.
  10. Pac-12 Football Championship Game tiebreaker explanation. June 9, 2016. Pac-12 Network Newsroom. https://web.archive.org/web/20141109183456/http://pac-12.com/article/2014/11/06/pac-12-football-championship-game-tiebreaker-explanation. dead. November 9, 2014. November 25, 2016.
  11. Web site: Minnesota vs.Iowa - Game Summary - November 13, 2021 - ESPN. ESPN.com.
  12. Web site: UCLA vs. Stanford - Game Summary - November 30, 2012 - ESPN. ESPN.com.
  13. Web site: Stanford vs. Arizona State - Game Summary - December 7, 2013 - ESPN. ESPN.com.
  14. Web site: Arizona vs. Oregon - Game Summary - December 5, 2014 - ESPN. ESPN.com.
  15. Web site: USC vs. Stanford - Game Summary - December 5, 2015 - ESPN. ESPN.com.
  16. Web site: Colorado vs. Washington - Game Summary - December 2, 2016 - ESPN. ESPN.com.
  17. Web site: Stanford vs. USC - Game Summary - December 1, 2017 - ESPN. ESPN.com.
  18. Web site: Utah vs. Washington - Game Summary - November 30, 2018 - ESPN. ESPN.com.
  19. Web site: Utah vs. Oregon - Game Summary - December 9, 2019 - ESPN. https://web.archive.org/web/20191207124312/https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=401132973. dead. December 7, 2019. ESPN.com.
  20. Web site: Oregon holds off USC late, grabs Pac-12 title with 31-24 win . ESPN.com . December 18, 2020 . December 19, 2020.
  21. Web site: 2021 PAC-12 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME . https://web.archive.org/web/20210716213914/https://pac-12.com/football-championship-game-2021. dead. July 16, 2021.
  22. Web site: 2022-12-02 . Cameron Rising highlights from MVP performance in 2022 Pac-12 Football Champ Game . https://web.archive.org/web/20221203091935/https://pac-12.com/videos/cameron-rising-highlights-mvp-performance-2022-pac-12-football-champ-game . dead . December 3, 2022 . 2022-12-03 . pac-12.com . en.
  23. News: Pac-12 football: The title game moves to Levi's Stadium . May 19, 2014 . Jon . Wilner . Bay Area News Group.
  24. Pac-12 announces agreement with Levi's Stadium to continue hosting Football Championship Game . https://web.archive.org/web/20170728203554/http://pac-12.com/article/2017/07/25/pac-12-announces-agreement-levis-stadium-continue-hosting-football-championship . dead . July 28, 2017 . July 26, 2017 . Pac-12 Conference.
  25. News: Bolch. Ben. The Pac-12's football championship game is headed for Las Vegas. Los Angeles Times. July 24, 2019. August 5, 2019.
  26. Web site: Pac-12 announces 2020 football schedule. 2020-10-09. pac-12.com. en.
  27. Web site: 2020 Pac-12 Record Book. 126–129 . pac-12.com . December 4, 2021.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Pac-12 Football Championship Game".

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