Oregon played its way first out of the national title race, then out of the conference championship. Stanford missed a chance to be in the discussion for the national title. But no team fell harder down the stretch than the Oregon State Beavers.
We knew this past Saturday was going to be a big day in the Pac-12, with the Arizona State-UCLA game having the potential to settle the South Division winner. That it did, with the Sun Devils’ 38-33 win clinching first place. But no one saw Oregon’s 42-16 loss to Arizona coming. The Ducks’ loss did the following…
The Pac-12 South is on the line Saturday night in Pasadena when Arizona State visits UCLA (7 PM ET, Fox). If the Sun Devils win they clinch the division and the chance to play presumably Oregon for the conference championship and Rose Bowl bid on December 7. If the Bruins defend their home field, they take the inside track and could wrap up first place a week later against USC.
Within the Pac-12’s six contract bowls outside the BCS, there’s a another divide. The Alamo, Holiday and Sun offer the chances to play what should be pretty good teams from the Big 12 or ACC, giving a team the opportunity to end its season with a notable win.