The 2022 Pac-12 Football Championship Game was a college football game played on December 2, 2022, at Allegiant Stadium in the Las Vegas-area community of Paradise, Nevada. It was the 12th edition of the Pac-12 Football Championship Game, and determined the champion of the Pac-12 Conference for the 2022 season. The game began at 5:00 p.m. PST and aired on Fox. The contest featured the USC Trojans, the team with the best conference record, and the Utah Utes, the team with the second best conference record. Sponsored by gas station chain 76, the game is officially known as the 2022 Pac-12 Football Championship Game presented by 76.
This was the first Pac-12 Football Championship Game to not feature the champions of the North and South Division. The Pac-12 got rid of its divisions following the NCAA Division 1 Council's ruling that conferences could determine the teams participating in its championship game. Utah became the third team in the Conference Championship era to repeat as Pac 12 champions.
The Trojans clinched a spot in the championship game following its defeat of UCLA on November 19.
Going into the final week of the conference season (weekend of November 26), the Oregon Ducks, Washington Huskies and Utah Utes were in contention to face USC in the championship game.
Oregon lost 38âÂÂ34 at Oregon State, leaving the Ducks dependent on a Washington State win to make the title game. Utah, which remained alive going into Saturday's games thanks to UCLA defeating California 35âÂÂ28 on November 25, defeated Colorado 63âÂÂ21, eliminating Washington from contention and putting the Utes in position to advance to the title game with a Washington win. With Washington's 51âÂÂ33 win over Washington State, Utah clinched the second spot to the game. Utah won its first back-to-back conference championship since 2003 and 2004.
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USC would drop to #10 in the final College Football Playoff rankings, while the idle Ohio State Buckeyes rose to the #4 to earn a playoff berth. The Trojans were invited to the Cotton Bowl Classic where they lost to AAC Champion Tulane 46âÂÂ45. Utah played in the Rose Bowl, where they were defeated by Penn State 35âÂÂ21.