Entering Week 12, Utah was needing to win its last two games; have Colorado lose twice; and have USC lose its conference finale in order to claim the Pac-12 North. Unfortunately for the Utes, they forgot to take care of their own business right out of the gate.
Up on Oregon 28-24 with less than 10 seconds to play, all Utah needed to do was keep the Ducks from the end zone from the Utes’ 17-yard line to keep their division title hopes from going on life support. Justin Herbert and Darren Carrington, though, had other ideas.HERE IT IS (with no ticker): The @OpusBank #12Best Moment is Darren Carrington’s toe-tap game-winning TD! #UOvsUTAH pic.twitter.com/EjC61LUcoI
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) November 19, 2016
That stunning touchdown with two seconds left gave the Ducks a 30-28 win and dropped the Utes to 5-3 in conference play with one game remaining. Depending on how the Colorado-Washington State game plays out -- Buffs are up 28-24 at the end of the third as of this posting -- Utah’s North hopes may officially be over.
If CU beats Wazzu, that would push the Buffs to 7-1 in the conference and officially eliminate the Utes from contention. Even if the Buffs lose, the Utes would need to beat them in Week 13 and hope that USC (6-2) loses to UCLA tonight. A Trojans win would also eliminate the Utes, regardless of what happens in the Utes-Buffs game.
A three-way tiebreaker is the only way the Utes can make it to the conference championship game. In that scenario, Utah would have the edge based on a 2-0 record against the other two teams.