One last Pac-12 pick: Washington vs. Oregon in Las Vegas
The Ducks are 9.5-point favorites.
LAS VEGAS — So it all comes down to this.
One game, one point spread, one result … to determine whether I finish above .500 picking Pac-12 games against the spread this season.
It’s only because of another late-season hot streak — 9-3 ATS in the last two weeks — that I even find myself in this position, sitting one game above .500 with only Friday’s Pac-12 championship game to go.
It will be Washington’s third time participating since the conference introduced a championship game in 2011, after expanding to 12 teams. The Huskies are 2-0, beating Colorado, 41-10, in 2016, and beating Utah, 10-3, in 2018.
The Ducks are playing in the game for the sixth time, and won four of their first five appearances, in 2011, 2014, 2019 and 2020. Their lone defeat was to Utah in 2021. No other conference team has played in more than four Pac-12 championship games; Stanford, Utah and USC each hit that mark. UCLA appeared twice, and Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado each made it once, leaving California, Oregon State and Washington State as the only teams that never played for a title.
It’s the first time the game ever has featured two top-five teams, and the first time it also will effectively function as a play-in game for the College Football Playoff (assuming no funny business by the committee in the event of an Oregon victory). The outcome also could determine the Heisman Trophy. I’m comfortable calling it the biggest single game of the Pac-12 era. It’s also the last one. Bummer.
The Pac-12 as we know it will end with only five of its programs ever claiming a victory in the conference title game: Oregon (4 so far), Stanford (3), Washington (2 so far) Utah (2) and USC (1). And regardless of Friday’s result, the Pac-12 era will end with only UW and Oregon ever participating in the CFP.
This week, I’ve invited podcast co-host Danny O’Neil to provide his own prediction, since we didn’t make our picks on the show.
Last week: 4-2 ATS, 6-0 straight up
Season: 41-40-1 (75-15)