Pac-12 Football Championship Game


The Pac-12 Football Championship Game is an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game pits the champion of the North Division against the champion of the South Division. The inaugural game was held during the 2011 season.
Since 2014, the game has been played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The first three editions were 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 is usually held on the first Friday following the conclusion of the regular season.
The winner of the game is awarded the Pac-12 Conference's automatic berth in the Rose Bowl Game, unless the team is selected to play in the College Football Playoff, or in seasons where the Rose Bowl hosts a CFP semifinal.
Television broadcast rights to the game are shared by Fox Sports in even years and ESPN in most odd years, with ESPN carrying the 2019 edition over-the-air on ABC. ESPN Radio holds the radio rights.

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 represented the South Division in the inaugural Pac-12 Football Championship Game as its second-place team. 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 2018 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, and Washington have represented the North Division. The North Division representatives won the first six contests and currently have a 7–1 overall record in the series.
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.

Team selection criteria

Division standings are based on each team's overall conference record. In the event that two teams finish in a tie for first place, the championship game berth goes to the winner of the season's head-to-head contest between the two teams. If three or more teams are tied, the following tiebreakers are used to determine the division champion:

Home/away designation

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

Results

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. Rankings are from the AP Poll released prior to the game.
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.

Results by team

, Oregon State and Washington State have not appeared in the Pac-12 Football Championship Game.

Site selection criteria

During its first three years, the site of the Pac-12 Championship Game was the home stadium of the division champion with the superior overall conference record. In the event that the two division champions were tied, the head-to-head record would be used as the tiebreaker. If the two teams did not meet during the season, a BCS component was to be used.
After three years of the home-hosting model, the Pac-12 announced a three-year deal to host the game at the neutral site of Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California. In 2017, the Pac-12 announced it would keep the game at Levi's Stadium through 2019 with an option for 2020.
On July 24, 2019, it was announced that Allegiant Stadium, then under the working name Las Vegas Stadium, would host the Pac-12 Championship Game starting in 2020.

Game records

TeamRecord, Team vs. OpponentYear
Most points scored51, Oregon vs. Arizona2014
Most points scored 31, UCLA vs. Oregon2011
Most points scored 80, Oregon vs. UCLA2011
Fewest points allowed3, Washington vs. Utah2018
Largest margin of victory38, Oregon vs. Arizona2014
Total yards627, Oregon vs. Arizona2014
Rushing yards352, Oregon vs. UCLA2011
Passing yards326, Oregon vs. Arizona2014
First downs31, Oregon vs. Arizona2014
Fewest yards allowed188, Washington vs. Utah2018
Fewest rushing yards allowed51, Washington vs. Utah2018
Fewest passing yards allowed81, Washington vs. Colorado2016
IndividualRecord, Player, Team vs. OpponentYear
All-purpose yards461, Christian McCaffrey, Stanford vs. USC2015
Touchdowns 5, Marcus Mariota, Oregon vs. Arizona2014
Touchdowns 3, CJ Verdell, Oregon vs. Utah;
Marcus Mariota, Oregon vs. Arizona;
Tyler Gaffney, Stanford vs. Arizona State
LaMichael James, Oregon vs. UCLA		2019
2014
2013
2011
Rushing yards219, LaMichael James, Oregon vs. UCLA2011
Rushing touchdowns3, CJ Verdell, Oregon vs. Utah;
Marcus Mariota, Oregon vs. Arizona;
Tyler Gaffney, Stanford vs. Arizona State;
LaMichael James, Oregon vs. UCLA		2019
2014
2013
2011
Passing yards325, Sam Darnold, USC vs. Stanford2017
Passing touchdowns3, Darron Thomas, Oregon vs. UCLA2011
Tackles19, Kenneth Olugbode, Colorado vs. Washington2016
Sacks2.5, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Oregon vs. Utah2019
Interceptions2, Byron Murphy, Washington vs. Utah;
Taylor Rapp, Washington vs. Colorado		2018
2016
Long playsRecord, Player, Team vs. opponentYear
Touchdown run70, CJ Verdell, Oregon vs. Utah2019
Touchdown pass65, Taylor Kelly to D. J. Foster, Arizona State vs. Stanford2013
Kickoff return48, Phillip Lindsay, Colorado vs. Washington;
Anthony Julmisse, Colorado vs. Washington		2016
Punt return31, Christian McCaffrey, Stanford vs. USC2015
Interception return80, Ed Reynolds, Stanford vs. UCLA2012
Fumble return
Punt62, Tristan Vizcaino, Washington vs. Colorado2016
Field goal53, Matt Gay, Utah vs. Washington2018