# 2022 Pac-12 Football Championship Game

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 will officially be 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.

## Teams
### USC Trojans

The Trojans clinched a spot in the championship game following its defeat of UCLA on November 19.

### Utah Utes

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 38–34 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 35–28 on November 25, defeated Colorado 63–21, eliminating Washington from contention and putting the Utes in position to advance to the title game with a Washington win. With Washington's 51–33 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.

## Game summary
### Scoring summary

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 11 Utes | 3 | 14 | 7 | 23 | 47 |
| No. 4 Trojans | 14 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 24 |
at Allegiant Stadium • Paradise, Nevada
* Date: December 2, 2022
* Game time: 5:00 p.m. PST
* Game attendance: 61,195
* Referee: Chris Coyte
* TV announcers (FOX): Jason Benetti, Brock Huard, Allison Williams

## Statistics
### Team statistics

Team statistical comparison :
| Statistic | No. 11 Utah | No. 4 USC |
| First downs | 25 | 19 |
| First downs rushing | 11 | 5 |
| First downs passing | 12 | 14 |
| First downs penalty | 2 | 0 |
| Third down efficiency | 5 of 11 | 1 of 12 |
| Fourth down efficiency | 1 of 1 | 3 of 5 |
| Total plays–net yards | 69–533 | 68–419 |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 35–223 | 27–56 |
| Yards per rush | 6.4 | 2.1 |
| Yards passing | 310 | 363 |
| Pass completions–attempts | 22–34 | 28–41 |
| Interceptions thrown | 1–29 | 0–0 |
| Punt returns–total yards | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 0–0 | 5–82 |
| Punts–total yardage | 3–131 | 4–166 |
| Fumbles–lost | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Penalties–yards | 5–45 | 4–39 |
| Time of possession | 29:49 | 30:11 |

### Individual statistics

USC statistics :
| Trojans passing ||||||
| | C–A | Yds | TD | INT |
| Caleb Williams | 28–41 | 363 | 3 | 1 |
| Trojans rushing ||||||
| | Car | Yds | TD | Avg |
| Austin Jones | 15 | 35 | 0 | 2.3 |
| Caleb Williams | 12 | 21 | 0 | 1.8 |
| Trojans receiving ||||||
| | Rec | Yds | TD | Avg |
| Tahj Washington | 6 | 93 | 1 | 15.5 |
| Jordan Addison | 5 | 65 | 0 | 13.0 |
| Mario Williams | 3 | 51 | 1 | 17.0 |
| Brenden Rice | 3 | 42 | 0 | 14.0 |
| Austin Jones | 4 | 40 | 0 | 10.0 |
| Kyle Ford | 2 | 38 | 0 | 19.0 |
| Lake McRee | 1 | 15 | 0 | 15.0 |
| Darwin Barlow | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3.0 |
| Raleek Brown | 2 | -1 | 1 | -0.5 |
UTAH statistics :
| Utes passing ||||||
| | C–A | Yds | TD | INT |
| Cameron Rising | 22–34 | 310 | 3 | 0 |
| Utes rushing ||||||
| | Car | Yds | TD | Avg |
| Ja'Quinden Jackson | 13 | 105 | 2 | 8.1 |
| Micah Bernard | 11 | 88 | 1 | 8.0 |
| Cameron Rising | 8 | 18 | 0 | 2.3 |
| Nate Jackson | 1 | 7 | 0 | 7.0 |
| Jaylen Dixon | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2.5 |
| Utes receiving ||||||
| | Rec | Yds | TD | Avg |
| Money Parks | 4 | 88 | 1 | 22.0 |
| Thomas Yassmin | 2 | 81 | 1 | 40.5 |
| Jaylen Dixon | 6 | 55 | 1 | 9.2 |
| Micah Bernard | 5 | 41 | 0 | 8.2 |
| Dalton Kincaid | 4 | 40 | 0 | 10.0 |
| Nate Johnson | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5.0 |

## Aftermath

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 46–45. Utah played in the Rose Bowl, where they were defeated by Penn State 35–21.