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Postgame Notes: No. 11 Utah vs. No. 4 USC
12/3/2022 12:01 AM | Football
Postgame Notes
2022 Pac-12 Championship presented by 76
No. 11 Utah 47, No. 4 USC 24
Las Vegas, Nev. (Allegiant Stadium)
Fri., Dec. 2, 2022
Kick: 5:20 p.m. PT | End: 8:49 p.m.
Attendance: 61,195 (sellout)
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Pac-12 Championship Game MVP: Cameron Rising, QB, Utah
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General • Pac-12 Championship
General • Game
Offense
Defense
Special Teams
2022 Pac-12 Championship presented by 76
No. 11 Utah 47, No. 4 USC 24
Las Vegas, Nev. (Allegiant Stadium)
Fri., Dec. 2, 2022
Kick: 5:20 p.m. PT | End: 8:49 p.m.
Attendance: 61,195 (sellout)
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Pac-12 Championship Game MVP: Cameron Rising, QB, Utah
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General • Pac-12 Championship
- All-time, Utah has won 28 conference championships in football, including as members of the Pac-12 (2), Mountain West (4), WAC (2), Skyline Conference (5), Big Seven (5) and Rocky Mountain Conference (10).
- Since being named head coach in 2005, head coach Kyle Whittingham has led Utah to three conference championships (Mountain West - 2008; Pac-12 - 2021, '22).
- Utah is the third team to win consecutive Pac-12 Championship Games (Stanford 2012, '13; Oregon 2019, '20).
- Utah has won consecutive conference championships as members of the Rocky Mountain Conference (1928-33), Big Seven (1940-42), Skyline Conference (1951-53), Mountain West (2003-04) and Pac-12 (2021-22).
- Utah is 2-2 when playing in the Pac-12 Championship, all in the past five seasons (2018, '19, '21, '22), with the Utes winning back-to-back conference titles in 2021 (vs. Oregon) and '22 (vs. USC).
- Utah's athletics programs have won 11 Pac-12 championships since joining the conference in 2011: 2014 Gymnastics, 2015 Gymnastics, 2016 Baseball, 2016 Gymnastics (regular season), 2017 Gymnastics, 2018 Gymnastics (regular season), 2020 Gymnastics (regular season), 2021 Gymnastics, 2021 Football, 2022 Gymnastics and 2022 Football.
- The winning team in the regular season matchup is now 7-1 in a Pac-12 Championship rematch.
- Utah's 14-point comeback is the largest by a team when playing in the Pac-12 Championship.
- Utah had three touchdowns of 50-plus yards, the first such feat in a Pac-12 Championship. It includes wide receiver Money Parks (57-yard reception), tight end Thomas Yassmin (60-yard reception) and running back Ja'Quinden Jackson (53-yard rush).
- Friday was the first sellout of a neutral site Pac-12 Championship, and resets the previous Pac-12 Championship attendance record of 56,511 in the 2021 title game between Utah and Oregon.
- In collaboration with the Pac-12 Conference, Utah held its Moment of Loudness during the third quarter.
General • Game
- Utah defeated No. 4 USC in football about 24 hours after defeating No. 4 Arizona in men's basketball inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center on Thursday night in Salt Lake City. According to Stats Inc, this is the sixth time since 1996 that a team has beaten a No. 4 in both football and men's basketball. None of the previous five have happened in the Pac-12 and none happened in the same week, much less within 24 hours of each other.
- Alabama was the last team to defeat two No. 4's in the same season, knocking off Cincinnati in football on Dec. 31, 2021 and Baylor in men's basketball on Jan. 29, 2022.
- After trailing 17-3 in the first half, Utah scored 17 unanswered points. The Utes are the only team this season to have trailed USC by 14 and come back to tie or take the lead (Utah also accomplished this vs. USC in the regular season meeting).
- ESPN Stats and Info reported that USC is 64-5 over the last 10 seasons when leading a game by 14 points or more. Four of those five losses are against Utah.
- Under head coach Kyle Whittingham, the Utes have seven 10-win seasons (2008, '09, '10, '15, '19, '21, '22).
- Playing when ranked in the CFP poll (since 2014), Utah is 25-15.
- Head coach Kyle Whittingham, the winningest leader in program history, is 154-73 in 18 seasons at the helm of the Utes, plus the 2005 Fiesta Bowl. Including his time as an assistant coach (1994-2004), Whittingham has been part of 239Â wins. He has been on staff for 353 games, 227 as head coach.
- Utah has nine consecutive years of winning seasons, including 2022, dating back to 2014. The Utes have finished with a winning season in 16 of Whittingham's 18 years as head coach.
- For the first time in Utah-USC series history, Utah has a three-game winning streak against the Trojans. The last time a team won three straight in the series was when USC took the 2011, '12 and '13 regular season meetings.
- USC won the coin toss and elected to receive. The Utes defended the North goal to begin the game.
Offense
- Quarterback Cameron Rising passed 22-of-34 for 310 yards and three touchdowns, against no interceptions and one sack. Rising now has passed for 5,477 yards in his career, the seventh-most in program history and passing Alex Smith (5,203 yards from 2003-04).
- Rising has now won 18 games as a Utah starting quarterback, tying Mike McCoy (1992-94) for fifth-most in program history.
- Rising has passed for 300 yards in his last three games vs. USC.
- In the last two games (at Colorado, vs. USC), Utah has outscored its opponents 28-0 during the last four minutes of the second quarter.
- Running back Ja'Quinden Jackson rushed 13 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns, the second straight 100-yard rushing game for Jackson and second straight multi-touchdown game for Jackson.
- Jackson is the second Ute to rush for 100 yards in the Pac-12 Championship (2019 - Zack Moss, 113).
- The last time a Utah player rushed for 100 yards in consecutive games was in 2021 (T.J. Pledger - 107 at Stanford; 119 at Arizona). In that Stanford game, both Tavion Thomas (177) and Micah Bernard (100) also crossed the 100-yard mark.
- Tight end Thomas Yassmin had two catches, the second for a 60-yard touchdown. It is the longest touchdown by a Ute in the Pac-12 Championship. It is Yassmin's fourth straight game with a receiving touchdown.
- Wide receiver Jaylen Dixon had season-highs of six catches and 55 yards, resetting his previous high receptions (4 vs. Arizona) and receiving yards (29 vs. Southern Utah).
- Dixon's four-yard touchdown reception with two seconds left in the first half was Dixon's second of the season and first since the Oregon State game on Oct. 1.
- The Dixon score capped a 14-play, 81-yard drive which began with just 1:40 left in the first half. Rising had six completions of 10-plus yards during the drive, which began on the Utah 19-yard line.
- Wide receiver Money Parks had a career-long 57-yard touchdown catch during the third quarter–Parks' third score as a Ute. Two of Parks' three career touchdowns have come vs. USC (his first came in the L.A. Coliseum on Oct. 9, 2021).
- Prior to Parks' touchdown, the longest touchdown by a Ute in the Championship was vs. Oregon in 2019 (25-yard passing touchdown from Tyler Huntley to Samson Nacua).
- Utah has scored on both of its final first-half drives vs. USC this season (Oct. 15 - Devaughn Vele 16-yard receiving touchdown; Dec. 3 - Jaylen Dixon 4-yard receiving touchdown).
Defense
- Utah's seven sacks as a team tied a season-high for the Utes and are the most for a team in the Pac-12 Championship. It surpassed six sacks for Oregon during the 2019 Pac-12 Championship vs. Utah.
- Utah's 11 tackles for loss were the most this season, surpassing the win at Washington State (10). It's the most for the Utes since Nov. 5, 2021 at Stanford (15) and most for Utah in a Pac-12 Championship.
- Safeties Cole Bishop and R.J. Hubert each had a team-high nine tackles. Hubert also contributed a 29-yard interception, his third of his career (all this season) and first since Oct. 1 vs. Oregon State.
- Hubert's interception marked the second straight Pac-12 Championship that the Utes had an interception (two vs. Oregon in 2021).
- Cornerback Clark Phillips III broke up a third-down pass bound for the end zone during the second quarter. Not only did it hold USC to a field goal, the PBU was Phillips' 21st as a Ute, moving him into a tie for 10th-most in program history.
- Safety Sione Vaki has recorded his first collegiate multi-PBU game.
- Between the regular season game (1.0) and Pac-12 Championship, defensive end Gabe Reid has recorded 3.0 sacks against USC this season.
- Defensive tackle Simote Pepa (1.0 sack) has recorded all of his 4.0 career sacks in the last four games (2.0 vs. Stanford; 1.0 at Oregon).
- After allowing two touchdowns and a field goal on USC's first three drives of the game (a combined 221 yards), the Utes held the Trojans scoreless on their next five possessions and a combined 35 yards (one turnover on downs; four punts with the last three going as three-and-outs).
- Utah held USC to one yard of total offense during the third quarter. All three of the Trojans' possessions in the period were three-and-outs.
- USC's three game-opening scoring drives covered 75, 75 and 71 yards, and Utah then held the Trojans to just 67 total yards over the second and third quarters combined.
- Utah's opponent produced points on its game-opening drive for just the third time this season (regular season vs. USC; at Oregon).
Special Teams
- Kicker Jadon Redding connected on a 25-yard field goal during the field quarter. Redding has now made field goals in two Pac-12 Championship games (he hit a career-long 50-yarder to close out the first half vs. Oregon in 2021).
- Redding's field goal marked the fourth game-opening-drive score for Utah this season (touchdowns at Florida; vs. Southern Utah; vs. Oregon State).
- Redding added a 35-yard field goal in the fourth quarter and is now 3-of-3 in his career when playing in the Pac-12 Championship.
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