Oregon steamrolls Utah in first half of Pac-12 championship

The Ducks are ruining Utah’s College Football Playoff plans.

The best chance for the Pac-12 to get a team in the College Football Playoff was for the No. 5 Utah Utes to pull off a convincing win over No. 13 Oregon in Santa Clara, but the Ducks put the Utes in a massive hole in the first half of the Pac-12 Championship with a brilliant performance on both sides of the ball.

After Oregon’s defense forced a turnover on downs to open the game, Ducks QB Justin Herbert led the team on 67-yard touchdown drive on, which was capped by a three-yard rush into the endzone by CJ Verdell.

The Utes Zack Moss’ delivered the offense’s biggest play of the game with a 42-yard rush at the end of the first quarter – but Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley immediately threw an interception on a deep ball to give the ball back to Oregon.

In the second quarter, Herbert extended Oregon’s lead, finding receiver Johnny Johnson III on a 45-yard touchdown pass.

The Utah defense had held opponents to an average of just 11.3 points and 241.6 yards per game. Oregon surpassed both of those totals with time to spare in the second quarter, and went into the locker room with a 20-0 lead.

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