/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68505621/1290944033.0.jpg)
In a Victory Bell win for the ages, an instant classic saw your USC Trojans come from behind, outscore the UCLA Bruins 20-3 in the fourth quarter and claim an undefeated ‘regular season’ in the Pac-12.
What the Victory Bell did not see was the Trojans clinch their spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game. That happened earlier in the day, actually.
Due to Colorado’s loss to Utah earlier in the day, the Trojans already knew they were headed to the Pac-12 Championship Game against Washington before they even kicked off against UCLA.
And now, live from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Friday Night, the Trojans are set to face the Huskies as the Pac-12 South Champs, for all the marbles. Or well, at least that’s the schedule. It’s important to note that if Washington can’t field the requisite 53 scholarship student-athletes (as they were unable to do this past weekend when they had to cancel their game against Oregon) the Oregon Ducks would replace them as the Pac-12 North’s representative.
“In a football season that has thrown unprecedented challenges and adversity at our football teams and student-athletes, USC and Washington have performed at the highest levels and earned their places in the 2020 Pac-12 Football Championship Game as the Pac-12 South and North Champions,” Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement.
In a similar move, if the Trojans couldn’t field the required number of student-athletes either, Colorado would replace USC.
USC will head into the matchup as winners of every game this season though they didn’t get a chance to take on their original full schedule after they had to cancel the game against Colorado. Yet, this was where the Trojans thought they belonged to start the year.
“This was where we wanted to be at the beginning of this,” USC coach Clay Helton said. “Is put ourselves in a place to win a championship.”
Now, a game away from the Championship itself, the Trojans are sitting nicely as the only undefeated team in the conference and the only team in the Pac-12 to make national noise this season for their play on the field.
And if you think that a short week ahead of a Friday game will bother this USC team, think again. They just beat a UCLA team after a short week of practice following a Sunday Night game against Washington State.
Amid all the trials and tribulations of playing a football season during a global pandemic, one thing remains constant: The Trojans are undefeated, and a championship-caliber team.