Washington out, Oregon to face USC for Pac-12 Championship

The USC Trojans will now have to prepare for the Oregon Ducks after the Washington Huskies have been replaced as the Pac-12 North representative in the Pac-12 Championship Game this Friday.

The Pac-12 Conference issued a statement on Monday morning, citing the fact that Washington would have under the requisite number of scholarship student-athletes available under the game cancellation policy set in place earlier this year.

The Pac-12 has, after consultation with Washington, made the decision to replace Washington with Oregon as the Pac-12 North Division team to face South Division champion USC in the Pac-12 Football Championship Game scheduled for Friday, December 18.

This decision was made under the Pac-12’s football game cancellation policy and Football Championship Game policy due to Washington neither having the minimum 53 scholarship student-athletes available for the game nor the minimum number of scholarship student-athletes at a position group, in each case as a result of a number of positive football student-athlete COVID-19 cases and resulting isolation of additional football student-athletes under contact tracing protocols.

Under Pac-12 Football Championship Game policy, the team with the next best record in the North Division, Oregon, will represent the North Division against South Division Champion USC.

USC will shift focus away from Washington and onto Oregon as they prepare for their third Pac-12 Championship Game. The Trojans remain as the only Pac-12 South school with a Pac-12 Championship Game victory as this will mark the first time the Trojans and Ducks have met in the Championship Game.