The No. 5-ranked UW Huskies are destined for the Pac-12 championship game for the first time since 2019.
UW Huskies 22, Oregon State 20: Caple’s takeaways | Summary | Scorecard
The Huskies didn’t get any help Saturday when Utah fell to Arizona 42-18 (a Utah win would have clinched Washington’s spot in the title game), but UW punched its ticket anyway after earning a big win, holding off No. 10-ranked Oregon State 22-20 in a pivotal Pac-12 clash for both teams in rainy Corvallis.
Washington remains undefeated at 11-0, while Oregon State falls to 8-3 and is officially eliminated from Pac-12 title contention with three losses in conference play. The Beavers needed a win over the Huskies or for Utah to beat Arizona and Arizona State to defeat Oregon. None of those three results favored Oregon State.
The Huskies will look to close out a perfect regular season with the Apple Cup next weekend in Seattle against Washington State. The Cougars defeated Colorado 56-14 in Pullman on Friday to snap a six-game losing streak and move to 5-6. That means a WSU loss over Washington would bring the Cougars to 6-6 and make them bowl eligible.
Who the Huskies will face in the conference championship is still up in the air, but the field is smaller.
Five teams, including Washington, arrived Saturday en route to the Pac-12 Championship. Thanks to Saturday’s results, UW is in and the Huskies’ opponent will be one of two teams: Oregon or Arizona.
Oregon took care of business against Arizona State with a 49-13 win, and at 10-1 with just one conference loss, which came in Washington, the Ducks are the favorites to play the Huskies in Las Vegas on Friday December 1st. in what would be a long-awaited rematch.
With Arizona beating Utah, the Wildcats are alive and have more than a slim chance of making the title game.
Utah, like Oregon State, is eliminated with three conference losses.
For Oregon to reach the Pac-12 championship game, there are two paths.
One is for the Ducks to beat Oregon State in their annual rivalry game next Friday. That would leave Oregon as the only team with just one loss in the conference behind Washington. Last year, the Beavers defeated the Ducks 38-34.
The Ducks can also lock in if Arizona falls to Arizona State.
Arizona needs two things to happen: a win over ASU and an Oregon loss to Oregon State.
If the Wildcats win and the Ducks lose, both teams would have two Pac-12 losses and the Wildcats would edge out the Ducks due to a tiebreaker. In this scenario, since Arizona and Oregon did not meet this year for a head-to-head tiebreaker, the next tiebreaker is the two schools’ common primary opponent. It would be Washington, which beat Arizona and Oregon in October.
After that, however, the two teams’ next highest common opponent is Oregon State. The Wildcats beat the Beavers a few weeks ago, while in this scenario the Ducks did not.
See the Pac-12 standings and all tiebreaker rules here.
More on the UW Huskies and Pac-12
• Caple: Kalen DeBoer has 100 wins, but has not forgotten 11 losses
• WSU and OSU work to keep Pac-12 open and align with Mountain West
• How can the UW Huskies retain coach Kalen DeBoer as jobs open up?
• Why aren’t the No. 5 UW Huskies in the top four of the CFP rankings?
