Pac-12 Football Championship Game
| Pac-12 Conference Football Championship Game | |
|---|---|
| Conference Football Championship | |
| Sport | Football |
| Conference | Pac-12 Conference |
| Played | 2011–present |
| Last contest | 2016 |
| Current champion | Washington |
| Most championships | Stanford (3) |
| TV partner(s) |
Fox (2011, even years) ESPN/ABC (odd years) |
| Sponsors | |
| 76 (2016–)[1] | |
| Host stadiums | |
| |
– Northern division
– Southern division – Championship Game siteThe Pac-12 Football Championship Game is an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The inaugural game was held on December 2, 2011.[3]
The game pits the champion of the Pac-12 North Division against the champion of the Pac-12 South Division. Since 2014, the game has been played at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.[2] The first three games were held at the home stadium of the division winner with the better conference record: Autzen Stadium in 2011, Stanford Stadium in 2012, and Sun Devil Stadium in 2013.
Television broadcast rights to the game are shared by Fox Sports and ESPN/ABC. ESPN Radio holds the radio rights.[4]
History
In 2011, the Pacific-10 Conference added Colorado and Utah, bringing the membership total to 12 teams and becoming the Pacific-12. Consequently, the conference split into two six-team divisions and created an annual conference championship game.
In the first season of the newly expanded Pac-12 in 2011, USC (7–2) finished first in the South Division but was ineligible to play in postseason games due to NCAA sanctions. UCLA (5-4) represented the South Division in the Pac-12 Championship Game as its second-place team.[5]
Broadcast rights to the game are held by ESPN and Fox on a 12-year deal where with the rights alternating on a year-by-year cycle since 2012. Fox broadcast the inaugural game in 2011.[6][7]
Team selection criteria
Division standings are based on each team's overall conference record. In the event that two teams finish in a tie for first place, the championship game berth goes to the winner of the season's head-to-head contest between the two teams. If three or more teams are tied, the following tiebreakers are used to determine the division champion:[8]
- The following procedures will only be used to eliminate all but two teams, at which point the two-team tie-breaking procedure (head-to-head result) will be applied.
- Head-to-head (best record in games among the tied teams).
- Record in games played within the division.
- Record against the next highest placed team in the division (based on record in all Conference games, both divisional and cross-divisional), proceeding through the division.
- Record in common Conference games.
- Highest ranking in the SportSource Analytics poll entering the final weekend of the regular season.
Results
The North Division representative has won every edition of the Pac-12 Championship Game since its inception in 2011. Rankings are from the AP Poll at time of the matchup.
Results by year
| Year | North Division | South Division | Site | Date | Attendance | MVP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | #8 Oregon | 49 | UCLA | 31 | Autzen Stadium • Eugene, OR | December 2, 2011 | 59,376 | RB LaMichael James, Oregon |
| 2012 | #8 Stanford | 27 | #17 UCLA | 24 | Stanford Stadium • Stanford, CA | November 30, 2012 | 31,622 | QB Kevin Hogan, Stanford |
| 2013 | #7 Stanford | 38 | #11 Arizona State | 14 | Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ | December 7, 2013 | 69,535 | RB Tyler Gaffney, Stanford |
| 2014 | #3 Oregon | 51 | #8 Arizona | 13 | Levi's Stadium • Santa Clara, CA | December 5, 2014 | 45,618 | QB Marcus Mariota, Oregon |
| 2015 | #7 Stanford | 41 | #24 USC | 22 | December 5, 2015[9] | 58,476 | RB Christian McCaffrey, Stanford | |
| 2016 | #4 Washington | 41 | #9 Colorado | 10 | December 2, 2016[10] | 47,118 | DB Taylor Rapp, Washington | |
| 2017 | TBD | - | TBD | - | December 1, 2017[11] | - | TBD | |
Results by team
| Appearances | School | Wins | Losses | Pct. | Year(s) Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Stanford | 3 | 0 | 1.000 | 2012, 2013, 2015 |
| 2 | Oregon | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 2011, 2014 |
| 2 | UCLA | 0 | 2 | .000 | |
| 1 | Washington | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 2016 |
| 1 | Arizona | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
| 1 | Arizona State | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
| 1 | Colorado | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
| 1 | USC | 0 | 1 | .000 |
- California, Oregon State, Utah and Washington State have yet to make an appearance in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
Site selection criteria
During its first three years, the site of the Pac-12 Championship Game was the home stadium of the division champion with the superior overall conference record. In the event that the two division champions were tied, the head-to-head record would be used as the tiebreaker. If the two teams did not meet during the season, a BCS component was to be used.
After three years of the home-hosting model, the Pac-12 announced a three-year deal to host the game at the neutral site of Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.[12] In 2017, the Pac-12 announced it would keep the game at Levi's Stadium through 2019 with an option for 2020.[13]
See also
- List of Pac-12 Conference football champions
- List of NCAA Division I FBS Conference Championship games
Notes
- November 30, 2012 – Only 31,622 fans attended the 2012 Championship game, which started at 5:20 p.m. on a weeknight. It was also raining that day at the site of the game in Stanford, California.
References
- ↑ "Pac-12 names 76® as the presenting sponsor of its Football Championship Game" (Press release). Pacific-12 Conference. October 3, 2016.
- 1 2 Fischer, Bryan (May 14, 2014). "Pac-12 to move football championship game to Levi's Stadium". NFL. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
- ↑ "Additional Pac-12 2011 Football Telecast Windows Announced". Pacific-10 Conference. June 1, 2011. Archived from the original on June 21, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
- ↑ Chozet, Tara (August 31, 2016). "ESPN Radio’s 2016-17 Regular College Football Schedule Kicks off with Two Top-25 Matchups" (Press release). ESPN MediaZone.
- ↑ Miller, Ted (November 26, 2011). "What do we call UCLA?". ESPN. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
- ↑ "Fox Sports To Televise Inaugural Pac-12 Football Championship Game". Pacific-10 Conference. January 6, 2011. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
- ↑ "Pac-12 Announces Landmark Media Rights Deal With ESPN, Fox Sports Media Group". Pacific-10 Conference. May 4, 2011. Archived from the original on June 21, 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
- ↑ "Pac-12 Football Championship Game tiebreaker explanation" (Press release). Pac-12 Network Newsroom. June 9, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
- ↑ "Start Times Set For Select FB Games". GoDucks.com. University of Oregon. June 1, 2015. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
The Pac-12 Conference Championship Game will be played on Saturday, Dec. 5, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
- ↑ "Pac-12 announces 2016 football schedule". December 15, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
the Pac-12 Football Championship Game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, December 2.
- ↑ "Pac-12 announces 2017 Championship Game Location". July 24, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
the Pac-12 Football Championship Game at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday, December 1.
- ↑ Wilner, Jon (May 19, 2014). "Pac-12 football: The title game moves to Levi’s Stadium". Bay Area News Group.
- ↑ "Pac-12 announces agreement with Levi's Stadium to continue hosting Football Championship Game" (Press release). Pac-12 Conference. July 26, 2017.