Big 12 champion gets College Football Playoff boost from Oregon. Now, they need one from Georgia

Baylor and Oklahoma were big fans of Oregon beating Utah and now need LSU to beat Georgia for the Big 12 champ to make the College Football Playoff.

Baylor and Oklahoma were big Oregon fans in the Pac-12 Championship Game. Now, they’re big fans of LSU in the SEC Championship Game as their playoff fates rest on the Tigers beating Georgia.

The first domino fell on Championship Weekend as the Oregon Ducks dominated the Utah Utes in a 37-15 win. Ducks running back C.J. Verdell finished with 208 yards and three touchdowns on the ground and scored two big touchdowns in the fourth quarter after Utah rallied to make it a one-score game. The Oregon defense forced two turnovers and stopped the Utah offense on all four of their fourth-down attempts.

The news isn’t so much about Oregon winning the Pac-12 and going to the Rose Bowl, but the door being wide open for the Big 12 champion to take the last College Football Playoff spot.

Whoever wins the Big 12 championship, they won’t have to worry about winning with style points to try and impress the committee with how they win. The only thing out of their control is the outcome of the SEC Championship Game. If Georgia pulls off the upset, the Big 12 champ will be left out, even if one wins 59-0, it’ll be a combination of Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia and LSU.

But without Oregon upsetting Utah, the road to the playoff would have been full of more traffic. Now, they have a relatively clear highway to jump on the playoff ramp to meet LSU or Ohio State in the semifinal in either the Peach or Fiesta Bowl.

Tomorrow’s games will figure things out, but at least the Sooners and Bears received a gift of an easier path heading into their championship game.

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