There’s so much on the line in this game that it’s difficult to keep track of.
No. 5 Oregon will do its best to avenge its only loss of the season against No. 3 Washington as the two teams play for the Pac-12 title in Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium (5 pm, ABC).
Besides a conference championship, the Ducks and Dawgs are playing for a possible berth in the College Football Playoff.
At 12-0, Washington is a sure thing to get in with a win over Oregon. It’s assumed the Ducks would make it with a win and leapfrog No. 4 Florida State. But to keep things safe and not at all chaotic, it would be nice for the CFP committee to have the Seminoles lose its conference championship game to Louisville on Saturday.
Not only that, but both quarterbacks, Bo Nix and Michael Penix, could be playing for a Heisman Trophy.
Nix is the favorite to win, but with a good game on national television, Penix could enter the conversation really quickly.
These teams have gone in opposite directions since that 36-33 Huskies win in mid-October. The Ducks have been destroying their opponents, but Washington, although undefeated, has struggled throughout the second half of the season.
Going by that trend, Vegas has made the Ducks a 10-point favorite.
Elite players on both sides of the ball for both teams will litter the field tonight with their NFL talent.
It will be one of the last times to watch players such as Nix, Troy Franklin and Brandon Dorlus play in the green and yellow.
It’s also the last time to see Penix play in the Purple and Gold. He’s been the best Huskies quarterback in a generation.
What is not being said a whole lot is that this game, with the conference’s most bitter rivalry, is that this is the last Pac-12 football game ever.
After tonight, Pac-12 After Dark dies. There’s no more speculation about next year. There is no next year.
Half of the teams are going to the Big Ten and some are going to the Big XII with Oregon State and Washington State playing teams from the Mountain West Conference and other Power 5 teams.
But for three and a half hours on Friday evening, the entire country can witness one epic football game with more meaning for the Pac-12 than ever, before it vanishes into the Las Vegas night.
Sad, but fitting.