The first Pac-12 championship game will feature the Ducks vs. a lame duck. UCLA fired coach Rick Neuheisel on Monday after he went 21-28 in his four years at his alma mater, but he still will be on the sidelines in Friday’s conference title game against Oregon.
Neuheisel’s firing is just the latest storyline in one of the most pathetic conference championships.
The inadequacy of the Bruins’ inclusion and the NCAA-sanctioned omission of USC was magnified during the Trojans’ 50-0 rout of UCLA on Saturday.
If the 6-6 Bruins lose to the Ducks, who are 30-point favorites Friday, the Pac-12 would have to petition the NCAA for UCLA to be bowl eligible.
And there’s even a chance Oregon will be without Heisman candidate running back LaMichael James, who left Saturday’s game with an injured left elbow.
When the conference acquired Colorado and Utah to reach the minimum 12 teams for a championship game, this is not exactly what it had in mind for the inaugural event.
– Jeffrey Tomik
