Ducks won Pac-12 Championship by dominating the line of scrimmage

Dec 5, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez looks on from the sidelines against the Oregon Ducks in the Pac-12 Championship at Levi

The first meeting between U of A and Oregon, it was the losing team that got punched in the mouth. This time in the Pac-12 Championship game, UA got a taste of its own medicine. What was going right for the Wildcats, a dominating defense and rushing attack led by Nick Wilson, simply worked to no avail against the Ducks, as Oregon won by a score of 51-13.

Early on, U of A’s defense was swarming to the ball and making open field tackles, something it has done very well all year. But UA’s defense was simply on the field too much, because of the ineffectiveness of the offense, and ultimately it got worn out. Oregon was on the field for 38:55 minutes, compared to 21:05 minutes of possession from the Wildcats.

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On offense, Oregon dominated the trenches, holding running back Nick Wilson to 26 rushing yards. Forcing U of A to be one-dimensional did not help freshman quarterback Anu Solomon at all; he had 34 total passing yards, and was replaced by backup quarterback Jesse Scroggins III.

This loss may come as very devastating to the Wildcats, but junior safety Will Parks noted how the team had nothing to hang its hats on, “Winning 10 games, all the hard work, all the tough battles we fought throughout the season, we just look at those,” junior safety Will Parks said via The Arizona Republic. “We got the Pac-12 championship, and there are a lot of teams sitting at home right now. They can say whatever they want about us, but we got to the Pac-12 championship, and we fought our hearts out.

“We don’t have anything to be ashamed about.”

Parks is right that UA has nothing to be ashamed about having a very successful season, and it now awaits which bowl it will play in, which would mostly likely play in either the Fiesta Bowl or Sun Bowl. Oregon, meanwhile, has locked its spot in the 4-team college football playoff.