2015 Pac-12 Football Championship Game

The 2015 Pac-12 Football Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 5, 2015 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California to determine the champion of the Pac-12 Conference in football for the 2015 season. It was the fifth championship game in Pac-12 Conference history. The game featured the South Division Co-champion USC Trojans against the North Division champion Stanford Cardinal. Stanford defeated USC 41–22 to win their third conference championship game.

2015 Pac-12 Football Championship Game
Conference Championship
USC Trojans Stanford Cardinal
(8–4) (10–2)
22 41
Head coach: 
Clay Helton		 Head coach: 
David Shaw
APCoachesCFP
242420
APCoachesCFP
777
1234 Total
USC 03136 22
Stanford 3101414 41
DateDecember 5, 2015
Season2015
StadiumLevi's Stadium
LocationSanta Clara, CA
MVPChristian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford
FavoriteStanford by 4.5
National anthemBrian McKnight
RefereeTerry Leyden
Halftime showJohn Ondrasik
Attendance58,476
United States TV coverage
NetworkESPN, ESPN Deportes
AnnouncersESPN: Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe; ESPN Radio: Adam Amin, David Norrie and Olivia Harlan
2015 Pac-12 Conference football standings
ConfOverall
Team W L  W L 
North Division
No. 3 Stanford x$  8 –1   12 –2  
No. 19 Oregon  7 –2   9 –4  
Washington State  6 –3   9 –4  
California  4 –5   8 –5  
Washington  4 –5   7 –6  
Oregon State  0 –9   2 –10  
South Division
USC xy  6 –3   8 –6  
No. 17 Utah x  6 –3   10 –3  
UCLA  5 –4   8 –5  
Arizona State  4 –5   6 –7  
Arizona  3 –6   7 –6  
Colorado  1 –8   4 –9  
Championship: Stanford 41, USC 22
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

History

The game was the fifth football conference championship for the Pac-12 Conference (or any of its predecessors). Last season, the Oregon Ducks defeated the Arizona Wildcats 51–13 for the conference championship and represented the conference in the 2015 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The Ducks then advanced to play in the first CFP National Championship on January 12, 2015 against the Ohio State Buckeyes for the national championship.

Teams

The Stanford Cardinal faced the USC Trojans for the second time in the 2015 season, having won by a score of 41–31 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum earlier in the year.

Stanford
Main article: 2015 Stanford Cardinal football team

Stanford returned to the Pac-12 Championship for the third time since its inception. Stanford was led by fifth-year head coach David Shaw, QB Kevin Hogan, and RB Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey averaged 255 all-purpose yards heading into the game.

USC
Main article: 2015 USC Trojans football team

USC competed in the championship game for the first time since the conference expanded to 12 teams. USC and Utah tied for first place in the South Division, but USC won the tiebreaker by beating the Utes in the head-to-head matchup that season. Leading the team were senior QB Cody Kessler, freshman TB Ronald Jones II, sophomore WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, sophomore CB-WR-RET Adoree’ Jackson.

Game summary

Statistics
Statistics
First downs
Plays–yards
Rushes–yards
Passing yards
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
Time of possession

See also

Notes

References
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