Oregon vs. Arizona: Date, Start Time and More for 2014 Pac-12 Championship Game

Oregon will have its chance to get revenge. The second-ranked Ducks will meet the No. 11 Arizona Wildcats in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

UCLA's loss to Stanford on Friday meant the winner of Arizona vs. Arizona State would take the Pac-12 South and earn a trip to the title game. The Wildcats beat their in-state rivals, 42-35, at home and will attempt to win the first outright Pac-12 title in school history.

ESPN College Football provided a tale of the tape between the two teams:

Oregon and Arizona met back on Oct. 2, with the Wildcats giving the Ducks their only loss of the season. Terris Jones-Grigsby provided the go-ahead score on a one-yard touchdown run with two minutes, 54 seconds left to play in the game. Scooby Wright III forced and recovered a fumble on Oregon's next drive to seal the win.

Ducks head coach Mark Helfrich felt that his team made far too many mistakes against a tough opponent.

"Again have to give Arizona a ton of credit but there was a lot of stuff in this game that makes it that much more of a bitter pill to swallow in terms of self-inflicted wounds and some of the mistakes we made," he said, per Andrew Greif of The Oregonian.

Helfrich and his team will have an opportunity to set the record straight next Friday.

When: Friday, Dec. 5, at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT)

Where: Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California

Watch: Fox

Live Stream: Fox Sports Go

The Book on Oregon

Steve Dykes/Associated Press

By now, most college football fans know what to expect from Oregon. The Ducks attempt to score a lot of points in a short amount of time, and the strategy's proven extremely fruitful. While Oregon ranks 121st in average time of possession, it's also third in points per game.

The Ducks are one of the few programs where the coaches can change, but the system stays in place.

A large reason why that strategy's been so successful is Marcus Mariota, whom most list atop their Heisman Trophy rankings.

Despite an oft-injured and at times inconsistent offensive line, Mariota's thrown for 3,103 yards and 32 touchdowns to just two interceptions. The junior's also a threat on the ground, rushing for 597 yards and nine TDs, and he even caught a touchdown pass against Arizona.

He set the Pac-12 record for most touchdowns in one season, via Oregon Football:

Mariota will also go down as one of the most talented collegiate QBs ever. He's one of five players in NCAA history to pass for 9,000 yards and rush for 2,000 more:

Oregon has plenty of other talented skill players, such as Royce Freeman, Devon Allen and Byron Marshall, but everything begins and ends with Mariota. If he struggles, the Ducks will have a hard time overcoming the Wildcats.

Arizona's had Mariota's number in the past, intercepting him three times throughout his college career, the most against any opponent, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Defense could also be a problem for Oregon. It's natural that a team with such a quick-strike offense would leak some yards. Although the Ducks are 92nd in total defense (435.7 YPG), they're only giving up a more reasonable 23.6 points a game.

The concerning part about Oregon's defense is that it struggles to make stops when necessary. In the win over Oregon, Arizona converted on nine of its 17 third downs. The Ducks are 107th in third-down defense, allowing a first-down conversion 44.1 percent of the time.

Oregon can ill afford the conference championship to turn into a repeat of its earlier meeting with the Wildcats, giving Arizona chance after chance to keep the drive alive.

The Book on Arizona

USA TODAY Sports

Arizona is a bit like Oregon in that it uses a fast-paced offense built around a mobile quarterback. The Wildcats rank 111th in time of possession and 14th in yards per game.

Of course, that's not a surprise given the connection between Chip Kelly and Rich Rodriguez. It's no secret that Kelly built his Oregon offenses in the image of Rodriguez's when Rich Rod was an offensive coordinator at Tulane and Clemson and then head coach at West Virginia.

Like Oregon, much of Arizona's offensive success is centered around a talented, dual-threat quarter.

While not at the level of Mariota, Anu Solomon's been one of the Pac-12's best quarterbacks this season, carving up opposing defenses with both his arm and his feet. The freshman signal-caller has 3,424 yards and 27 touchdowns through the air and 282 yards on the ground, the final tally of which is somewhat skewed by his minus-47 yards against ASU.

STEVE DYKES/Associated Press

The connection between Mariota and Solomon goes a bit deeper as well, with both players natives of Honolulu, Hawaii. Before Arizona's win over Oregon back in October, Solomon revealed to Sports Illustrated's Thayer Evans that he'd met Mariota when the Ducks star had a workout at his old high school.

"He’s a great icon," Solomon said of Mariota. "I look up to that guy. He’s a great athlete. He’s a great guy."

While Solomon's performance will have a big say on the Pac-12 title game's outcome, what may be more imperative for Arizona is establishing a presence on the ground. Jones-Grigsby and Nick Wilson combined for 207 yards and three touchdowns against the Ducks earlier in the year.

In last year's upset of Oregon, the Wildcats gained 304 yards rushing, with Ka'Deem Carey carrying the ball 48 times for 206 yards and four touchdowns.

The more the Wildcats can run the ball, the more they can eat time off the clock and wear down the Oregon defense. Not to mention, the Ducks' high-powered offense will remain off the field. Slowing down the pace is No. 1 on the list of ways to beat Oregon.

One potential red flag for Arizona is the the number of narrow victories the team's had in 2014 alone, via Sports on Earth's Matt Brown:

The mark of a good team is finding a way to win close games despite not playing well. Against Oregon, though, Arizona won't have much wiggle room. One poor stretch, especially early in the game, can mean a quick two- or even three-score deficit when playing the Ducks.

Just ask Utah. The Utes looked to have taken a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, only for Kaelin Clay to drop the ball near the goal line. Joe Walker recovered and went the length of the field for the Oregon TD.

That play brought Oregon back to life. The Ducks turned a 7-0 deficit into a 24-7 lead over 12 minutes of game time against the Utes. Oregon won, 51-27.

In terms of aesthetic beauty and entertainment, Oregon-Arizona is the best possible Pac-12 Championship matchup this year.

Between the revenge factor and similarity between the teams' styles, fans should be in for an enthralling game.

Note: All stats courtesy of NCAA.com unless otherwise noted.