Pac-12 Championship 2014: Arizona vs. Oregon TV, Live Stream Info, Prediction

Marcus Mariota can only hope that the third time is the charm Friday in the Pac-12 Championship. 

Mariota's Oregon Ducks are losers of two straight against the Arizona Wildcats, a team perhaps closer than most realize to a College Football Playoff berth of its own if the team can make it 3-0 and take Oregon out of the running at the same time.

Oregon has the look of a powerhouse as of late by leaping hurdles that have tripped the team up in the past. All that remains is the most nagging hurdle of all, one that poetically presents itself with the conference title and a CFP berth on the line.

Friday's marquee event is not one to miss.

When: Friday, December 5, 9 p.m. ET

Where: Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, California

Television: Fox

Live Stream: Fox Sports Go

Breakdown and Prediction

Rich Rodriguez's Wildcats averaged almost 37 points per game over the course of the last two wins over the Ducks.

On the flip side, the Wildcats have held Mariota and the Ducks to two of their three lowest point totals in the past two seasons. As Rodriguez is quick to point out, though, some of these jarring numbers boil down to simple luck, as captured by ESPN.com:

"

If you look back at his stats, he got a lot of yards and big plays, but we got a couple turnovers. Some of it was great individual effort and some of it was a little bit of luck. If you go back to this game or even the game last season, he still got his yards, and he is still going to get his yards and make his plays.

"

Luck or not, the Wildcats are one of the most dangerous teams in the nation.

Statistically speaking, Arizona is not all that different from Oregon:

Freshman Anu Solomon has been quite the surprise under center for the Wildcats. He has completed less than 60 percent of his passes this season but has 3,424 yards and 27 touchdowns to just seven interceptions.

As the aforementioned ESPN.com writeup notes, Solomon is at his greatest when on the move. He has 76 completions when his feet are not planted, with 1,016 yards, 10 touchdowns and 14 20-yard completions.

Fellow freshman Nick Wilson is an equal in the surprise department. His 1,263 yards and 15 touchdowns on a 6.2 per-carry average are a major reason the Wildcats have rattled off four consecutive wins, two of which came over tough ranked opponents (Utah, Arizona State).

As Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated points out, the young team has quite a lot in the balance Friday:

All that digested, the loss to Arizona back at the beginning of October lit a fire under Oregon.

The Ducks have not lost since. Mariota is in Heisman form with 3,470 yards and 36 touchdowns to two interceptions on a 68.6 completion percentage. Freshman back Royce Freeman does not get enough credit for his 1,185 yards and 16 scores on a hefty 5.7 per-carry average.

The defense has played its part, too, holding four of the seven opponents along the winning streak to 20 points or less.

Of note is the fact the Ducks have yet to blink. The past couple of seasons have seen Mariota and Co. falter around this time of year, whether it is against Stanford or some other crafty opponent.

Instead, Stanford was handed a 45-16 loss. A ranked Utah team was on the wrong end of a 51-27 outcome at home. The Civil War saw the Ducks drop nukes in a 47-19 result.

All that remains is a date with the Wildcats.

Mariota has had his fair share of struggles against Arizona. He has three multi-turnover games against the Wildcats, with just three against all other conference opponents combined. But this recent run of form by the Ducks has instilled a sense of confidence that must be contagious in the locker room.

"We're just going to play our game. Arizona did a great job setting and dictating tempo in the last meeting," Mariota said, per ESPN.com. "If we go out and execute to the best of our abilities and execute the game plans that are put in front of us, we should hopefully be successful."

Rick Bowmer/Associated Press

How the Ducks have truly learned from the last encounter will dictate the outcome of Friday's showdown. Arizona limited the Ducks to just over 26 minutes of possession in their first encounter this season by way of 55 rushes for 208 yards and a trio of scores.

This time around, look for the Ducks to get Mariota involved on plenty of rollouts to keep the clock and first-down markers moving. The defense has stiffened as of late and figures to come out in better form than last time around, too.

Arizona has had a jaw-dropping season given the circumstances, and the future as a contender at the top of the conference is secure. But it is one thing to knock off the Ducks with zero expectations and nothing to lose.

Now a young Wildcats team has everything to lose and is outclassed in the experience and talent department against the best player in the nation. In the end, Oregon will pull it out in a shootout.

Prediction: Ducks 42, Wildcats 38

Statistics and info courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.