Season-Defining Moment for Every Pac-12 Football Bowl Team
The Pac-12 Conference is sending eight teams into bowl season in 2014, and for every one of them, the season can be split up into a series of defining moments. As fans, it's impossible to recollect the entirety of three months, and naturally the best—and worst—moments will stand out.
Depending on how you look at things, every team has multiple season-defining moments. Being at a game tends to bring about more fond memories than if you had watched the contest on television. Sometimes a crushing loss can help a team rally just as much as a big win over a rival.
Ultimately, the best way to judge the single biggest season-defining moment for each bowl team is to look at a snapshot of the biggest reason the program finished where it did at the end of the year. For a team like Cal, which isn't going bowling, you'd probably look at the loss at Arizona in which the Bears allowed a Hail Mary.
For teams that failed to meet high expectations, the defining moment was likely a negative one. For the overachievers, it was probably a memory you recall with a smile.
In other words, when you look back at the whirlwind of insanity that was the 2014 college football regular season, what's the one moment you'll remember most from each team?
Utah Utes
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Season-defining moment: QB Travis Wilson's touchdown pass to Kaelin Clay to beat USC
Coming off two straight five-win seasons, the Utah Utes needed to do something to prove to the rest of the league they wouldn't be the perennial doormat with inferior talent. Kyle Whittingham's job may have been in the balance as well had the program struggled for the third year in a row, but none of that happened.
Everything came together on defense, and a physical offense led by running back Devontae Booker helped this team get off to a 5-1 start with a ranked USC squad coming to town. Given that Arizona State, Oregon, Stanford and Arizona were up next, beating the Trojans would be critical to getting over the hump.
As with every success the Utes enjoyed this year, it started on defense with a key fourth-down stop late in the game with USC looking to run out the clock. The offense then drove the ball down the field, the key play being a long run by Wilson that got the ball down to the 1-yard line.
Then, with less than 10 seconds remaining, Wilson threw a perfect pass to Clay for the go-ahead touchdown, sealing the win. Whittingham and company finished 2-3 after beating USC, but the marquee win proved to everyone that Utah was and will continue to be a force in the Pac-12 South. The touchdown pass to Clay was the biggest play of the game and a season-defining moment for the program.
Arizona State Sun Devils
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Season-defining moment: Beating USC on a Hail Mary
Arizona State started the season 3-0 with legitimate hopes of contending in the Pac-12, but an injury to quarterback Taylor Kelly threatened to eliminate those dreams. With backup Mike Bercovici getting the start against UCLA, the Sun Devils lost 62-27 with the key play being a pick-six just before the half.
Next up was a trip to USC, and two straight losses would be extremely difficult to come back from. Bercovici played well despite a lack of experience, but the Sun Devils still trailed by nine points after Trojans running back Javorius Allen scampered in from 53 yards out with less than four minutes remaining.
As fans began to celebrate, Bercovici led a quick touchdown drive, and the defense held strong, winning the ball back with just seconds remaining. The offense got the ball to midfield, and you probably know what happens next.
On the game's final play, Bercovici heaved up a pass toward the right side of the end zone. As it came hurling down toward several Trojan defenders, wide receiver Jaelen Strong jumped up and snared the ball out of midair before landing and trotting in for the score. It was a miraculous win and proved to everyone that a key injury wouldn't be enough to keep Arizona State down.
USC Trojans
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Season-defining moment: Losing to ASU on a Hail Mary
We won't go over the play, since the previous slide talked about the Hail Mary in detail, but the final play against Arizona State was the season-defining moment for USC.
After upsetting Stanford in Week 2, the Trojans were poised to make noise in the Pac-12 South, and despite an embarrassing loss at Boston College, a resounding win over Oregon State gave the Trojans a promising 2-0 record in league play.
Then, the game was all but wrapped up against Arizona State. Until it wasn't, when the secondary failed to make a play. Subsequent losses to Utah and UCLA weren't pretty, but had the defense simply prevented a Hail Mary, USC would have gotten a shot against Oregon in the Pac-12 title.
When you look at the schedule, the Trojans have just one win over a ranked team—a 28-26 win at Arizona. Beating the Wildcats on the road was impressive, but USC couldn't knock off any other quality opponents. The last-second defeat to the Sun Devils summed up the 2014 season quite well, but given the youth on display throughout the year, USC isn't going anywhere.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Stanford Cardinal
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Season-defining moment: QB Kevin Hogan's late-game fumble against USC
It didn't take long for everyone to realize this wasn't the same Stanford team we'd seen the previous four seasons. With Andrew Luck at the helm, the Cardinal were bested only by the Oregon Ducks in the regular season and managed to reach two straight BCS bowl games.
After Kevin Hogan took over, he led the team to a pair of Rose Bowls, winning one. With key losses on defense and at running back, the big question was whether or not the Cardinal could continue their winning ways.
Against the Trojans in Week 2, the Cardinal failed over and over again to put points on the board, and late in the fourth, David Shaw's team trailed 13-10. Once again, Hogan managed to drive the offense down the field and in range of tying the game with a field goal.
But as he dropped back to pass on third down, he was sacked and fumbled the ball. USC recovered, and the Cardinal lost the game. Though Stanford did end the season on a high note by thrashing UCLA 31-10, bad losses to Oregon, Arizona State and Notre Dame told the tale of the season. We may not have known it at the time, but Hogan's fumble against USC set the tone for 2014.
UCLA Bruins
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Season-defining moment: K Ka'imi Fairbairn missing game-winning field-goal attempt against Utah.
If we were selecting more than just a moment—say, an entire game—the season-ending loss to Stanford would take the cake. All UCLA had to do was beat a five-loss Cardinal team, and it would get a rematch against Oregon for the conference title.
The failure throughout the game epitomized the Bruins' season, which began with such high hopes, but there were too many moments to pick just one. Instead, we'll go with one from earlier in the season against Utah.
Despite being outplayed by the Utes, the Bruins still had a chance to kick a game-winning field goal. The refs even called "running into the kicker," which moved the ball five yards forward, but Ka'imi Fairbairn still couldn't deliver.
Up until the loss, UCLA had been squeaking by everyone by the skin of its teeth. The loss let everyone else know that no, the Bruins weren't going to put it all together and begin dominating. The five-game win streak late in the season wasn't enough to convince folks of that, and Stanford put the nail in the coffin.
But it all began with the loss to Utah. Who knows how things might have played out if the field goal had made it through the uprights?
Washington Huskies
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Season-defining moment: RB Deontae Cooper's fumble at Arizona
It might be unfair to pick out a negative moment for Washington because the Huskies put together a solid year under new head coach Chris Petersen. What fans will ultimately remember, however, is that the dawgs beat the bad teams and lost to the good teams.
In conference play, the Huskies beat California, Oregon State, Colorado and Washington State. The season-defining moment came during the team's best chance to score a big victory.
At Arizona with less than two minutes remaining, Petersen elected to run the ball instead of kneeling it. Had he taken the safer route, the clock would have wound down to around 20 seconds with the Huskies then having the option to punt. Instead, Deontae Cooper fumbled the ball. The Wildcats recovered, drove down the field and kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired.
Again, the season as a whole can't be considered a failure. The defense took massive steps forward, and the offense is still very young at key positions. But simply executing at the end of a game would have made it a great season. Instead, it's just another one in which the Huskies didn't look any closer to the teams of the early 90s and 2000s that dominated week in and week out.
Arizona Wildcats
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Season-defining moment: LB Scooby Wright's forced fumble against Oregon to seal the win
For a team headed to a "New Year's Six" bowl game, the season-defining moment is a fairly obvious one. When Arizona traveled to Eugene in early October to take on the high-flying Ducks, few gave the team a chance to win.
Injuries to the Ducks offensive line aside, the Wildcats played a heck of a game and held the Ducks to just 24 points as Marcus Mariota and the offense took the ball with just minutes remaining in the game.
Linebacker Scooby Wright then made the play of the year for Arizona, stripping Mariota of the ball and recovering it by himself. One first down later by the offense, and the Wildcats had arguably the most impressive win by any team in college football in 2014.
Never mind the fact that Rich Rodriguez and company needed a Hail Mary to beat Cal or a late fumble to beat Washington. Forget that the Wildcats lost the rematch by 38 points. Arizona proved its toughness to the rest of the nation on Oct. 2, and the play that will always be remembered in Tucson is Scooby Wright's strip-sack of the future Heisman Trophy winner that won the game.
Oregon Ducks
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Season-defining moment: QB Marcus Mariota's scramble and deep pass to WR Darren Carrington against Arizona in the Pac-12 Championship.
How do you pick a season-defining moment for a team that is headed to the inaugural College Football Playoff?
You could argue it was Mariota's toss to Royce Freeman on 3rd-and-11 that sparked a comeback against Michigan State, but bigger adversity was still to come. You could argue it was the loss to Arizona, since it helped the team rally together and come back stronger, but such a special season can't be defined by a loss.
You could argue a number of moments in wins over UCLA, Stanford and Utah as well. Ultimately, we're going with Mariota's dazzling escape and subsequent deep completion to Darren Carrington in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
After a slow start to the game, a 23-0 halftime score still had folks feeling underwhelmed. Then Mariota and the offense turned on the jets with the most impressive play being his pass to Carrington. It got the Arizona monkey off Oregon's back and sealed not only the league title but the Heisman Trophy as well.
There are a ton of plays that helped shape Oregon's season, but we'll go with the biggest play from the Ducks' biggest game by the best player in school history.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
