Pac-12 Championship Game: What Are Oregon and UCLA's Outlooks for 2012?

The Pac-12’s first ever conference championship game isn’t exactly shaping up to be an instant classic.

Tonight, No. 9 Oregon—the winner of the conference’s North division—will battle South substitute UCLA—a 6-6 squad—which will take the place of the much more deserving USC Trojans, who are banned from all postseason games this year.

The fact that we basically saw the real Pac-12 conference championship game back on Nov. 19, when USC toppled Oregon 38-35 in Eugene, certainly diminishes tonight’s contest. It doesn’t help that the Bruins, who just fired their head coach Rick Neuheisel, go into the game with one of the weakest resumes in college football, either. They have beaten just two teams with a winning record this season.

There’s a reason that the spread for this one has been set at 30-plus points by the boys out in Vegas, and you won’t find many fans or analysts who aren’t expecting a big blowout tonight.

While the Bruins obviously aren’t planning on picking up a conference championship and a Rose Bowl berth tonight (they wouldn’t have fired Neuheisel if they were), UCLA will be looking to play well and build some momentum for next season.

The thing that has to be frustrating for Neuheisel, who has come out and said that he thought he was going to have one more year to get the program moving, is the fact that the Bruins will actually have a lot of intriguing pieces to work with on both sides of the ball in 2012.

Most of the key players from this year’s young defensive unit will be back, including leaders like LB Patrick Larimore and CB Aaron Hester.

On offense, you’ll have three quarterbacks to choose from in Richard Brehaut, Kevin Prince and Brett Hundley. However, the real key player of the offense will be returning running back Johnathan Franklin, who is only 88 yards away from his second consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season.

Even though they’ll have to deal with the loss of top receiver Nelson Rosario and fill in a few holes on the offensive and defensive lines, the Bruins definitely have some pieces to work with next year. However, a lot of UCLA’s 2012 success will depend on who the school picks to coach the team.

Boise State’s Chris Petersen was said to be at the top of the school’s wish list, but that doesn’t sound like a real possibility. 

If UCLA can get the right leader in place, though, a winning season in 2012 is a fairly reasonable goal.

As for Oregon, the Ducks will likely go into next season ranked inside the Top 10 once again and with national championship aspirations on their minds.

Even if the team loses star junior RB LaMichael James to the NFL after this season, there’s plenty of depth in Oregon’s speedy backfield with guys like Kenjon Barner and De’Anthony Thomas to keep the offense moving at high speeds in 2012.

Chip Kelly has elevated Oregon into the type of team that looks like it will be an annual player on the national scene for years to come as the Ducks show no signs of slowing down any time soon.

If Oregon takes care of business tonight, that will be the third consecutive conference championship and third consecutive BCS bowl berth for the Ducks during Chip Kelly's three-year tenure.

When you're averaging a conference championship and a BCS bowl game every season, you must be doing something right. 

All that's eluded Kelly thus far is a BCS National Championship. However, from the looks of it, his team should be right back in the hunt in 2012.