A6 — BAKER CITY HERALD
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2021
SPORTS
Utah beats Ducks for 1st Rose Bowl bid
Oregon (10-3, No. 10), the
rematch delivered the Utes
the Rose Bowl prize they had
LAS VEGAS — As the
been seeking since joining the
Utah players celebrated the
Oregon St. vs. Utah St.
Pac-12 in 2011.
Pac-12 championship sur-
CORAL GABLES,
LA Bowl
Utah had lost its fi rst two
rounded by roses and confetti,
Fla. (AP) — AP source:
Saturday, Dec. 18, 4:30 p.m.
trips to the conference title
the memories of two team-
Oregon’s Mario
on ABC
game, including two years ago
mates who couldn’t share in
Cristobal accepts offer
Oregon vs. Oklahoma
to Oregon, but left little doubt
the moment was paramount.
to take over as Miami
Alamo Bowl
this time.
The past year marked by
football coach after
Wednesday, Dec. 29,
“We’ve just been working
tragedy following the deaths
Manny Diaz is fi red.
6:15 p.m. on ESPN
away on it ever since we joined
of Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe
will end with the long-coveted did that and I couldn’t be more same time, I also believe that the league,” Whittingham
said. “This is the culmination
they were there guiding us
Rose Bowl bid.
proud of them.”
Jordan died last Christmas throughout the whole season. of a lot of years of hard work
Devin Lloyd returned an
They were able to help us cre- and effort, not only by us, but
interception for a touchdown, from a self-infl icted gun shot
everyone involved. It takes a
Cam Rising threw for another wound. Lowe, who also played ate things that I don’t think
lot of people to make this thing
we ever would have done
score and No. 14 Utah clinched with Jordan in high school,
go.”
without them.”
was then shot and killed at a
the fi rst Rose Bowl berth in
Rising engineered a TD
This game was a near
house party in September.
school history with a 38-10
Their teammates used the carbon copy of the one in Salt drive on the opening posses-
victory over No. 10 Oregon on
sion after converting a sneak
memories as fuel for a season Lake City two weeks ago
Friday night, Dec. 3.
on fourth down near midfi eld.
when the Utes (10-3, No. 17
“Our mantra after the trag- that ended with a title.
Tavon Thomas capped it with
CFP) jumped out early and
“We’ve got a lot of tough-
edy was we’re not going to get
a 2-yard run.
won 38-7.
ness in us and resiliency,”
over it, but we’ll get through
Lloyd then returned an
While that game all but
said Lloyd, who was named
it,” coach Kyle Whittingham
interception 34 yards for a
said. “I believe our guys really MVP of the game. “But at the ended the playoff hopes for
By JOSH DUBOW
Associated Press
Ducks coach
leaving for
Miami
Ducks, Beavers in bowl
games
Serena Morones for The Oregonian
Utah quarterback Cameron Rising (No. 7) runs on a
keeper during the second half as the No. 17 Utes take
on the No. 10 Oregon Ducks in the Pac-12 football
championship game at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas
on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. Utah won 38-10.
score later in the fi rst quarter
and Utah put the game away
by scoring twice in the fi nal 27
seconds of the fi rst half.
Rising hit Dalton Kincaid
on an 11-yard pass with 27
seconds left. Then Malone Ma-
taele intercepted an ill-advised
pass from Anthony Brown to
set up Jadon Redding’s 50-
yard fi eld goal on the fi nal play
of the half to make it 23-0.
The Utes led the game two
weeks ago 28-0 at the half.
“Honestly, it seemed kind
of similar,” Ducks safety
Verone McKinley III said. “It’s
tough because we felt pre-
pared. We felt we had a good
game plan and then to let
what happened happen again
was a tough pill to swallow.”
Timbers down RSL
Historic playoff: Alabama-Cincinnati, Michigan-Georgia 2-0 for conference
title, MLS fi nal berth
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF
Fourth-seeded Cincinnati
is the fi rst team to reach the
IRVING, Texas — As college CFP from a non-Power Five
conference in the eight-year his-
football’s postseason evolved
from disconnected bowls to the tory of this postseason format.
The Bearcats (13-0) won the
BCS to the current four-team
playoff, it never truly embraced American Athletic Conference
and head into the postseason as
the underdog the way the
NCAA basketball tournament the only unbeaten team in the
country.
does.
“It’s an historic day. It really
From Tulane to Utah, Boise
is. In the world of sports, this
State to TCU and then UCF,
is history,” AAC Commis-
the upstarts occasionally got a
chance to play a blue blood in a sioner Mike Aresco said. “This
is something probably many,
big bowl game, but they never
many people never thought
entered the postseason with a
legitimate opportunity to win a they would see.”
Previously, no team from a
national championship.
so-called Group of Five confer-
College football fi nally
ence had ever even come close
has its fi rst Cinderella team:
Cincinnati has broken the glass to making the playoff.
“We don’t want to carry the
ceiling.
fl ag for the non-big schools, so
The Bearcats will play
to speak. We just want to be us,”
Alabama in the Cotton Bowl
Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell
on New Year’s Eve after being
selected to the College Football said.
When the Bowl Champion-
Playoff on Sunday, Dec. 5. Michi-
ship Series started in 1998,
gan will face Georgia in the
Orange Bowl semifi nal on Dec. Tulane went unbeaten in Con-
31 and the winners will play for ference USA and didn’t even get
a spot in one of the glitzy bowl
the national championship on
games. Former Tulane Presi-
Jan. 10 in Indianapolis.
By RALPH D. RUSSO
AP College Football Writer
dent Scott Cowen was among
the fi rst to attack the BCS as an
exclusionary cartel.
Under then-coach Urban
Meyer, Utah went unbeaten as
a member of the Mountain West
in 2004 and reached the Fiesta
Bowl, but only got to play a so-so
Pittsburgh team, meaning the
Utes had no shot to fi nish No. 1.
Boise State created a brand
out of being a potential BCS
buster during its time in the
Western Athletic Conference,
winning a remarkable Fiesta
Bowl against Oklahoma in
2007. TCU was in the Mountain
West when it won a Rose Bowl
against Wisconsin in 2010.
Utah and TCU ended up get-
ting scooped up by Power Five
conferences. If you can’t beat
them, ask them to join you.
The playoff doubled the
number of teams that had a
chance to win the national title
from two to four in 2014, but
it didn’t seem to help the little
guys.
UCF won 25 straight
games over 2017 and ’18 and
never did better than eighth
in the selection committee’s
rankings. The Knights went
so far as to declare themselves
national champions after they
were the only team in major col-
lege football to fi nish the 2017
season unbeaten.
Cincinnati set the founda-
tion for this year’s run by going
unbeaten in the regular season
last year before losing to Geor-
gia on a late fi eld goal in the
Peach Bowl.
Aresco conceded this run has
felt bittersweet at times for him.
Cincinnati, along with UCF and
Houston, will be leaving the
American for the Big 12 soon.
The Bearcats made history
with little debate. Playoff selec-
tion committee chairman Gary
Barta said there was strong
consensus for Cincinnati at No.
4 ahead of No. 5 Notre Dame,
which had only one loss — at
home against the Bearcats
in early October. Ohio State
fi nished sixth.
said. “They understood the
moment that was at stake
PORTLAND — Fe-
and they performed very
lipe Mora and Santiago
well today.”
Moreno scored and the
Seventh-seeded Real
Portland Timbers ad-
Salt Lake had appeared in
vanced to the MLS Cup
the MLS Cup fi nal three
fi nal with a 2-0 victory
times, winning the title
over Real Salt Lake in the in 2009. It was the team’s
Western Conference fi nal fi fth trip to the conference
on Saturday, Dec. 4.
fi nals since joining the
Fourth-seeded Portland league in 2005.
will host the NYCFC on
Salt Lake had won
Saturday, Dec. 11. It is the all three previous play-
fi rst time that the Timbers off matches against the
have hosted the league
Timbers, including the
championship.
last meeting in 2019 when
The Timbers, who won RSL won 2-1 at home in
the MLS Cup in 2015, also the opening round.
went to the fi nal in 2018
But the Timbers swept
but fell to Atlanta United. Salt Lake in their three
“It was a very strong
meetings during the regu-
performance. The guys
lar season, outscoring their
were motivated,” Timbers opponent 12-4 in the three
coach Giovanni Savarese matches.
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Becky from troop 50042 is trying to earn her GS Silver award
by collecting donations from our caring community
Please place your donations in the barrel. Anything would be appreciated. Barrels are
located at Safeway, Grocery Outlet and Albertson’s
Donations needed: Dog food wet and dry • Cat food wet and dry • Cat litter
• Bedding for cats and dogs • Dog and cat toys • Collars and Leashes, etc.
Help Becky earn her Girl Scout Silver Award! Please donate today! The barrels will be here 11/11/21 through 12/27/21
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