The Pac-12 South title will run through Los Angeles

It’s official, the Pac-12 South title win run through Los Angeles.

UCLA, USC and Utah are in a three-way tie atop the Pac-12 South standings, but USC already defeated the Utes and UCLA defeated Utah 17-9 on Saturday.

USC earned its third conference loss thanks to a 48-28 pummeling by a red-hot Oregon team, which has now won five straight.

That means that the winner of next week’s UCLA-USC game will earn the right to represent the Pac-12 South in the conference title game.

Now, who that opponent will be is still up in the air.

Stanford leads the Pac-12 North by a game and will play California on Saturday night. If they lose, however, the Cardinal would be tied with Oregon and the Ducks would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker thanks to last week’s 38-36 win.

Few teams in the country have been as hot as Oregon.

Since quarterback Vernon Adams returned from a fractured finger that he suffered in the season opener, the Ducks have played like many expected them to play from the opening game.

Against USC, Adams completed 20 of 25 passes for 407 yards and six touchdowns. All six of the touchdown passes went to six different receivers. The USC secondary seemed unable to figure out the Ducks’ routs as several players were left open for easy grabs and yards after the catch.

Defensively, the Oregon defense, which had been abused through the air during its winning streak, got after quarterback Cody Kessler and then got a bit of luck when receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster suffered an ankle/foot injury when his foot appeared to get stuck in the turf. Smith-Schuster didn’t miss any time, but it was clear he was dealing with that injury as well as the effects of his surgically repaired hand.

UCLA came into its game against Utah knowing that a loss would eliminate them from Pac-12 South title contention. The Utes had struggled since their loss against USC on Oct. 24 and last week’s double-overtime loss to Arizona handed the keys to the Pac-12 South to USC.

It also didn’t help that Utah came into Saturday’s game against the Bruins without star running back Devontae Booker, who had been the most consistent part of the Utes offense. Booker suffered a knee injury against Arizona and was ruled out for the rest of the regular season. Quarterback Travis Wilson managed to throw just 110 yards and rushed for 67. Joe Williams, who replaced Booker, had 121 yards in the loss.

UCLA star freshman quarterback Josh Rosen didn’t have a great game — he completed just 50 percent of his passes — but he did enough to secure the victory. The Bruins scored a touchdown on their first possession and never relinquished the lead.

Both USC and UCLA were in the preseason conversations for the Pac-12 South title, but both took circuitous routes to get there. If UCLA wins next week’s game, it will play in the conference title game for the first time since 2012. It hasn’t won the Pac-12 title since 1998.

USC has never played in the Pac-12 title game (the format started in 2011) and last won a conference title in 2008.

For more UCLA news, visit BruinSportsReport.com. For more USC news, visit TrojanSports.com.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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