2015 Pac-12 Football Championship Game

2015 Pac-12 Football Championship Game
2015 Pac-12 Football Championship Game
Conference Championship
USC Trojans	Stanford Cardinal
(8–4)	(10–2)
22	41
Head coach: ; Clay Helton	Head coach: ; David Shaw
Date	December 5, 2015
Season	2015
Stadium	Levi's Stadium
Location	Santa Clara, CA
MVP	Christian McCaffrey, RB, Stanford
Favorite	Stanford by 4.5
National anthem	Brian McKnight
Referee	Terry Leyden
Halftime show	John Ondrasik
Attendance	58,476
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN, ESPN Deportes
Announcers	ESPN: Brad Nessler, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe; ESPN Radio: Adam Amin, David Norrie and Olivia Harlan
Pac-12 Football Championship Game
< 2014	2016 >

2015 Pac-12 Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
North Division
No. 3 Stanford x$	8	–	1	12	–	2
No. 19 Oregon	7	–	2	9	–	4
Washington State	6	–	3	9	–	4
California	4	–	5	8	–	5
Washington	4	–	5	7	–	6
Oregon State	0	–	9	2	–	10
South Division
USC xy	6	–	3	8	–	6
No. 17 Utah x	6	–	3	10	–	3
UCLA	5	–	4	8	–	5
Arizona State	4	–	5	6	–	7
Arizona	3	–	6	7	–	6
Colorado	1	–	8	4	–	9
Championship: Stanford 41, USC 22
$ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

The 2015 Pac-12 Football Championship Game was played on Saturday, December 5, 2015 at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California to determine the champion of the Pac-12 Conference in football for the 2015 season. It was the fifth championship game in Pac-12 Conference history. The game featured the South Division Co-champion USC Trojans against the North Division champion Stanford Cardinal.

Stanford defeated USC 41–22 to win their third conference championship game.^[1]

History

The game was the fifth football conference championship for the Pac-12 Conference (or any of its predecessors). Last season, the Oregon Ducks defeated the Arizona Wildcats 51–13 for the conference championship and represented the conference in the 2015 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The Ducks then advanced to play in the first CFP National Championship on January 12, 2015 against the Ohio State Buckeyes for the national championship.

Teams

The Stanford Cardinal faced the USC Trojans for the second time in the 2015 season, having won by a score of 41–31 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum earlier in the year.^[2]

Stanford

Stanford returned to the Pac-12 Championship for the third time since its inception. Stanford was led by fifth-year head coach David Shaw, QB Kevin Hogan, and RB Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey averaged 255 all-purpose yards heading into the game.

USC

USC competed in the championship game for the first time since the conference expanded to 12 teams. USC and Utah tied for first place in the South Division, but USC won the tiebreaker by beating the Utes in the head-to-head matchup that season. Leading the team were senior QB Cody Kessler, freshman TB Ronald Jones II, sophomore WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, sophomore CB-WR-RET Adoree’ Jackson.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

Statistics
First downs
Plays–yards
Rushes–yards
Passing yards
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
Time of possession

Notes

John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting performed during the game.

References

^ Thiry, Lindsey; Hiserman, Mike (December 5, 2015). "Stanford defeats USC, 41-22, for Pac-12 championship". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 2, 2024. (subscription required)
^ Goe, Ken (September 20, 2015). "Goe: There is nothing fluky about the 41-31 beating Stanford dished out to USC". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 2, 2024.

[1] Thiry, Lindsey; Hiserman, Mike (December 5, 2015). "Stanford defeats USC, 41-22, for Pac-12 championship". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 2, 2024. (subscription required)

[2] Goe, Ken (September 20, 2015). "Goe: There is nothing fluky about the 41-31 beating Stanford dished out to USC". The Oregonian. Retrieved November 2, 2024.

[1]

[2]

v t e 2015 NCAA football conference championship games
Division I FBS	ACC American Big Ten Conference USA MAC Mountain West Pac-12 SEC
Division I FCS	SWAC

v t e Pac-12 Football Championship Game
Years	2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Venues	Autzen Stadium (2011) Stanford Stadium (2012) Sun Devil Stadium (2013) Levi's Stadium (2014–2019) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (2020) Allegiant Stadium (2021–2023)
Champions	List of Pac-12 Conference football champions

v t e Stanford Cardinal football
Venues	Stanford Field (1905–1921) Stanford Stadium (1921–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games California: Big Game Notre Dame San Jose State: Bill Walsh Legacy Game USC
Culture & lore	Stanford Tree "Come Join the Band" "All Right Now" Stanford Band The Play Stanford Axe T formation 1906–1917 Stanford rugby teams 1894 Chicago game 2007 USC game The Spirit of Stanford Radio KTCT KZSU
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906–1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e USC Trojans football
Venues	Athletic Park (1895–1898) Fiesta Park (1897–1898, 1901–1902, 1904–1906, 1916) Chutes Park (1900) Prager Park (1903) Bovard Field (1904–1910, 1914–1915, 1917–1923) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923–present) Jones Field/Kennedy Field (practice)
Bowls and rivalries	Bowl games Notre Dame Stanford UCLA: Victory Bell
Culture and lore	Traveler George Tirebiter Giles Pellerin "Fight On" Spirit of Troy Student Body Right Tommy Trojan Tribute to Troy Athletics scandal 1967 "Game of the Century" "Bush Push" 2007 Stanford game So This Is College
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks NFL draftees Statistical leaders
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National championship seasons in bold