Pac-12 Bowl Matchups, Point Spreads: Utah to Rose, USC to Cotton

How did the Trojans go from No. 4 all the way down to No. 10 with a loss in a conference title game?

Seven Pac-12 teams were placed into bowl games, and USC made it to a New Year's Six bowl despite its loss to Utah in the conference title game.

But how did the Trojans drop six spots in the final College Football Playoff rankings to No. 10 while TCU, which lost its conference title game to a team ranked lower than Utah, did not drop at all at No. 3? Granted, the Trojans' margin of defeat was much bigger than TCU's, but stil . . . 

ESPN makes a case for why USC should be upset. It starts with this paragraph below, then goes into extensive details.

Perspective is a funny thing. If the only conversation is who has the better record, then it makes sense to put Ohio State (11-1) ahead of USC (11-2). But look at the comparison from another angle and, well, the conversation gets a little trickier.

Almost as surprising is that USC is only a 1-point favorite over American Athletic Conference champion Tulane in the Cotton Bowl.

Utah gets the Rose Bowl berth as the Pac-12 champ and will face Penn State.

Washington is the only underdog among the seven Pac-12 bowl teams, getting 3.5 points against Texas, even though the Huskies are 12th in the final CFP rankings and Texas is 20th.

Here are the CFP matchups as well as the matchups in the seven bowls involving Pac-12 teams, with the sites, times, TV and betting spreads for each game:

Peach Bowl (CFP national semifinals) -- No. 2 Michigan (13-0) vs. No. 3 TCU (12-1) -- Dec. 31, 5 p.m. Pacific time, Atlanta Ga., ESPN. Michigan favored by 9.5 points.

Fiesta Bowl (CFP national semifinals) -- No. 1 Georgia (13-0) vs. No. 4 Ohio State (11-1) -- Dec. 31, 1 p.m. Pacific time, Glendale, Ariz., ESPN. Georgia favored by 6.5 points.

Rose Bowl -- No. 8 Utah (10-3) vs. No. 11 Penn State (10-2) -- Jan. 2, 2 p.m. Pacific time, Pasadena, Calif., ESPN. This is rated even, or pick 'em. Some sites have Utah favored by 1.5 points; some have Penn State favored by 1.5 points.

Cotton Bowl -- No. 10 USC (11-2) vs. No. 16 Tulane (11-2) -- Jan. 2, 10 a.m. Pacific time, Arlington, Texas, ESPN. USC is favored by 1 point.

Alamo Bowl -- Washington (10-2) vs. Texas (8-4) -- Dec. 29, 6 p.m. Pacific time, San Antonio, Texas, ESPN. Texas is favored by 3.5 points.

Holiday Bowl -- Oregon (9-3) vs. North Carolina (9-4) -- Dec. 28, 5 p.m. Pacific time, San Diego, FOX/FS1. Oregon is favored by 9.5 points.

Las Vegas Bowl -- Oregon State (9-3) vs. Florida (6-6) -- Dec. 17, 11:30 a.m. Pacific time (time change), Las Vegas, ESPN (TV change). Oregon State is favored by 7.5 points.

Sun Bowl -- UCLA (9-3) vs. Pittsburgh (8-4) -- Dec. 30, 11 a.m. Pacific time, El Paso, Texas, CBS. UCLA is favored by 3.5 points.

LA Bowl -- Washington State (7-5) vs. Fresno State (9-4) -- Dec. 17, 12:30 p.m. Pacific time, Inglewood, Calif., ABC. Washington State is faored by 4 points.

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Cover photo by Rob Gray, USA TODAY Sports

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