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How the Utes won the Pac-12 South title for the second straight year

Utah’s first Pac-12 South championship came with considerable drama, after the Utes lost their first two conference games last season, then had to beat Oregon and Colorado in November without offensive stars Zack Moss and Tyler Huntley.

The Utes’ second title, taking them into Friday’s Pac-12 championship game vs. Oregon, also required some regrouping and an even stronger finish. A loss to USC in Utah’s conference opener meant that eight straight wins would be needed to overtake the Trojans in the standings, and the No. 5 Utes came through.

The players were “very disappointed, very angry and very focused after that game,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said, “and understood that the margin for error was virtually nothing.