The race for the Pac-12 title is the tightest in any Power Five conference this season. With just three games left in the regular season, four teams still have a strong chance to take the title. Those teams are Oregon, USC, UCLA, and Utah football, all of which have one or zero losses in conference play.

Those four teams are all in the top 15 of the latest College Football Playoff rankings, which ties the Pac-12 with the SEC for the most of any conference. If they can all win this weekend, next weekend will be one of the biggest in conference history. On Nov. 19, Oregon hosts Utah while UCLA hosts USC, and the two winners will likely meet in the conference championship game.

While Utah currently sits in fourth in the conference, no one should rule out the Utes just yet. Their playoff chances are dead after losses to both Florida and UCLA earlier this season. However, the Utes still have a great chance to win the Pac-12, and they'd love nothing more than to block their rivals' playoff hopes.

Let's go over a few reasons why Utah football will win the Pac-12 this season.

3. Utah has the tiebreaker over USC

On Oct. 15, Utah earned its biggest win of the season by far. The Utes, fresh off a loss to UCLA the previous week, hosted the then-undefeated Trojans in a primetime showdown. The game turned into an offensive shootout, and the Utes prevailed 43-42 thanks to a gutsy two-point conversion in the final minute.

As the Pac-12 race enters its home stretch, this win looms large. Utah has kept pace with USC since that game, and the tiebreaker gives it the edge in the standings. If the last spot in the Pac-12 championship comes down to these two teams, the Utes will get the nod if they have the same conference record.

This means that Utah should root for USC the rest of the way. Not only will it make the win look better, but the Trojans can still knock off the Bruins, who hold a tiebreaker over the Utes. If Utah football can handle its business and USC takes down UCLA, the Utes will get into the Pac-12 championship game.

2. Utah's remaining schedule is manageable

Aside from the big matchup with Oregon, the Utes have the easiest remaining schedule of any Pac-12 contender. Utah hosts Stanford on Saturday night, then closes out the regular season at Colorado on Nov. 26. Those teams have a combined record of 4-15 and 2-12 in Pac-12 play.

With two essentially free wins, Utah should finish 7-2 in conference play at the absolute worst. That game against the Ducks is tough, but maybe not as tough as one might think.

1. Utah dominated Oregon last year

Think back to last November, when Utah and Oregon were both in very similar spots to this season. Despite a loss to Stanford earlier in the year, the Ducks looked like true playoff contenders and climbed all the way up to third in the College Football Playoff rankings. They then matched up with the Utes, and their season started to spiral out of control.

Utah football destroyed Oregon 38-7 in Salt Lake City last season and even took a 28-0 lead at halftime. That humiliating loss dropped the Ducks all the way to 11th in the rankings, although they would get another shot in the conference championship game. That game went just as poorly for the Ducks, as they would lose 38-10 in Las Vegas.

These two games drastically changed the course of both teams' seasons. The Ducks, the runaway favorite in the Pac-12 just weeks earlier, fell all the way to the Alamo Bowl, where they lost decisively to Oklahoma. Meanwhile, the Utes rose all the way to the Rose Bowl, where they played an all-time classic in a narrow loss to Ohio State.

Granted, the main difference this time is that Oregon has home-field advantage. The Ducks have not lost in Eugene since 2018, and taking them down on home turf will be a tough task. But one Pac-12 team has proven that it can handle the Ducks, and that team is Utah football.