As the Pac-12 football regular season wraps up, the Pac-12 South Division winner is still dependent on Saturday’s matchups.

The Oregon-Washington rivalry game originally scheduled for Saturday was canceled due to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases within the Huskies football team, the conference announced Thursday. Because the Huskies (3-1) have a better winning percentage than the Ducks (3-2), they will likely take the North Division title. Unless the conference announces otherwise, this also solidifies the Huskies’ place in the Pac-12 Football Championship Game.

Attending and winning the Pac-12 Football Championship Game will be more important this year than previous years because of the lack of bowl games available for Pac-12 teams. The Pac-12 added the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl to its lineup, but the conference will still be down four bowl games due to the cancellation of the Sun Bowl, RedBox Bowl, Holiday Bowl, Las Vegas Bowl and Los Angeles Bowl.

More than just acquiring a Pac-12 Championship crown, winning the championship game will be a guarantee of a high-tier bowl game.

The winner of the Pac-12 Football Championship Game will likely play in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl and the runner-up in the Valero Alamo Bowl. After those two bowl games, the conference’s usual automatic bids are heavily depleted and significantly drop in prestige.

USC Trojans (4-0)

USC and Colorado have separated themselves from the rest of their division opponents, but both teams still have work to do to clinch a spot in the conference championship. The Trojans can claim the South with a win over rival UCLA or a Colorado loss to Utah this Saturday.

The Trojans have won four of the last five meetings with UCLA and look to continue that trend this weekend at the Rose Bowl. A win over UCLA would guarantee USC the privilege of hosting the Pac-12 Football Championship Game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, as well.

Colorado Buffaloes (4-0, 3-0 in Pac-12 play)

By no fault of its own, Colorado has played only three conference games after a COVID-19 outbreak on the USC football team canceled their meeting in Week 4. A head-to-head matchup between USC and Colorado would have secured the South Division for the game’s winner.

Instead, USC’s cancellation of the bout forced the Buffaloes to schedule San Diego State, which counts toward Colorado’s total games but not its conference games. Because of this, USC will have more conference games played, leading to the possibility of Colorado being both undefeated and shut out of the Pac-12 Football Championship Game.

Colorado would need a win over Utah and a USC loss to UCLA in order for the Buffaloes to play for the championship. At the time of publication, Utah leads Colorado 27-21 with five minutes left in the game. In the scenario where Colorado wins the Pac-12 South, the Buffaloes would host the championship game at Folsom Field.

The Pac-12 Football Championship Game is scheduled for Dec. 18 at 5 p.m. PT.