The University of Utah closed out the regular season by routing the Colorado Buffaloes 66-21. The once forced rivalry that the Pac-12 tried to dub as The Rumble in the Rockies has been anything but that over the years. The one-sided matchup’s biggest cheer on Saturday arguably came when it was announced in the stadium that Oregon lost, keeping the Utes’ Pac-12 Championship Game hopes alive.

Let’s revisit last week’s burning questions and look ahead to the rematch with USC in the for the conference championship:

Which version of Rising shows up?

Cam Rising looked more like himself against Colorado. He had a near perfect performance with crisp passes. Rising completed 17 of 19 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns. Utah’s offensive leader was able to get into a rhythm, connecting with several key players in some tight throwing windows.

He gave way to Bryson Barnes in the second half, as the Utes led 42-0 by the end of the second quarter. Rising is regaining his form just in time for round two against Caleb Williams.

Will Colorado be playing for their coach?

The Utes closed out the regular season easily surpassing the Colorado Buffaloes holding them 184 yards of total offense. By the end of the first half Colorado had only completed one first down and had -10 yards rushing.

The Utes made Colorado uncomfortable all night. The Buffaloes showed some fight, but they were far overmatched by Utah.

Is “doable chaos” realistic?

After falling out of making it to the PAC-12 Championship Game the easy way, Utah had to rely on their Pac-12 counterparts UCLA, Oregon State and Washington to take down Cal,, Oregon and Washington State. A chaotic thought, but doable.

UCLA had a close and uncomfortable 35-28 win over Cal. Oregon State came back from a 20 point deficit to beat Oregon 38-34 in a miraculous comeback. Then the Utes had to stay up late to see Washington run away from Washington State late in the Apple Cup, 51-33. This will be the fourth appearance in the Pac-12 Championship Game for the Utes since 2018.

The USC Trojans will now look to avenge themselves against Utah at Allegiant Stadium, while the Utes look to hand the Trojans another loss and win back-to-back Pac-12 Championships.

Let’s take a look at our burning questions for the Championship game:

Can Utah contain Caleb Williams

The supposed Heisman front-runner is a talent. You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him. He had an electrifying performance on October 15th in his first Utah matchup, but he was out-done by Utah’s Cam Rising. He threw for 381 yards and five touchdowns, but Rising threw for 415 yards, two touchdown passes, and ran for three more.

Williams will be out for revenge, but Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham credits the turning point of the season for Utah’s defense as the second half against the Trojans.

Utah’s ability to contain him will rely heavily on the status of defensive end Jonah Elliss, who missed the Colorado game as a precaution. Utah will also benefit greatly from the expected return of Jim Thorpe Award finalist, Clark Phillips III and his big play ability. Additionally, as a change since the USC game, star safety Cole Bishop has played more of a nickelback role, further solidifying the positive progression of Utah’s defense.

Can the Utes offense wreak havoc on the Trojan’s defense?

This will be all dependent on limiting turnovers, something Rising does well when healthy. USC’s defense gives up a lot of yards for being a team on the cusp of the CFP—405 total yards per game, with 256.8 coming through the air and 147.2 on the ground.

In their first meeting, USC had no answer for Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid, even when they knew the play was going to him. Despite leaving the Colorado game sore after a hard fall, he should play against USC, which would be unwelcome news for a team that allowed him to rack up 16 catches for 234 yards and one touchdown.

The key, however, could be with a suddenly dangerous looking run game led by a healthy Micah Bernard and a suddenly tantalizingly dangerous Ja’Quinden Jackson.

Can the Utes defend their Pac-12 crown?

That’s the million dollar question, or somewhere in the $900,000+ range that a sports bettor hopes doesn’t come true, as they placed the sizable bet with Caesars Sportsbook according to Caesars writer Max Meyer.

The point is, USC is suddenly everyone’s darling as they’re on the doorstep to a CFP berth, and as Whittingham pointed out in his Monday presser, his team thrives with a chip on their shoulder.