The USC Trojans are playing for revenge in the Pac-12 Championship Game. That sort of thing doesn’t decide games, but it’s an obvious motivating factor and a part of the backdrop to this contest.

When two evenly-matched teams do get together in a second game within a season, it’s natural to look at the outcome of the first game and conclude that the losing team will have an extra incentive to win. To be sure, it’s natural for a team that lost — when it gets a second chance — to dig in a little more. The team that won obviously wants to sweep the season series, but it’s not the same.

“Let’s do it again!” doesn’t carry the same weight as “let’s make up for the one game which didn’t go our way this whole season!”

Yet, as much as USC is playing for revenge, Utah is playing to spoil USC’s season. Utah is reading and hearing about USC and the College Football Playoff. The Utes’ annoyance could push them and counterbalance the Trojans’ irritation at having lost on October 15 in Salt Lake City.

This was discussed at The Voice of College Football: