The Pac-12 has missed the College Football Playoff three times in the first five years of the playoff era, which means the 2019 Pac-12 Championship at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California on Friday, Dec. 6 will be a critical day in the conference’s perception and success nationally.

Oregon clinched the Pac-12 North in Week 12 with a 34-6 win over Arizona, while Utah leads the Pac-12 South by half a game over USC with two games to go for the Utes (and just one for the Trojans). USC, however, has a head-to-head win over Utah in case the two schools finish with the same conference record.

Washington won the Pac-12 Championship last year 10-3 over Utah but with a 10-3 record, the Huskies were No. 9 in the selection committee’s final rankings and they weren’t seriously in the playoff hunt.

A school from the Pac-12 North has won the conference championship in seven of the eight seasons since the Pac-12 added a championship game in 2011. Stanford has won it three times, Washington has won two of the last three, and Oregon won in 2011 and 2014. USC won the Pac-12 Championship in 2017.

MORE: We Asked Players How They Watch Film; Here’s What They Said