With No. 3 Oklahoma seemingly locked into a College Football Playoff spot, OSU steps in as the league’s top representative in the Sugar Bowl: Jan. 1 in the Superdome (New Orleans).
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While most of the focus on Saturday’s slate of games is fixated on the SEC, ACC and Big Ten title games, it’s important to remember that there are a lot of very good football games that will be happening as well.
An Alabama win over Florida in the SEC Championship elevates the stakes further, leaving two spots for three championships. But the only team they’ve beaten by that much over the last month is Wake Forest, 33-13 in a game Clemson was favored by 28.5 points, during an 0-4 against the spread stretch. I think the Cougars get out with a touchdown victory, but the game will be close throughout. Western Kentucky is scoring 44.2 ppg, while Southern Miss checks in at 41.7 ppg.
Kickoff: Saturday, Noon ET.
Prediction: Houston 34-24 Temple as Houston has its eyes set on a bowl game in the new year.
Ohio State, Stanford, and North Carolina would need one or more of the three conference championship games to have upset winners in order to crack the playoffs.
Alabama’s offense has ignited too behind Heisman favorite Derrick Henry, who leads the nation with 1,797 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns. To answer your question, with the best guess being UCF and USF as the two extra teams added in, to split things up so it’s not so one-sided I’d make it one division of Baylor, Texas, TCU, Texas Tech, UCF and USF, and the other being Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and West Virginia.
Let’s face it. Nobody expected Iowa to be here at the start of the season.
Michigan State and Iowa both positioned themselves to play their way without help. The Big Ten title game is a chance to prove all the critics wrong, and claim a spot in the final four.
Big Ten Championship: No. 4 Iowa vs. No. 5 Michigan State – Fox, 8 p.m: This game is not only for the Big Ten title, but it’s essentially a College Football Playoff quarterfinal.
Kickoff: Saturday, 8 p.m. ET. But competition adjustments must be considered, as Iowa has come under heat all season for its weak schedule. When head coach Steve Sarkisian was sacked, it seemed that all was lost.
Pac-12 Championship: No. 7 Stanford vs. No. 20 USC – ESPN, 7:45 p.m: It annoys me that three of the Power Five conferences will essentially be playing their title games at the same time.
Prediction: USC 27-24 Stanford in a hard-fought battle for Pac-12 bragging rights. And finally in primetime is UNC vs Clemson (1).
Pick: Florida plus-18 Gators coach Jim McElwain will have some offensive wrinkles to surprise the Crimson Tide, and at least stay within the number.
Can undefeated Clemson complete its dream season by beating North Carolina in the ACC championship game? This will be Clemson’s toughest test of the season on Saturday, as there is a lot on the line for both teams. After a shocking season-opening loss to a bad SC team, the Tar Heels have run off 11 straight wins, and have one of the best offenses in the country. What happened to the four best teams? Look for the Tar Heels to be on the heels (pun intended) of the Tigers for most of the game, but it will be Clemson and Watson who come away with the victory and a 13-0 record.
Michigan State with the use of a miracle finish and win at Michigan earlier this year and an epic road win at Ohio State (without one of the nation’s best quarterbacks in Connor Cook) are primed to get to territory they haven’t been in since the 1960s.
From a psychological standpoint, the Sooners probably would come into a game with Clemson bearing more of a grudge and looking for redemption after the way Oklahoma was embarrassed last bowl season in a 40-6 thrashing by the Tigers and former OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables’ Clemson defense. Trevone Boykin, who missed TCU’s last game and was still favoring his injured ankle, had a one-yard TD run in the first overtime, then threw for a TD to take the lead in the second OT.
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Kickoff: Saturday, 4 p.m. ET.
