November 29, 2016 v3 p65
The conference regular season is complete and the matchups are set for the conference championship games this weekend. Here’s what I see coming up that should help clear the College Football Championship Playoff picture.
Foxsports
Big Ten – Wisconsin vs Penn St. – The Badgers made it through their division of the conference with a clean slate. Unfortunately for them their two games against the East Division were against two of the top teams in the entire country, and Penn St. had only one loss in conference to Michigan, and that was early in the season, before they got healthy and ran off eight straight wins, including one at home against Ohio State. They bring the most electric running back in the conference in Saquon Barkley to face one of the top defenses in the conference from Wisconsin. If the Badgers can shut down Barkley and get pressure on Quarterback Trace McSorley they should be able to score enough points to pull off a victory, but will that be enough to get them into the playoffs?
SEC – Alabama vs Florida – Alabama rolled through their entire schedule as one of two undefeated teams in the country, and Florida navigated their way through their division and gives a repeat of last year’s SEC Championship. This year shouldn’t be a whole lot different than last as Alabama doesn’t look any worse than last year’s National Championship team, and Florida doesn’t look a whole lot better than the team that got steam rolled by Michigan last year in the Citrus Bowl. This is the first matchup of these teams this year, but Nick Saban shouldn’t have too much trouble winning his third in a row and moving on to the College Football Playoffs.
ACC – Clemson vs Virginia Tech – The Tigers look to win back-to-back conference championships as they face off against the Hokies of Virginia Tech for the first time this year. The Tigers have shown weakness at points this year, resulting in their only loss of the season to Pitt, that they didn’t show last year. It wouldn’t surprise me if Virginia Tech might be overlooked as Clemson expects to advance to the playoffs, win and you’re in, lose and the door opens wide for a lot of debate.
Pac 12 – Washington vs Colorado – This matchup features two teams who have never competed in their conference championship game, but that’s not surprising considering it’s only existed for five years previous to 2016. Neither of these teams were anywhere near the radar when the season started, but that’s one of the beautiful things about college football. If Washington wins they should get into the playoffs, but if Colorado wins it opens even more doors, even wider for, for even more debate about who should be in the playoffs.
Big 12 – Oklahoma vs Oklahoma St. – This game is nicknamed “Bedlam” because it can always cause problems for both teams, but this isn’t really a championship game. Despite going undefeated through the rest of their conference schedule, by far the weakest in the country, the Sooners will probably be left out of the playoffs in favor of a second team from the Big 10 if the right dominoes fall. If Oklahoma State wins, then there won’t be any question to whether or not the Big 12 will be represented.
MAC – Western Michigan vs Ohio – In a matchup that presents a large internal struggle; Dad is a WMU alum, Mom is an Ohio alum, this really doesn’t look like much of a game. The Bobcats of Ohio boast one of the top defenses in the conference, but have yet to face and opponent with the offensive fire power that the Broncos bring to the table. PJ Fleck should have his team ready to “Row the Boat” all the way to the Cotton Bowl, which will most likely be his last coaching gig for the Broncos.
WMU
The entire college football regular season has played out and you can only really point to one team that has secured a playoff spot to this point, Alabama. Everyone else has tripped up somewhere along the way. Michigan’s biggest downfall was the loss on the road to Iowa, if they could have won that game then the outcome at Ohio State wouldn’t have mattered due to tie-breakers. Ohio State slipped in October when they lost on a late blocked field goal attempt that was returned for a touchdown. It will be interesting to see how much the committee weighs conference championships when the playoff pairings are announced at noon on 12/4. I know I’m excited.
The number of games is much smaller than it has been the rest of the season. But the magnitude of those games is unmeasurable against the regular season with so many one loss teams trying to win their conference championship. Be sure to check back here next week to see what I took away from Championship Weekend.
USAToday
The Sporting Dad 