It’s official. For the 2024 FBS season, the College Football Playoff will expand to twelve teams. Everyone involved had to wait for the Rose Bowl, college football’s stubborn grandpa, to come to an agreement to be a part of the newly expanded playoff format. The Rose Bowl wanted to keep its status and it’s Big Ten vs. Pac-12 format. The officials basically told the Rose Bowl to fuck themselves with a rusty hammer and if they didn’t at least come to a compromise with the College Football Playoff, they would be out for good. If that had happened, the future of the Rose Bowl would have been in serious doubt. In the end, they all figured out a way to still make the Rose Bowl an integral part of the CFP (which they should be) without the Rose Bowl getting special treatment.
The new CFP will take the top six conference champions, regardless of conference, and six Wild Card teams. This guarantees at least one spot for the Group of Five with the possibility for two. As you probably know, first round games will be on campus and will be played around December 21st to give teams enough times to prepare for the quarterfinals which will be held between December 31st and January 2nd. What this does for the future of Bowl Season is up in the air. I can’t see the rest of the bowls all continuing going forward but who knows. The NCAA may just make it so 5 wins is the new cutoff for bowl-eligibility.
Alright let’s just get to what you’re here for: conference championship weekend. Everything comes into (mostly) perfect vision once these games are completed. And now that divisions are slowly going away in conferences (the Pac-12 has no divisions this year), we will be getting better games going forward. I honestly wonder if they should just have a regular week going forward but I know there’s a lot of money in staging these championship games.
Friday
| Conference USA Championship: New Mexico State (+10.5) at Liberty | 7:00 |  | |
This network continues to be smart in the way they figure out WHEN to put a game. They get an entire national audience for almost an entire half and then, if the game is close, many people will stick with it to the end. Brilliant. Plus, with the added possibility of seeing a potential New Year’s Six berth clinched here, it means they should get more eyeballs on this game than ever before. Prediction: This game is the biggest one, not only in Liberty’s history, but in Conference USA’s history. This is their chance to put a team in the New Year’s Six for the first time. The first part gets done this night. Liberty 39 New Mexico State 34.
| Pac-12 Championship: #11 Utah vs. #4 USC (in Paradise, NV) | 8:00 PM |  | |
Now FOX I don’t think is smart at all putting this game here. 6:00 local time on a Friday night? Ugh. The conference and the network never seem to learn. I guess it’s better than having it in Santa Clara but it’s only a slight improvement. Maybe one day FOX will figure it out and keep this game on Saturday. Prediction: USC makes a bit of a statement and solidifies their spot in the College Football Playoff. USC 44 Utah 17.
Saturday Early
| Big XII Championship: #10 Kansas State vs. #3 TCU (in Arlington) | Noon |  | |
No Texas. No Oklahoma. This feels a bit weird. But nice. It’s a fresh matchup, at least in terms of conference championship weekend. TCU wins here and they get their College Football Playoff spot, much to the chagrin of a few fanbases and ESPN as a whole. A Wildcats win and all hell may break loose. I normally like chaos but TCU would be a CFP newbie and I like that as well. Prediction: The Horned Frogs will prevail and then we will wait to see if they can prove they belonged in the first place. TCU 39 Kansas State 32.
| MAC Championship: Ohio vs. Toledo (in Detroit) | Noon |  |  |
One of only two conference championship games on TSN this Saturday. Again, blame the World Cup but I have a feeling this may be the future of what we see with college football on TSN. And it was going so well for a while. Oh well. Important? Not really as there isn’t even a 100% guarantee that the MAC champion would play in Detroit again at the Quick Lane Bowl. Prediction: Meaningless game but it should be a close one. Ohio 31 Toledo 30.
Saturday Afternoon
| Valparaiso at New Mexico State | 3:00 PM |  |
Up until yesterday, this game was super important to the Aggies. They needed to win to get in. Now, the game means less because the Aggies’ waiver has been accepted and they will be chosen before schools in the 5-7 APR pool. So it’s almost a guarantee that they will be going bowling. Prediction: This shouldn’t be close. New Mexico State 51 Valparaiso 7.
| Sun Belt Championship: Coastal Carolina at Troy | 3:30 PM | |  |
It’s amazing how few of these games have any importance. Especially with how Group of Five tie-ins are almost never adhered to…at least in any particular conference order. Prediction: It’s football and if it’s close I will venture to it at some point. Like flies to shit (or maybe a better analogy than that). Troy 40 Coastal Carolina 24.
| Mountain West Championship: Fresno State at Boise State | 4:00 PM | | |
If the Bulldogs and Broncos hadn’t had such terrible non-conference starts to their season, this might have been important. Prediction: I have no preference here as it’s a game that should probably be on at night in the cold on the blue turf. Fresno State 38 Boise State 35.
| SEC Championship: #14 LSU vs. #1 Georgia (in Atlanta) | 4:00 PM |  | |
It used to be that no conference dared to go up against the SEC Championship, at least in full. Now they do. It’s not an overall bad idea because if this game is not close then a lot of people will change the channel (or should…I don’t understand people who will stick with games that are way out of hand unless you are a fan of either team). Prediction: This will be close…for maybe about three quarters. Georgia 42 LSU 20.
| American Championship: #22 UCF at #18 Tulane | 4:00 PM | | |
This is for the Cotton Bowl spot. Does UCF really deserve to be here with this opportunity? I don’t think so. Saying that, other than Tulane, no Group of Five team has really knocked it out of the park this season and even the Green Wave have had their hiccups. Prediction: Tulane will be the next new team to clinch a New Year’s Six bowl spot. Tulane 26 UCF 23.
| SWAC Championship: Southern at Jackson State | 4:00 PM |  | |
I still think Jackson State should have gone into the FCS Playoffs as I think they would have a good chance to go far, if not win the whole damn thing. Instead, they are here playing for the SWAC Championship. I’m sorry; who in their right fucking mind would think JSU is not the best HBCU football school this year if they lose here? So dumb. Prediction: JSU mops the floor with Southern in what should be Deion Sanders’ coaching finale in Jackson. Jackson State 52 Southern 21.
Saturday Primetime
| ACC Championship: #23 North Carolina vs. #9 Clemson (in Charlotte) | 8:00 PM | | |
This is for the Orange Bowl spot. That’s it. Loser goes into the regular bowl pool. I still don’t understand why either the ACC or Big Ten doesn’t move their championship game to Noon but I think I’ve beaten that horse to the point where it’s pulp now. Prediction: I think this may be an unpopular pick but as I stated in my bowl projections post, I think Drake Maye goes off and the Tar Heels win a shootout and shock the Tigers. North Carolina 47 Clemson 43.
| Big Ten Championship: Purdue vs. #2 Michigan (in Indianapolis) | 8:00 PM | | |
Do I think this game has meaning? Not really. Michigan is in the CFP. They may fall to #4 if they lose here but I can’t see them falling any farther. I guess there’s more to this game for the Boilermakers since a win puts them, improbably, in the Rose Bowl. Prediction: No Purdue fan should book a ticket to Pasadena. Just don’t. Michigan 45 Purdue 17.
We are nearing the end. Regular season is over. Conference championships will end tomorrow night. However, this is where the excitement should ramp up. Games sometimes mean a hell of a lot more than they would have two months ago. Cross your fingers that we have some dandies this weekend. I am crossing mine. Enjoy the games everyone!
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