NFL News NFL News, Reports and Updates
Bowl Subdivision conference championship matchups are finally settled after weeks of uncertainty, setting the stage for the final weekend of the regular season and the final College Football Playoff rankings.
The nine championship games will be played on Friday and Saturday. The playoff rankings and bracket will be released early on Sunday afternoon.
Nearly every game will have some sort of playoff impact. The three exceptions are the Conference USA, Mid-American and Sun Belt championship games, since those leagues will not factor into deciding which Group of Five team earns an automatic playoff bid.
That spot will go to the American Athletic or Mountain West, with those two title games set to take place simultaneously on Friday night. The matchup in the MWC is expected to Boise State against UNLV, though that won’t be official until Tuesday night’s penultimate playoff rankings. Every Power Four matchup will at a minimum influence seeding and which teams earn opening-round byes.
These games will close the door on a crazy regular season and get us set for the postseason:
ACC: SMU (11-1) vs. Clemson (9-3)
The Tigers were able to sneak into this game after Miami dropped a shootout against Syracuse. After losing to South Carolina on Saturday, beating SMU is Clemson’s only shot at reaching the playoff. The Mustangs would’ve been a strong at-large contender with a loss to one-loss Miami, but that may not be the case should they fall to the three-loss Tigers. The odds are rising that the ACC is a one-bid league.
UP AND DOWN: Winners and losers from college football’s Week 14
DAY DONE?: Another loss to Michigan puts Ohio State coach on hot seat
Big 12: Arizona State (10-2) vs. Iowa State (10-2)
This is a win-and-in matchup for a pair of 10-win teams that took slightly different routes to the title game. Iowa State was 7-0…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/previewing-every-college-football-conference-101052146.html
Author : USA TODAY Sports
Publish date : 2024-12-01 10:10:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
