The Monday Read: Conference realignment becomes conference invasion with newcomers in Power Four championships

Welcome to conference championship week, where each of the Power Four leagues will have a debutant in its conference championship game. How about that? 

In Year 1 in their new spots, Texas, SMU, Oregon, and Arizona State fit right in and each one of them is favored slightly. Each game’s point spread is within four points. On paper, the close spreads portend a more entertaining slate of games. Last year featured Michigan and Iowa (Wolverines favored by 21.5) and Texas vs. Oklahoma State (Longhorns favored by 14.5). The Wolverines and Longhorns won in blowouts. 

We might still get blowouts this year because the game isn’t played on paper, but despite the messy tiebreaker madness we’ve endured to get to this point the league title games should be more competitive. And thankfully, the ones that don’t have elimination stakes like the ACC, at least have a bye week to play for which is very important no matter how much The Monday Read has been told by folks that it devalues the games. 

How have the newbies navigated new leagues? Let’s unpack. 

Texas (SEC)

Perhaps you’ve heard of the plucky underfunded program from Austin, Texas? A funny thing will happen on Saturday when Texas plays for the SEC title: despite the SEC’s assertion that it is the biggest, baddest and deepest conference in college football, a Big 12 team marched in and finished second in the regular season and sits 60 minutes away from claiming the crown. Is the SEC the best league in the sport? Yes. 

But it is not head and shoulders above, the deeper you…

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Author : Richard Johnson

Publish date : 2024-12-02 20:40:00

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