College Football Conference Championship Outlook

With just two weeks left of the college football regular season, first of all, fuck. I would do a lot of questionable things to just have Football year-round. With that being said, there’s nothing we can do about it, so let’s look at who’s locked in to a conference championship appearance, and what other teams can do to secure a spot. If I state a record (for teams who haven’t clinched a spot yet) it’s their conference record, since that’s the only one that matters. Also, for the sake of me not going insane looking at schedules, I’m only going to say the most likely/simplest options. Im not going to get in to “if team A goes 2-0 they’re in or if team A goes 1-1 and team B goes 1-1 they’re in or if team A goes 0-2 and team B goes 0-2 or if Team A goes 1-1 and team B goes 1-0 and has their last game cancelled due to an earthquake”, I’m just a college student not a god damn ESPN ticker. Lastly, I will do a prediction of who I think is going to win each division. ACC Atlantic division Clemson has clinched a spot in the ACC Championship, and unless they have a huge fuck-up against either South Carolina (who already upset Georgia this year) or whatever 2/3 loss team they play in the conference championship, they are pretty much a lock  to be in the CFB Playoff Coastal division Virginia(5-2): Virginia locks in their spot in the conference championship with a win against Virginia Tech on November 29th * Pitt(4-2): Pitt is at a disadvantage with a loss to Virginia, but they’ll be in if Virginia loses to VA Tech and they win out against VA Tech and Boston College * Virginia Tech(4-2): VT is in a relatively good position, as they control their path with both remaining games against Pitt and Virginia. If they win those, they’re in ACC Championship prediction: Clemson vs VA Tech American East division -Cincinnati(6-0): Cincinnati just has to win one of their last two games (vs Temple this week, @Memphis next week) and they’ll be in the American Conference Championship. If they win out and win the conference, they more than likely will be the G5 team to get a bid in a New Year’s Six bowl game. -Temple(4-2): If Temple wins out and Cincy loses out, they’re in (Also maybe if UCF loses one more?) - UCF(4-2): The only way I think UCF May have a shot is if Temple, UCF, and Cincinnati all go 6-2 in conference. If that happened, UCF has beaten Temple, Temple would have beaten Cincinnati, and Cincinnati has beaten UCF. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure of the AAC tiebreaker rules, but I’m not worried because I don’t think that’s going to happen. West Division - Memphis(5-1): If Memphis can win out (@ USF, vs Cincinnati) they will clinch their spot, and like Cincinnati who is ranked just one spot ahead, they really control their path to a NY6 bowl game. - SMU(5-1): with their head-to-head loss to Memphis earlier this year, SMU needs to win out and have Memphis drop one of their last two in order to get in - Navy(5-1): Navy is in the same spot as SMU, they need Memphis to drop one game and Navy needs to win out.  American championship prediction: Cincinnati vs SMU Big 12 - Oklahoma(6-1): If the Sooners can win one of their last two they’ll get in, but they need to win out to have a realistic shot at the playoff - Baylor(6-1): literally the exact same as Oklahoma - Oklahoma State(4-3): I know I said I wanted to stay away from the goofy shit, but the Big 12 not having divisions is making it difficult. OKST gets in if Oklahoma (not Baylor) loses out AND Texas loses one more. - Texas(4-3): win out and Baylor (not Oklahoma) has to lose out Big 12 championship prediction : Oklahoma vs Baylor Big Ten East Division -Ohio State(7-0): beating Penn State this week will clinch a spot in the championship for the Buckeyes, winning out and winning the Big Ten will clinch a spot in the playoff - Penn State(6-1): If Penn State wins out they’ll be in, maybe in the playoff too, although the playoff committee would probably put 3 SEC teams in before a one-loss Big Ten school, not named Ohio State, gets in - Michigan(5-2): Penn State and OSU would both have to lose out, along with the Wolverines winning their last two remaining games West Division - Minnesota(6-1): if by some act from hell the Gophers win out, they’ll be in their first Big Ten championship appearance -Wisconsin(5-2): if the Badgers can just not shit the bed against Purdue, and then beat the Gophers on the road, Bucky will be back in Indianapolis. - Iowa/Illinois(both 4-3): kinda like UCF, the winner of these two (they play Saturday) might have some weird tiebreaker shot, but I doubt it. Both teams need Minnesota to lose out and the Badgers to lose to Purdue for that to happen though. Big Ten Championship prediction: Ohio State vs Wisconsin Conference USA East Division -Marshall(5-1): If the Thundering Herd beat Charlotte and FIU in their last two games, they’ll be in the C-USA championship game -FAU(5-1): with a loss to Marshall earlier this year, FAU needs to win out and have Marshall lose one game -Western Kentucky(4-2): the Hilltoppers or whatever they’re called are at a big disadvantage, already losing to Marshall and FAU. If both those teams lose out, Western Kentucky can sneak in if they themselves win out. West division -LA Tech(5-1): all they have to do is win out and they’re in -Southern Miss(5-1): win out, and have LA Tech lose one of their last two games -UAB(4-2): personally this is the team I like to root for out of this “subpar” conference. The blazers won me over when they ripped out the hearts of many by cancelling football, but brought it back just two years later. For UAB to get in to the conference championship it may have to be another Cinderella story, as they need to win out and Southern Miss needs to lose out. C-USA Championship prediction: Marshall vs LA Tech MAC East division -Miami-Ohio has clinched the MAC East West division - Western Michigan(5-2): the broncos get in with a win in their last game against Northern Illinois - Central Michigan(5-2): CMU needs to win their last game against Toledo and have WMU lose to NIU to sneak in to the championship - Toledo: Toledo can get in if they win out and Western Michigan loses to NIU (central Michigan also has to lose out but their only game left is against Toledo) MAC Championship prediction: Miami(OH) vs Western Michigan Mountain West Mountain division - Boise St(6-0): Boise will clinch a spot in the MWC Championship game with a win this week against Utah State - Air Force(5-1): Air Force needs to win out, and have Boise St. lose out - Utah State(5-1): Utah State needs to win out, and have Air Force lose one more game West Division - San Diego State(5-2): SDSU will be in with a win against Hawaii - Hawaii(4-3): Hawaii can clinch a spot if they beat SDSU MWC Championship prediction: Boise St. vs SDSU Pac-12 North division - Oregon has clinched a spot in the Pac-12 championship, but will need to win out to have a shot at the playoff. They also probably need to win their last games by a lot, although ideally they’d play Utah in the championship game to boost their resume South division - Utah(6-1): Utah gets in if they win out, and like Oregon, needs to play very well to have a realistic shot at the playoff - USC(6-2): USC can get in if they win their last game against UCLA and Utah loses one of their last two Pac-12 championship prediction: Oregon vs Utah SEC East division: - Georgia has already clinched the SEC East, but winning out and winning the SEC championship should lock them in to the playoff West division - LSU(6-0): if the Tigers can beat 2-8 Arkansas and then Texas A&M they will be playing for an SEC championship, and also their first playoff birth - Alabama(6-1): Bama needs LSU to lose out in order for the Tide to play Georgia in the Championship game SEC championship prediction: Georgia vs LSU Sun Belt East division: - Appalachian St(5-1): App State is a long shot to be the G5 team in a NY6 bowl, but as long as they win out they’ll at least win their division -Georgia Southern(4-2): with a win over App St, Georgia Southern needs to win out and have App St lose just one of their remaining games West Division - University of Louisiana(5-1): the Raging’ Cajuns need to win one of their last two to make it in - Arkansas St(4-2): ARKST needs to win out and have UL lose out to make the Sun Belt championship game Sun Belt championship prediction: App St. vs Arkansas St

The best/worst time of the year is coming