NCAA Football: Conference Championships 2019

         Looks like college (American) football is winding down. It's championship week! This is the current AP top 25 poll. The actual official playoff rankings isn't out yet at the time of the posting. But, I'm gonna go ahead and speculate off of it anyhow.

         Most people would agree with the top 3 teams being where they are at right now. All that's left is each individual conference's championship.

SEC (LSU vs. Georgia)

         LSU will most likely dominate Georgia and I hope that bumps the Bulldogs out of the playoff picture. Even though I am glad Alabama is not a contender this year, I would rather not see 2 SEC teams this year. Of course, that can only happen if the Tigers pull a miraculous loss in the SEC championship game.

Big Ten (Ohio State vs. Wisconsin)

         I have no doubt the Buckeyes will destroy the Badgers. Ohio State has had consistent performance this season. Most people are projecting the national championship game be between OSU and LSU. I'm a Big Ten homer, so I am always rooting for a team from the conference around bowl time.

ACC (Clemson vs. Virginia)

         I got to admit, I wasn't expecting Virginia to be the contender for the ACC title this year. Clemson has been quiet all season despite being one of the undefeated teams. That's an issue with the press, nothing more. I applaud Bronco for making noticeable changes to the Virginia program. But, it's the Cavaliers and they aren't known to be a football powerhouse in recent years. In short, if Clemson can't breeze through Virginia, they won't last past the semi-final game.

Big 12 (Oklahoma vs. Baylor)

         The Big 12 is in a tough spot if they want to push the Sooners into the playoff. They can beat Baylor, but their single loss is to a now unranked Kansas State. This is significant as I discuss the PAC-12 position in the next paragraph. If anything, their best shot is hoping Utah drops the ball (inside joke) against Oregon. At the very least, Oklahoma will be part of a prestige bowl come New Year's.

PAC-12 (Utah vs. Oregon)

         Although I'm not a Utes fan, this is good for football in the West. For those of you who don't know, ESPN bias tends to favor football teams in the East. This is also good for local sports as Utah goes for their first PAC-12 title. Win, they could earn a spot in this year's playoff. Lose, they still did better than previous years.

         They have an advantage over Oklahoma when it comes to rankings. They rank #5 on the polls and their sole loss is to USC, which is now listed as #24. The best part about the Ute's position is that anything they achieve next is icing on the cake.

Penn State

         It's a shame they could not dominate the Big Ten this year, but they will go to a good bowl. The only loss that bothered me was the one against Minnesota. If you haven't figured it out, this is my home team. As consolation, I hope they pull a victory against whoever they play in the bowl game. The Nittany Lions are solid, but I don't see them outclassing their next opponent.

         The game will most likely come down to the last second. This time, I hope they don't choke at the end.

BYU

         By this point, who cares. They are going to some bowl that nobody cares about and likely lose as a result. My alma mater hasn't been good at football since 2009. This year would have looked better if they didn't lose to Toledo and South Florida. To be frank, even the loss against SDSU seemed ridiculous.

         They had some quality wins against Boise State, Tennesse, and USC. But, the ugly losses put a damper on the wins. If BYU didn't lose to Toledo and South Florida, they might have had a spot in the top 25.

         Anyways, while we wait for the official NCAA rankings, I figured I'm gonna give my two cents about teams. I don't care much for the other conferences, so you can look them up on ESPN yourselves.

         If you are not a football fan, oh well.