Week 12 College Football Championship Analysis
Posted by deaconcat08 on November 22, 2010
2010 Conference Championship Analysis:
For the second-straight year, I will be publishing weekly November columns analyzing the conference championship races. Bold teams have already clinched their division. Italicized divisions are my predicted champions at this point in time.
ACC Atlantic- Florida State (I know most people think NC State is going to win this division after their upset over UNC, but I’ve been picking FSU to win the Atlantic since the summer so why stop with one week to go? All the Pack need to do is win at Maryland on Saturday, but that will be easier said than done with loads of pressure on.)
ACC Coastal- Virginia Tech (This team could be sitting on the verge of a national championship berth if not for a controversial reversal of block in the back penalty in their opener versus Boise.)
Big 12 North- Nebraska (Watch out Huskers! It seemed like they had this division in the bag, but a tough loss to A & M now sets up a must win against a surprisingly resurgent Colorado team. Nebraska should win, but you can’t rule out anything when it comes to rivalry games.)
Big 12 South- Oklahoma State (The Big 12 South will come down to the Oklahoma-OSU on Saturday with Gameday there to cover it. If OSU wins, they are outright champs, but an Oklahoma victory sets up a three-way tie between OU, OSU, and A & M. The tiebreaker is the BCS standings, so the division will almost assuredly go to Oklahoma if the Sooners were to pull of this upset.)
SEC East- South Carolina (Go Gamecocks! The Chicken Curse is over!)
SEC West- Auburn* (There is an asterisk by Auburn’s SEC West title because it may be vacated within the next couple of weeks depending on the Cam Newton fallout.)
Big East- Pittsburgh (The Wannstache bounced back after a tough loss to UConn by taking care of USF. A lot of people are picking WVU or UConn to win this conference, but I still like Pitt’s chances. They still have a one-game lead on the rest of the conference, and they get West Virginia at home on Friday.)
Big Ten- Wisconsin (The Badgers will win the three-way BCS tiebreaker over OSU and Michigan State. Therefore, all they need to do is beat Northwestern at home on Saturday.)
Pac-10- Oregon (The Ducks have clinched the conference crown but they better be careful in their final two games.)
Mountain West- TCU (The Frogs are currently the only team that is guaranteed to finish unbeaten this season.)
WAC- Boise State (The Broncos will clinch the WAC if they beat Nevada on the day after Thanksgiving. If they somehow lose, then there will be a wild three-way tie at the top between Hawaii, Nevada, and the Broncos.)
C-USA East- UCF (The Golden Knights only need to beat Memphis on Friday to win the C-USA East)
C-USA West- SMU (This is one of the tightest division races in the country. Tulsa and SMU are tied. The Mustangs have the head-to-head tiebreaker, but both squads have tricky final games this Friday. Tulsa plays Southern Miss at home on Friday, and SMU plays at ECU. SMU will of course clinch if the Mustangs and the Hurricane both win, or if they both lose. I personally think that both teams win, but if the latter scenario happens, then SMU will be the C-USA East champ with a 6-6 record. If this is the case, then the Mustangs will shockingly be ineligible for a bowl if they lose their conference title game!)
MAC East- Ohio (With the Bobcats’ stunning upset of Temple last Tuesday, Ohio is now in the driver’s seat for the division crown. They can clinch with a Miami-OH loss to Temple on Tuesday or a win over Kent State on Friday.)
MAC West- Northern Illinois (It’s a shame the Huskies still aren’t in the top 25.)
Sun Belt- FIU (They just need to split games against Arkansas State and MTSU to clinch the conference crown and a bowl game. Both matchups are at home, and I really think the Golden Panthers may seal the deal Saturday against the Red Wolves)