Ramblings from the Ultimate Sports Sentimentalist

For the fourth-straight year, I will be publishing weekly November columns analyzing the conference championship races.  Bold teams have already clinched their division or conference.  Italicized teams are my predicted champions of their respective conferences/divisions at this point in time.  This list is updated through all week 10 games.

ACC Atlantic- Florida State (If the Noles knock off Maryland next weekend, then the division is theirs.  If they somehow slip-up, then Clemson wins the Atlantic assuming they beat NC State.)

ACC Coastal- Miami-FL (Wow… this is one is getting wild!  We now have a three-way tie at the top of the Coastal standings between Miami, Georgia Tech, and Duke.  These three teams only play a combined two more conference games: Duke at Georgia Tech and Miami at Duke.  I’ll give the Hurricanes the edge here, as I believe Duke will lose both of their remaining games and Miami will win the head to head tiebreaker over the Yellow Jackets.  However, if the Blue Devils pull off a shocker over GT next weekend, then we will have a de facto division title game between Duke and Miami to end the year!)

Big 12- Kansas State (The Wildcats clinch the conference with either a win over Baylor next weekend or a victory against Texas in the season finale.)

SEC East- Georgia

SEC West- Alabama (The Tide need to win the Iron Bowl to clinch the division.  Otherwise, we’ll likely have a wild three-way tie between the Tide, LSU, and Texas A & M.)

Big East- Cincinnati (I’m predicting Rutgers lose to Cincy and then beat the Cards to setup a tie between the Scarlet Knights and Bearcats for the Big East Crown.  Cincy will have won the head-to-head matchup, so they’ll get a surprise trip to a BCS Bowl.)

Big Ten Legends- Nebraska (The Huskers and Wolverines are tied atop the Legends division standings, but Nebraska owns the tiebreaker over Michigan and has the easier stretch run.)

Big Ten Leaders-Wisconsin

Pac-12 North- Oregon (The Ducks can clinch the division crown with a win at home over Stanford next weekend.)

Pac-12 South- Southern California (UCLA and USC play a de facto Pac-12 South championship game this Saturday!)

Mountain West- San Diego State/Fresno State/Boise State (There is now a three-way tie atop the MWC standings between Fresno State, San Diego State, and Boise.  All three teams should win out from this point, which would create a gridlock situation, as the MWC has no established tiebreaker rules.)

C-USA East- Central Florida (Oddly enough, the biggest obstacle standing between UCF and the conference title game is the pending NCAA sanctions which are currently on appeal.  The Golden Knights have a one game lead over ECU and also own the head to head tiebreaker over the Pirates.)

C-USA West- Tulsa (The Golden Hurricane clinches the division with either a home win over UCF next weekend or a road victory over SMU to end the season.)

MAC East- Kent State (The landscape of this division changed drastically this week, as both Ohio and Miami-OH suffered stunning losses.  As a result, outsiders Bowling Green and Kent State will play in a de facto MAC East title game this Saturday at Bowling Green.)

MAC West- Northern Illinois (Despite the Rockets’ shocking home loss to Ball State on Tuesday, the Rockets and Huskies square off in will still be a de facto division title game this Wednesday.)   

Sun Belt- Arkansas State (Leave it to the Sun Belt to have the wildest and most convoluted conference title race in the entire county.  If both Arkansas State and MTSU beat Troy in successive weeks, then they will meet in a de facto conference championship game on Saturday December 1^st in Jonesboro, AR.  A Red Wolves win over the Blue Raiders gives them the conference crown regardless of what they do against Troy.  Meanwhile, if MTSU loses to Troy and then beats Arkansas State, then things get complicated again, as UL-Lafayette and UL-Monroe could both get thrown back in the mix.)

WAC- Louisiana Tech (It appears that preseason favorites LA Tech and Utah State will decide the league crown with their November 17^th showdown, but dark horse San Jose State could create a three-way tie for the title if LA Tech beats Utah State before losing to the Spartans the following weekend.)