For the 14th consecutive season, I have published weekly columns late in the season which analyze all of the FBS conference championship races. Like my bowl bubble watch, there is not really a column like this on any other mainstream college football site. Bolded 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 games played on November 25, 2023.
ACC- Florida State/Louisville (It will be the Cardinals vs. the Noles for the ACC Championship in Charlotte next Saturday night!)
Big 12– Texas/Oklahoma State (The Cowboys will advance to the Big 12 title game to play Texas thanks to their thrilling overtime victory over BYU on Saturday. What a turnaround for Gundy’s crew, as this squad started the season 2-2 with a loss in their conference opener to Iowa State and a blowout loss to South Alabama.)
Big Ten East– Michigan (The Wolverines take down the Buckeyes for the third straight season to advance to the Big Ten title game once again!)
Big Ten West– Iowa (The Hawkeyes have officially clinched the dumpster fire that is the Big Ten West. For the second straight season, I have correctly picked the winner of this division in the preseason, which is not an easy feat given the parity within it.)
Pac-12– Washington/Oregon (It is finally official. Oregon will play Washington next Friday night in the rematch of the game of the year in college football!)
SEC East– Georgia
SEC West– Alabama
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American–Tulane/SMU (It will be Mustangs vs. Green Wave for the AAC title game, a battle of teams who were both undefeated in conference play!)
Conference USA– Liberty/New Mexico State (Shout out to Jerry Kill at New Mexico State who last year took over a program that had won just three combined games over the course of the previous two seasons and has led them to the C-USA title game as well as a shocking upset of Auburn!)
MAC East– Miami-OH
MAC West– Toledo
Mountain West– UNLV/Boise State (The wild and wacky scenario I described last week came true. As stated in this column last Sunday: “The most intriguing and controversial scenario will occur if Boise beats Air Force and San Jose State upsets UNLV. In this situation, UNLV would get one title game spot…, and the other spot would come down to a very close and very mysterious computer ranking comparison between San Jose State and Boise State.” We got some clarification from the league this week about which computer rankings are used to determine the tiebreaker, but until those computer rankings are updated tomorrow (Anderson & Hester, Colley, Massey, and Wolfe), we will not know which two teams advance. Heading into the weekend, SJSU’s average ranking from the four systems was 67.25. Boise State’s average ranking was 61.5. UNLV’s average ranking was 28.5. Therefore, UNLV will advance to play whoever ends up with the better final computer numbers between Boise and San Jose State. Bring back memories of the BCS, anyone?)
Sun Belt East– Appalachian State (The Mountaineers have parlayed their stunning upset of James Madison last weekend into a berth into the Sun Belt title game by following it up with a dominant win over Georgia Southern on Saturday. However, the real winner of this division was the 11-1 James Madison Dukes, who unfortunately are ineligible for the league championship because of their FBS transitional status.)
Sun Belt West– Troy
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In addition to my usual analysis above of every conference/division title race, I am going to rank each race based on the intrigue each provides and the importance each holds in the overall college football landscape. Here are my current rankings of all 14 of the division/conference championship races:
- Big 12 (one spot clinched by Texas; the other spot clinched by Oklahoma State)
- Mountain West (between UNLV, Boise State, and San Jose State)
- Sun Belt East (clinched by Appalachian State)
- Big Ten East (already clinched by Ohio State)
- American (one spot already clinched by Tulane; the other spot clinched by SMU)
- Pac-12 (one spot already clinched by Washington; the other spot clinched by Oregon)
- Big Ten West (already clinched by Iowa)
- ACC (one sport already cliched by Florida State; the other spot already clinched by Louisville)
- MAC East (already clinched by Miami-OH)
- Conference USA (one title game spot already clinched by Liberty; the other spot already clinched by New Mexico State)
- Sun Belt West (already clinched by Troy)
- SEC West (already clinched by Alabama)
- SEC East (already clinched by Georgia)
- MAC West (already clinched by Toledo)
Ramblings of the Ultimate Sports Sentimentalist 