Final spots in conference title games up for grabs
The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12, Big Ten, Southeastern Conference, American Athletic Conference and Sun Belt championship-game matchups are locked in, leaving no drama this weekend in those leagues.
The ACC even went ahead and gave No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 4 Clemson the week off ahead of the Dec. 19 showdown.
What’s left to be decided in college football?
Conference USA: This is a little complicated because Marshall (4-1 in the conference), which was in position to clinch the East Division by beating Charlotte, can’t play because of COVID-19 issues and injuries. Because Marshall beat Florida Atlantic (4-1), the Thundering Herd has clinched without playing, though FAU has a game left. UAB can clinch the West by beating Rice. If not, UTSA is the West champ.
Pac-12: No. 16 Southern California (4-0) likely will win the Pac-12 South if it beats UCLA. The uncertainty comes from No. 21 Colorado (3-0). The Trojans and Buffaloes had their game canceled, so the tiebreaker will be the College Football Playoff rankings. The Trojans were 15th and Colorado was 21st this week. The Buffaloes play Utah this week.
In the North, the winner of Oregon-Washington would be the champ if that game is played.
Mountain West: Boise State is in the title game if it beats Wyoming, against the winner of San Jose State-Nevada. If Boise State loses, it gets more complicated.
Mid-American Conference: No. 24 Buffalo was finally declared the East Division champion Wednesday. The Bulls will
face the winner of Ball State-Western Michigan.
The picks:
No. 1 Alabama (minus 32) at Arkansas: The Tide has won 13 straight in the series, including the last five by an average of 46-18. ALABAMA 45-16.
LSU (plus 23) at No. 6 Florida: The Tigers have not shown much desire to be playing out this season. FLORIDA 49-21.
No. 20 North Carolina (plus 3) at No. 9 Miami: The Hurricanes still feel a little fraudulent as a top-10 team. NORTH CAROLINA 31-28.
No. 11 Coastal Carolina (minus 13½) at Troy: It’s a weird sandwich game for the Chanticleers between last week’s Brigham Young showdown and next week’s Sun Belt title game. COASTAL CAROLINA 31-21.
No. 12 Georgia (minus 13) at Missouri: The Tigers have been surprisingly good under first-year coach Eliah Drinkwitz, but an upset of Georgia would be the crown jewel. GEORGIA 35-24.
San Diego State (plus 16½) at No. 14 Brigham Young: The Cougars look to bounce back from their first loss. BYU 42-20.
Illinois (plus 14) at No.
15 Northwestern: The Wildcats have won five straight and seven of eight of vs. Illinois, their most dominant run in a series that covers 111 games. NORTHWESTERN 24-13.
No. 16 Southern California (minus 3) at UCLA: It’s been tough to tell how seriously to take this Bruins uptick, but they lead the Pac-12 in defense at 5.12 yards per play. UCLA 27-24.
No. 2 5 Wi s c o n - sin (minus 1½) at No. 19 Iowa: The Badgers’ running game has not been reliable, and they are minus-2 in turnover margin. They have a really good defense, though. WISCONSIN 21-18.
Utah (minus 1½) at No. 21 Colorado: The Utes have won seven of nine since the teams joined the Pac-12 together in 2011. COLORADO 24-23.
No. 23 Texas (minus 29½) at Kansas: The Longhorns have questions surrounding the future of their coach, plus uncertainty about whether they can even play because of COVID-19 cases. TEXAS 35-10.
Akron (plus 32½) at No. 24 Buffalo: The Zips broke a 21-game losing streak last week. That streak won’t get to two. BUFFALO 49-21.