Is this contest for real or wishful thinking?

The Big Ten title game is shaping up to be the best conference championship game of the weekend.

Wisconsin has held the 2.5 point as the favorite all week. If the Nits are going to win, their defense is going to have to play at the level they showed against Ohio State. I say that because I think Barkley is more banged up than people think and simply because it's going to be a tight, defensive game.

The other key conference championship game to watch this weekend is the Pac 12 title game between Washington and Colorado. 

The Huskies are clear favorites and are currently ranked 4th in the CFB Playoff rankings. But I finally watched a Colorado game last weekend from start to finish last weekend (against a ranked Utah Utes squad) and was blown away by how good their defense is. 

The Buffaloes problem is that their receivers drop a lot of balls, they don't have a real running game, and while they do a decent QB, he's prone to making bad decisions that result in interceptions.

It will help Penn State if Washington loses, so root for the Buffs. The game is tomorrow night on Fox.

Alabama are 25 point favorites over Florida in the SEC championship. It's Nick Saban's universe and we're just living in it.

Clemson plays Virginia Tech for the ACC. Tech shouldn't even be here. They got in because North Carolina pooped the bed against NC State last weekend. But Clemson has played down to their competition a few times this year, so who knows.

And in what amounts to a title game in the Big 12, which doesn't have a formal conference championship game, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State play for the Big 12 championship. The should be a lot of fun.

Other games of note:

Temple plays Navy in Annapolis for the American Athletic Conference title. I think Navy wins (the Option Offense they run is a thing of beauty) but I'm rooting for the Owls

And Villanova travels out to South Dakota State to play in the  second round of the I-AA playoffs.  

Just Fred wrote:

It will be interesting to hear the explanation from the selection committee if this scene plays out:

First of all, remember we were told that conference championships are a high priority.  Ok, OSU is ranked second, and little chance of that changing since their regular season is over ........ they didn't win their division, they didn't qualify for the conference championship. 

So, suppose PSU beats Wisconsin.  PSU won their division, won the conference championship, and beat OSU head-to-head.

So OSU watches PSU on tv but contends for a national championship while PSU wins a conference championship but watches OSU compete for the national championship on tv.

Of course, if the Nits lose to Wisconsin, then everything I wrote on this thread is moot.

 

Let's take that a step further. Let's look at the current standings:

1 - Bama
2 - Ohio St
3 - Clemson
4 - Washington
5 - Michigan
6 - Wisconsin
7 - Penn State.

The Nittany Lions need to jump three teams to get into the playoffs.

Let's assume Penn State beats Wisconsin. They almost need both Clemson and Washington to lose because with Michigan's victory over Penn State, I think that they will get in ahead of PSU

Michigan has two "signature wins" this year against Penn State and Wisconsin. So Michigan has a claim to make that in a head to head matchup that they are better than the Big Ten title winner.

Ohio State has four signature wins against ranked team. They crushed Oklahoma and beat Wisconsin, Nebraska (ranked 10th at the time), and #3 Michigan. I don't see them getting taken out of the Top 4 regardless.

If for some reason Bama were to lose, their resume this year probably keeps them as the 1 seed and I think that would be appropriate, even as the SEC has a relatively weak season as a whole.

So if Washington loses to Colorado, then I think Michigan gets in for a couple of reasons.

1 - They beat PSU head to head
2 - They're a better draw for TV ratings than Penn State (Yes, that plays into it.)

If Washington and Clemson lose, then by all rights, Penn State and Michigan should get in. But, would the committee put three teams from one conference in the Playoffs? I don't think they would. So does the committee keep Clemson is with their signature wins being Auburn, Florida State, & Louisville, or does Oklahoma sneak in a Big 12 champs?

Of course, as Fred said, none of this matters if the Nits don't beat Wisconsin, but if they do, the debate on who gets in will be epic.

Let's go to an 8-team playoff.  So some might argue that a team ranked 9th doesn't make it and deserves an 8th ranking.  Ok, I get that.  But, what the hell, a team ranked lower than 8th probably isn't going to be win a national championship.  A team ranked 4th or 5th might have a shot. 

So picture a quarter-final, a semi-final, and a championship final over three straight weekends.  Wow! Couldn't get any better than that for me! 

December 10 - quarter finals
December 17 - semi-finals
January 1 - finals on New Years Day