With the college football season reaching Week 10, many fans are left surprised by the numerous upsets, and many are wondering what is going to happen in the conference championships, let alone the second ever 12-team college football playoff.
The SEC is a clear example of this chaos, with upsets and surprises left and right. Through the flames of chaos, the two in the lead are Alabama and Texas A&M, both with a perfect conference record of 5-0 so far, and assuming that keeps up, they will face each other in the conference championship.
While deciding who is in the SEC championship was easy, figuring out who will win it is no simple task. Both teams have their own strengths and weaknesses, but to determine who will win comes down to who has won against hard teams the most. That is Alabama.
Alabama has wins over No. 5 Georgia, No. 9 Vanderbilt, No. 19 Missouri and No. 14 Tennessee. Texas A&M’s sole ranked win was by one point against No. 12 Notre Dame. So, by the fact that they are more tested against ranked teams, Alabama is my pick to win the SEC championship.
“They’re already talking, you know, they’re not done with their improvement, and we’ve been really focusing on that … not getting caught up in anything else other than what we could control. And I’m super proud of them for that,” said Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer, according to ESPN.
A significantly less clear conference is the ACC. Before Miami’s loss to Louisville, it was pretty clear that they were going to win the conference, but after Carson Beck’s four interception performance, the conference is wide open. Other than Miami, the other leaders in the ACC are Louisville, Georgia Tech and Virginia.
The two teams that are most likely to make the championship game are Georgia Tech and Virginia because they are both undefeated in their conference games. Virginia has a really easy schedule left and Georgia Tech only has one difficult game left—week 12 at No. 5 Georgia—but a loss there still keeps their record high enough to make an ACC championship appearance.
The winner of Georgia Tech and Virginia is a lot more clear. Georgia Tech is easily the better team, especially with their dual threat quarterback, Haynes King, who leads both teams in rushing yards, at 651, and has over 1,600 passing yards. The Virginia defense is simply no match for Georgia Tech, allowing over 350 yards per game and 416 in their non-conference loss to NC State.
“Everything from pickup basketball to a friendly game of cards in the hotel the night before a game, was played with the intensity of game day,” said King’s former teammate Chase Lane, according to ESPN.
Moving to the Big 10, there are two main candidates for the championship game, Indiana and Ohio State; although, with how crazy the Big 10 has already been, it is possible for teams like Michigan, Oregon and even Iowa to make the conference championship. Realistically though, Ohio State and Indiana will continue their strong, undefeated records into the end of the season.
The game between these two powerhouse teams will be close and generally low scoring, as each team has defenses that have let up less than a touchdown per game this season. The real difference is going to come from the Indiana offense, which is only marginally better than the Ohio State’s, which will fuel Indiana to an upset victory to win the Big 10.
In the Big 12, there is yet another close tie between five teams, BYU, Texas Tech, Utah, Houston and Cincinnati. The two that are most likely to make the conference championship are Texas Tech and BYU, due to the difficult conference schedule that remains for the other teams in championship contention.
Texas Tech versus BYU will be a tough game, as both teams have really good passing and less-than-perfect defensive capabilities. Luckily, fans will get a preview of this game this week, Saturday, Nov. 1. Overall, the team that loses the regular season match will most likely end up winning in the conference championship because of how hard it is to beat the same team twice.
Overall, while these projections are as close to right as possible, the chaos of college football could switch up the outlook in an instant. Week 10 begins Saturday Nov. 1, with No. 1 Ohio State at home against Penn State at noon.
