Thursday, December 5, 2013

College Football Championship Week Preview

The last full weekend of College Football before going into bowl season, lets see whats on tap:

(18) Oklahoma vs (6) Oklahoma State

The Bedlam rivalry is here as the Big 12 comes down to the final weekend. The main thing at stake for Oklahoma is pride, getting to 10 wins and most importantly the golden opportunity to prevent their arch-rival from winning the Big 12 and getting to a high level bowl game. For the Cowboys, its about getting themselves another big win (they've taken down Texas and Baylor in the last two games) and establishing themselves at the top of a very clustered Big 12 (despite an early season head-scratching loss to West Virginia).

Oklahoma State 42 Oklahoma 28

(15) UCF vs. SMU

Hooray for the acronym bowl. Both teams have their seasons on the line in different ways. If UCF wins they finish with a perfect mark in conference and get themselves into a major bowl game for the first time. SMU needs to win this game to be bowl eligible and tie Houston for fourth place in the AAC. UCF sorta has more motivation and a better team.

UCF 39 SMU 24

(23) Texas vs. (9) Baylor

Texas started the season weak and looked destined to go 5-7 before having a nice bounce back (while dealing with rumors on who would be their coach next year). Baylor won a bunch of games before losing to Oklahoma State and narrowing out a win over TCU. Texas is the traditional power while Baylor is trying to make their break out. Even winning this game, the conference title would only occur if Oklahoma State loses. Since this is newer to Baylor, my instinct is that the conference title also means more.

Baylor 49 Texas 42

(5) Missouri vs. (3) Auburn

It could be argued that Missouri has been somewhat untested for an SEC team as they haven't had the toughest conference schedule (best wins are against Vanderbilt, Georgia & Texas A & M) and may have a chip on their shoulder to get some respect. Auburn is coming off the missed field goal heard round the world and may have spent much of their energy beating Alabama. If Auburn can beat Alabama, they can beat anyone and make the BCS title game picture look very interesting.

Auburn 31 Missouri 17

(7) Stanford vs. (11) Arizona State

The Stanford team that I picked to win the Mock 32 on Monday is going up against an Arizona State team that hasn't been relevant for a very long time. I think Arizona State gets their day in the near future, just not on Saturday.

Stanford 28 Arizona State 24

(2) Ohio State vs. (10) Michigan State

A big 10 title and National Championship implications are on the line. I haven't really been sold on Ohio State at all this year. They haven't exactly had a gauntlet of a schedule and have looked beatable playing some mediocre teams (Northwestern, Illinois, Michigan). Michigan State while also untested has actually shown that they can play some strong defense. I'm picking the upset and the title game picture to go crazy.

Michigan State 31 Ohio State 21

(20) Duke vs. (1) Florida State

The battle between happy to be here and looking to dominate to get into the title game. Duke's had a nice season but they also happen to be a 29 point underdog.

Florida State 56 Duke 3

Utah State vs. (24) Fresno State

Quite frankly, this game and winning the conference title probably means more to Utah State. Fresno State had higher aspirations of getting to the big stage until their defense decided to not travel to San Jose.

Utah State 42 Fresno State 31




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