A look at games that might pique your interest
This really is the best two-day stretch of football, so I hope you’re ready. Clear the calendar for Friday night. Don’t plan on anything Saturday. Little Suzy has a Christmas recital? Better hope you get cell phone reception in that auditorium.
No excuses, watch like a champion.
Friday night is really just the appetizer. WKU and Jacksonville State start things off with a rematch of last week’s game. Hopefully this one is more entertaining. Rich Rodriguez is reportedly in consideration to return to his old gig atop the West Virginia program. Could he leave Jacksonville State with a Conference USA title?
The best Friday game is the Mountain West title game between UNLV and Boise State. The winner not only takes home the conference crown, but will also earn an automatic bid to the College Football Playoff, which is awesome. Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty has already made it known he’ll be heading to the NFL after the season is over, and you can bet he’ll sit out a non-CFP bowl game. Dude is a beast and worth watching all on his own, but UNLV is a solid team. The Rebels’ coach, former Missouri head coach Barry Odom, is reportedly high on UNC’s list of potential head coach candidates.
Tulane getting worked by Memphis last week and Army getting pounded by Notre Dame took some of the shine off the AAC title game, but that one should still be interesting. It’ll be hard fought either way. And, yes, Tulane coach Jon Sumrall has also been mentioned with the UNC job, but to be fair, he’s been mentioned with every open P4 gig right now.
Saturday is an absolutely amazing slate of games. The wild and wide open Big XII starts things off with Iowa State and Arizona State. Matt Campbell’s Cyclones won three straight to work their way into the title game. Kenny Dillingham’s Sun Devils reeled off five in a row to get to the title game. ASU’s turnaround from back-to-back 3-9 seasons to a 10-win campaign is an amazing story. Iowa State finally broke through in Year 9 under Campbell, reaching the 10-win threshold for the first time in school history. Both great stories.
Also in that Saturday noon timeslot is the MAC title game between Ohio and Miami (OH). Hey, at least one Miami school made it to a championship game this year! Interestingly, Ohio coach Tim Albin, who’s been with the Bobcats program since 2005 as either OC or HC, is looking to get out after the year as he’s interviewed for a few HC openings out there, including Charlotte. Chuck Martin has gone 19-7 over the last two years with the RedHawks after being pretty mediocre over his first nine years at the school. He has a chance to make it back-to-back MAC titles.
The SEC title game gets the midday slot all to itself as Georgia and Texas lock horns. The Bulldogs run under Kirby Smart is well-documented. They may be positioned for a CFP appearance regardless of the outcome of this one. Over at Texas, Steve Sarkisian seems to have finally broken through. The Longhorns are 23-3 over the last two seasons and have a chance for their second straight conference title (last year’s was the Big XII crown). Texas will be in the CFP regardless of how this one turns out.
The first of the three primetime games to kickoff Saturday night will be the Sun Belt title game between Marshall and Louisiana. This will be the last game coaching the Thundering Herd for Marshall coach Charles Huff. Not because he’s retiring, but because Marshall hasn’t extended him an extension on his contract, which expires at the end of this year. Huff reportedly has an offer in hand from Southern Miss, but he could be in play for some other openings. We’ll see, but an interesting scenario where a school runs off a coach in the year they win a conference title. For the Ragin’ Cajuns, Michael Desormeaux has the program back in the Sun Belt title game after a pair of sub-.500 campaigns in his first two years leading his alma mater. This is the 4th time in the last six years that the Cajuns have hit double-digit wins.
The Big Ten title game hilariously doesn’t feature Ohio State, the country’s largest NIL spending team of 2024. Penn State backed their way into the title game after Michigan knocked off the Buckeyes last week, although Ohio State will still make a CFP appearance. The Nittany Lions are ranked high, but haven’t played anyone of note outside of Ohio State. If they’re to break through for the first title win since the Joe Paterno era, they’ll have to knock off the last remaining unbeaten FBS team: Oregon. Like Penn State, the Ducks haven’t really played anyone outside of Ohio State, but the difference there being that they were able to come out on top in their matchup with the Buckeyes. This should be a fun and entertaining game.
Last, but not least, is the ACC title game. Clemson made their way into the event thanks to Miami getting knocked off by Syracuse last week. The Tigers will be looking for their 8th ACC crown over the last ten years. Opposite them will be conference newcomer SMU, clearly the best pickup by the ACC in the latest round of conference musical chairs. Rhett Lashlee has done an amazing job with the Mustangs program, and like Texas, they’ll look to win their second straight conference title despite moving to a better conference this year. It’s a great story for a program that struggled for so long to come back from the NCAA-mandated death penalty in the 1980’s.
Enjoy, folks! It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
Go Football!
Rankings for SP+ Ratings (here’s the SP+ ranking for all college football teams) and Sagarin Ratings listed, respectively, ahead of each team’s name.
Friday
72/95 Western Kentucky @ 77/89 Jacksonville State – 7:00pm – CBSSN
30/44 UNLV @ 21/35 Boise State – 8:00pm – FOX
35/33 Tulane @ 38/63 Army – 8:00pm – ABC
Saturday
24/17 Iowa State vs 39/21 Arizona State – 12:00pm – ABC
75/76 Ohio vs 68/73 Miami (OH) – 12:00pm – ESPN
7/6 Georgia vs 4/2 Texas – 4:00pm – ABC
70/69 Marshall @ 37/61 Louisiana – 7:30pm – ESPN
6/7 Penn State vs 2/4 Oregon – 8:00pm – CBS
15/22 Clemson vs 12/10 SMU – 8:00pm – ABC