College conference championship weekend … Speaking of Clemson and the ACC championship game (see below), it is in fact conference championship weekend in college football this coming weekend. Clemson will be participating in arguably the weekend’s marquess when the 3rd ranked Tigers play #2 Notre Dame in the ACC championship game in Charlotte on Saturday afternoon with KO at 4 PM on ABC. Of course, its the second time the two will meet after the Irish upset Clemson in a regular season game earlier this year. However, the Tigers had to play in their first go-round without star QB Trevor Lawrence, the presumptive #1 pick at the 2021 draft, who was sidelined with a covid infection. In fact, both Clemson and Notre Dame figure to get invitations to this year’s 4-team college playoff if the Tigers win; indeed, there is a better than even chance that Clemson still makes the playoff even if the Tigers should lose to the Irish Saturday. Same story for top-ranked Alabama which plays #7 Florida in the SEC championship at 8 PM Saturday in Atlanta on CBS with a spot in the CFP already pretty much assured for the Tide. This should be a fun game to watch, though, just to see how rising Florida QB Kyle Trask does against the Tide. At the same time, Ohio State looks to be playing for the 4th spot in the playoff when the Buckeyes play Northwestern in the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis at Noon Saturday on FOX. A loss by OSU, though, could send the CFP into a tizzy as there really is no clear ‘next-in-line’ contender that would slide into that spot without controversy. Meanwhile, the other two Power-5 title games will have Southern California hosting Oregon in the Pac-12 game at 8 PM Friday night on FOX, while Oklahoma and Iowa State will battle it out for the Big XII championship at Noon on Saturday on ABC. Should Ohio State somehow get upset by Northwestern in B10 championship, there will be a lot of focus across the state when Cincinnati hosts Tulsa for the AAC title at 8 PM on ABC Saturday evening. The undefeated Bearcats are the top-rated non-Power 5 team and feel they should be getting a lot more love from the committee than several 2-loss teams from power conferences that are ranked ahead of them.
