The regular season of college football is officially a wrap. What did we learn? A lot, I believe. The top 25 has some really good football teams-obviously or they wouldn’t be in there- but there are three teams in my opinion that have done a great job of separating themselves from the rest of the pack: Ohio St., LSU, and Clemson. All three of these teams play at a different level, which is why they are currently undefeated. However, things are about to get interesting.
This Saturday is “CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY”. Conference title games will be played, starting with Utah vs. Oregon on Friday night at 8PM for the Pac-12 Title. I like this matchup- Utah with their stout defense vs. Oregon and their prolific offense. It should be an intriguing game.
The noon slate looks to be good too. A rematch for the Big XII title, Baylor vs. Oklahoma. The Bears will be looking for some payback, as they blew a three-touchdown lead to the Sooners, back on November 16. I look for Oklahoma to play fast in this game and play better defense in a game that shouldn’t be close…but it is Big 12 football. The other notable noon game is Cincinnati vs. Memphis. Why should you care? I think the main reason is both teams play good football and are coached really well. Memphis started off the season with a win over Ole Miss and has throttled everyone else they have played, minus their loss to Temple. The Bearcats have only one loss as well and that was to the #1 team in the nation, Ohio St. They play good defense and their quarterback, Desmond Ridder can sling the ball. This rematch should be fun to watch.
Then later that day we get the main course- LSU vs. Georgia. The bulldogs and tigers run two completely different types of offense. Georgia runs a smash-mouth, run the ball and then throw some play-action type of game. They aren’t going to do any kind of trickery or fancy plays, they just run the ball hard and then let their All-American Jake Fromm make a play with his arm. He’s not the strongest signal-caller, but certainly is one of the most accurate. On defense, they play some of the best in any team in the nation. They’re only giving up 14 points a game on average and only allow 4.12 yards per play and 257 yards per game. To me, that’s impressive. The Tigers, on the other hand, are throwing the ball around like a Big 12 team. They average 7.9 yards per play and average 560.5 yards per game. The Tigers have their own All-American in Joe Burrow who is having a Heisman worthy season and if he has another top performance, that could seal the special trophy for him. Something has got to give when these two teams play. The outcome of this game should determine who the #4 team in the playoff will be, pending Clemson and Ohio St win their respective games.
The evening slate will host two quality games: ACC Championship – Virginia vs. Clemson and the B1G Championship – Ohio St. vs. Wisconsin.
Virginia just ended a 15-year drought by defeating Virginia Tech at home. It’s been a long time coming for the Cavaliers, who have come close so many times but always coming up short. It’s never fun to lose to your rival, especially as long as they have. They finally found a way and look like a true contender. However, they have to play Clemson this weekend and Clemson is a totally different animal than any team they have played this season. The Tigers do two things really well: score points and rush the quarterback. That’s not a good combo for the opposing team and Virginia has had a hard time protecting Bryce Perkins. This is a mismatch and Clemson should run away with this game.
The Buckeyes and Badgers played back in October, as Ohio St. went on to win 38-7. This is where we saw how good the Buckeyes really were. J.K. Dobbins had a pair of touchdowns, and Justin Fields had a pair himself. On defense, the badgers had a hard time blocking Chase Young as he had four sacks and was causing a lot of havoc for the badgers. Wisconsin has to establish the run game to have a shot in this game or it will another repeat beatdown for them.
So there you have it. This is the final time until bowl season that we will see games on all day. There is still a lot of questions about these matchups and you should expect the unexpected. One thing is for sure though, come Sunday, we will all know 1-4 and like it or not, we will have to live with it.
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