Only eleven FBS games (who cares about USC vs. Cal?) will be played this weekend, and ten will determine a 2021 conference championship in Week 14.  We aptly refer to it as Conference Championship Week.  We at Collegefootballfan.com are proud (and surprised) to report that among those twenty teams doing battle for their respective conference titles, we attended games played by six of them this season. Two more are on our docket this weekend as we plan to attend the AAC’s grand finale. 

Our top team in 2021 coming up

    We select our games primarily based on the most competitive games we can find every week.  They don’t always turn out that way, but the schedule we developed shows we got our fingers on the pulse regarding the national scene. Despite a limited budget and travel opportunities, that’s pretty good!

    So far, 2021 has been a fun season, and we look forward to greater match-ups possibly going into January for bowl games and possibly FBS playoffs.  From the latest AP Top 25 poll, we add No. 4 and No. 21 as two of eight teams on our slate. We’ll see Cincinnati (12-0) host Houston (11-1) at Nippert Stadium when they play for the American Athletic Conference title this weekend. We will be there rooting for the Bearcats to rank in the Top Four to get into this year’s CFP.

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A surprise we didn’t imagine

     On Saturday, No. 9 Baylor (10-2,7-2) plays No. Oklahoma State (11-1, 8-1) in Arlington, Texas for the Big 12 title.  Baylor opened our FBS season in September with a 29-20 win over Texas State in San Marcos. BU was not a preseason Top 25 pick anywhere.  The Bears later fell to the OSU Cowboys, 24-14, at Stillwater.  QB Brian Bohannon makes their balanced offense go, and the Cowboys come off a big win over archrival Oklahoma.  More often than not, it seems like the revenge factor has a major influence in these championship games between teams that have already met.

No Conference Championship for No. 11

   In addition to Conference Championship teams, No. 11 BYU (10-2) who we watched beat Virginia this year, 66-49, does not play this weekend.  The Independent awaits the winner of UT San Antonio vs. Western Kentucky on Friday night for title of ConferenceUSA.  The winner will play the Cougars in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl.  Until last weekend, the UTSA Roadrunners (11-1, 7-1) were ranked and undefeated until getting upset by North Texas State.  We saw WKU (8-4, 7-1) play twice this year.  QB Bailey Zappe leads the nation in passing yards with 4,968 and TD tosses with 52.

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     Last Saturday in Chestnut Hill, MA, close to where we celebrated Thanksgiving in Rhode Island, we watched No. 16 Wake Forest outclass spiraling Boston College, 41-10.  The week before, the Demon Deacons (10-2,7-1) fell to traditional nemesis Clemson.  A loss to BC would have knocked them out of Conference Championship contention. We needed to be there for our WFU friends after we joined them before the Clemson game to see the Deacs defeat now No. 18 NC State in a thriller, 45-42.

Utah State, nice place to see a game, but…

   At 3 pm EST on Saturday, unranked Mountain Division winner Utah State (9-3, 6-2) meets No. 19 San Diego State (11-1, 7-1) MWC West Division winner.  We thoroughly enjoyed attending USU’s win over Hawaii at Merlin Olson Field this year.  Situated in beautiful Logan, we hope to definitely see another game there.  However, some influence from beyond dictates to us when it comes to determining the Aztecs chances here on earth.  See our all our predictions later in, “WEEK 14: Previews of our top college football Conference Championship games”.

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Battle Royale

  The next Conference Championship game should be a battle right to the finish between both SunBelt teams we saw win impressively this season.  The unranked Mountaineers of Appalachian State (10-2, 8-1) return to Lafayette, LA where they lost to the No.  24 Ragin Cajuns in a one-side match, 41-13.  The Cajuns have reeled off 11 straight wins since losing their opener to Texas.  On November 20, we saw them dominate Liberty (7-5) in Lynchburg, VA, 42-14.

  We think the Mountaineers will come into this game with huge chips on their shoulders. The week after they lost to the Ragin’ Cajuns, we watched them knock Coastal Carolina from the ranks of the unbeaten and out of the Top 25, 30-27.  Since then, their five straight wins were won by 24 points or more.  Known historically for remarkable upsets, the Mountaineers should be primed for this one.  Last week, the Cajuns just got by rival UL-Monroe at home, 21-16.  Letdown?  Looking past the 4-8 Warhawks?  Not sure.  Since they defeated Appy, they edged 2-10 Arkansas State, 28-27 a week later, and since defeated 7-5 Georgia State, 21-17, at home.  Maybe they need a challenge? They both have one ahead of them. This will be a Conference Championship battle between two fired-up football teams!

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The other Conference Championship contests

    On the second Friday night game, No. 17 Utah and No. 10 Oregon go at it again since they met on November 20 with the Utes pummeling the Ducks, 38-7.  We almost saw Utah play UCLA when we ventured to the Beehive State, but when they scheduled that game for the evening, we already committed to see BYU-UVA.

    The SEC and Big Ten Conference Championship games are void of any teams we’ve seen play.  No. 1 Georgia plays No. 3 Alabama, for the SEC of course while No. 2 Michigan meets No. 13 Iowa for the Big Ten title.  Our possibility of seeing either conference represented this weekend came apart after seeing Penn State beat Auburn in September, 28-20.  Neither stepped up after QB injuries impacted the balances of their respective seasons.

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Cram the Coaching Carousel

    Lincoln Riley leaves 10-2 Oklahoma for USC. Brian Kelly leaves 11-1 Notre Dame for LSU.  Brian Napier absconds 11-1 Louisiana for Florida.  Does this all have to happen right before their respective teams go on to bowl games their teams worked so hard for with and for them all season?   Can’t these guys and the hiring universities keep their wallets in their pockets until after the entire season is finished? Some will say they need to start recruiting right away.  Well, why doesn’t the NCAA delay that “season”? 

   There are antitrust laws and free markets that violate institutions of higher learning from disallowing these moves at this time.  We wished there could be a “legal” way to delay this until after the final rankings for the season announce the national champion.  Same with these transfer announcements.  Loyalty and teamwork, valuable lifelong lessons, go out the window. Yet, greed and avarice by individuals and universities take precedence over these honorable qualities that need to be taught.

     Coaches look for commitments from their players for their personal success every year.   Time to re-focus on other life lessons here in the world of academia.   They can teach all of the ethics classes they want, but their actions here speak louder than words. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!

Our Best Game results of Week 13

          We said what Cincinnati had to do to maintain their shot at being the first school among the Other Five to make the CFP.  We called for them to win by two TDs, and they defeated a battling East Carolina (7-5), 35-13…Our scouting report having seen Liberty fall to Louisiana in Week 12 paid off.  Army’s offense couldn’t be handled right off to lead 24-3 by halftime.   The Cadets controlled the clock offensively for 36:13 to 23:47. They outscored the Flames in the end, 31-16…

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    We predicted Wake Forest’s offense would be potent and that their defense would keep Boston College in the game, but their defense didn’t live up to our expectations.  Instead, the Deacon D came up big, and Wake came up with a 41-14 decision to win the ACC Atlantic… Oklahoma State’s defense made the difference in the win over archrival Oklahoma, but not until the second half when they held the Sooners scoreless.   The game was tied at the half 24-24, and the Cowboys triumphed, 37-33. You read that correctly. Oklahoma’s “defense” scored nine points in the second half with a safety and a fumble recovery in the end zone.  Eliminated from the CFP, their coach goes to USC.

Can’t guess ‘em all correctly

      We figured Ohio State still had Harbaugh’s number and would win by ten.  Michigan rose up to beat the Buckeyes, 42-27.  U of M (11-1) moved up to No. 2 and into the CFP picture.  They face Iowa now in the Big Ten Conference championship.

WEEK 14: Previews of our top college football Conference Championship games

Revenge match

     Despite Western Kentucky’s 8-4 record and that includes a 52-46 loss to UTSA (11-1, 7-1) before their current 7-game winning streak, we lean to WKU.  A last-minute drive INT by the UTSA Roadrunners of QB Bailey Zappe (4968 yards, 52 TD passes) thwarted a last-minute WKU win.  Other WKU losses came by three to Army’s ball controlling triple option, by two at home to Indiana before their QB Michael Penix was lost for the season, and to 11^th ranked Michigan State, 48-31. 

     They scored 519 points this season to UTSA’s 442. They haven’t scored less than 31 points all season. Since their last loss, the defense has allowed only 18.8 ppg.  UTSA allowed 76 in the last two weeks. We see WKU by seven with Zappe making sure they don’t lose this one.

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Pressure from within

Cincinnati Bearcat HC Luke Fickell continues to drill his “Other Five” team on knowing what they have to do to get into the CFP. They have to win big.  Despite what “experts” think, this American Athletic has been competitive with all comers the last few years.  QB Desmond Ridder sat out last year’s NFL draft to get his team to this one. 

   Also, we’ll keep reminding everyone that the toughest win Georgia faced in their current 16-game winning streak was their 24-21 win over these Bearcats in last year’s Peach Bowl, 24-21. Cincy led 21-10 going into Q4.  The Bearcat roster came back basically intact this year.  Against comparable AAC competition this year, Cincinnati’s defense has been superior to Houston’s.  This team is on a mission.  They know they have to win by at least two TDs to offset other challenges after all the Conference Championship games are concluded.

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Bears and Cowboys; this isn’t the NFL

  For the Big 12, it awaits the winner of this game since both defeated Oklahoma with superior defenses than what the Sooners typically have.  OSU (11-1) defeated Baylor, 24-14 on October 2. A lot has happened since then. Between the two, the Cowboys are on a roll now sensing that opportunity to get into the CFP if a current team among the final four falters.  One of them is guaranteed to, so like Cincinnati, the Cowboys have much at stake here.  We’ll go with them in close one by three points over Baylor.

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   San Diego State (11-1) has defeated tougher foes of the MWC winning over the likes of Air Force, Nevada, and Boise. An early win over Utah impresses as well, and most of their wins have recently been tight slugfests. In their last seven games (6-1) the average winning margin is by 4.3 ppg.   For Utah State (9-3), they’ve only beaten two squads with winning records, Air Force and Washington State, by four and two respectively.  Their three losses have come against teams with records of 6-6 or better (Wyoming, Boise, and BYU). The SDSU Aztecs of our late friend Tom Ables, Mr. San Diego State, is reason enough to indicate we can’t pick against them, but they will win another close one by three.

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Roll back the Tide!

     Georgia’s defense is superior to what anyone else has with Oklahoma State and Cincy not too far behind.  However, among the current Top Four, Alabama does not have the defense that can hold Georgia. On the other side, its OL does not display the dominance previous Alabama editions have been built upon.  Saban dominated former assistants until Bama’s loss to Jimbo Fisher’s A&M squad this season.  Kirby Smart will become the second to do this to his former mentor. In this case, his defense keeps Bama in check and the Dawgs win by two TDs.  Say bye-bye to Bama’s CFP invitation.

Can’t be there, but…

     No. 16 Wake and No. 15 Pitt have common records of 10-2, 7-1. Both have outstanding QBs in Sam Hartman for the Demon Deacons and Kenny Pickett for the Pitt Panthers. Hartman has passed for 3,711 yards and 34 TDs. Pickett, first team ACC QB, accumulated 4,066 yards and 40 TDs.  Wake’s defense gives up more yards on the ground while Pitt allows more through the air.  The game is in Charlotte, and could bring out more fans for WFU located in Winston-Salem.  This will be a shoot -out.  We pick the Deacs to surprise with an upset here by three.

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Collegefootballfan.com CFP predictions:

Good Year Cotton Bowl: No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 4 Oklahoma State

Capital One Orange Bowl: No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 3 Cincinnati

By Steve Koreivo, ed. Author of “Tales for the Tailgate: From the fan who’s seen ‘em all!” Click on title to buy your copy or a copy as a gift for a dedicated college football fan

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