I like horse racing. People who know me will say it’s because I tend to like animals more than people. There is likely some truth to that. Really, I like the anticipation, the drama, the competition and the thrill of the final kicks to the finish line. This year’s college football regular season has felt a lot like that. Labor Day weekend, we were near giddy as all CFB fans are when the season rolls around and the teams get to the starting gate. We watched to see who came out of the gates clean and who stumbled early. We saw some surprises (Mississippi State and Ole Miss). We saw some early favorites who didn’t get the ride they expected from their jockey (UCLA). We looked at some potentially needing some help from the stewards (Baylor and TCU), and we saw some of the traditional mainstays keep pace with the pack only to surge ahead at the end. It felt like a long race, but was really over in a flash. Now, we can hear the raised voice of the announcer proclaiming, “Down the stretch they come!” These games will decide the four spots in the first ever CFB playoff….a match race if you will. Here is a look at conference championship weekend.
Week 15 College Footballl Preview
Oregon (11-1) vs Arizona (10-2), Friday 9pm ET, Fox; The Pac 12 championship game. Oregon is the flashy young colt. Full of fire and excitement and promise, that no one wants to face. Arizona has won two in a row against Oregon, including a 7 point win in Euguene in October. There is a big difference this time. In October, Oregon’s offensive line was banged up. Ducks’ QB Marcus Mariota was running for his life more than he was as part of a designed scheme. The Heisman front runner is the most adept QB in the country at getting to the edge and making a defense account for him as an offensive weapon on every play. Arizona was the third or fourth choice of most prognosticators for the Pac 12 South title. But UCLA’s drubbing by Stanford last weekend opened the door for the Wildcats, who took care of business against ASU. Arizona has its own nimble quarterback in Anu Solomon, but he is a freshman who has been prone to try to making mistakes in trying to do much as he scrambles. The Wildcats have the Pac 12 Defensive Player of the year in Scooby wright, but they have been vulnerable to big plays over the top. The playoff committee had to move Arizona up significantly this week, because the winner of this game will be in the top four.
TCU (10-1) vs. Iowa State (2-9), Saturday 12noon ET, ABC; The Horned Frogs, are sitting at #3 in the latest poll, but perhaps the most susceptible to being leaped over, (yes, I said it), because even the expected blowout win over a poor Iowa State team does not give them a quality win, while others are playing conference championship games. Head coach Gary Patterson has turned around his defensive minded coaching over time to turn TCU into an offensive firebrand. Expect him to keep the foot on the gas Saturday to try to make a point to the playoff committee.
Missouri (10-2) vs. Alabama (11-1), Saturday 4pm ET, CBS; The SEC championship game. Alabama is one of the blue bloods of the sport. You expect them to be at or near the front each time and they are the top ranked team in the country going into this game. They lost to Ole Miss halfway through the season but held on to win the SEC West despite giving up a season high in points, passing yards and total yards in the win over Auburn last week. The Tide showed its offense has enough to win in a shootout. Say what you want about Lane Kiffin, and I have said plenty, but he has used QB Blake Sims, WR Amari Cooper and RB T.J. Yeldon to bring more diversity to the Bama offense than any time in recent memory. Missouri had embarrassing losses to Indiana and Georgia (34-0), but outlasted Georgia in a decidedly non-competitive SEC East race. The Tigers run a spread offense, as Auburn did last week, but they are going to need QB Maty Mauk to be much better than his season average 53% completion rate to stay in this game. If Alabama loses, it is quite possible the first ever playoff would go on with no representative from the SEC.
Baylor (10-1) vs. Kansas State (9-2), Saturday 7:45pm ET, ESPN; With no Big 12 Conference title game, Baylor, currently ranked 6th, needs this win to guarantee at least a tie for the conference crown and hope for some of the horses in front to pull up lame in order to have a shot at the playoffs. The Bears are putting up huge numbers behind QB Bryce Petty and probably need to not just win, but win big against a well-coached defense that does not give up big plays. Baylor has even hired a PR firm to push its story to the playoff committee.
Georgia Tech (10-2) vs. Florida State (12-0), Saturday 8pm ET, ABC; The ACC championship game. Florida State is the horse we expected more out of all season; the defending national champ with the reigning Heisman winner. The Seminoles have done just enough to stay in the race. Case in point, they survived against Florida last week and still dropped a spot to fourth in the polls. Jameis Winston has been a turnover machine this year with 17 interceptions against 21 touchdowns. Yet, every week he goes to the whip in the second half and the Seminoles respond. So many weeks we have thought this was the weekend FSU would stumble and fall. Georgia Tech, while lacking the athletic talent of FSU, is not going to be an easy game for FSU. The Yellowjackets run the triple option offense which is a possession scheme that eats up a lot of clock. If FSU gets behind early, they may not get many possessions to have one last surge. Conversely, if Georgia Tech falls too far behind early, their offense does not allow for the wide open attack needed for a comeback.
Ohio State (11-1) vs Wisconsin (10-2), Saturday 8:15pm ET, Fox; The Big 10 championship game. Ohio State was presumably put out to pasture when quarterback Braxton Miller went down the week prior to the opener. They were about to be put out of their misery completely after a stunning loss at home to Virginia Tech in week two. But JT Barrett grew week by week and turned himself into a Heisman candidate with remarkable performances. Then he went down against Michigan last week. Now Cardale Jones gets his first start of his career with the season on the line. Jones has a strong arm but lacks the accuracy of either Miller or Barrett. At 6-5, 250 pounds, he brings a bruising running style that the others don’t possess. Expect the Buckeyes to also use H-Back Jalin Marshall in a wildcat formation from time to time. Wisconsin lives with its running game, as well it should, with Melvin Gordon, who has rushed for more than 2,200 yards and 26 touchdowns this season, including the 408 yard rushing performance against Nebraska, which was a NCAA record for one whole week. With OSU at #5 in the polls, a convincing win against a good Wisconsin team might be enough to replace one of the other top four teams.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @TonyBruin. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest in sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
