We’ve reached the end of the road for the college football regular season, and now it’s time for the annual first weekend in December tradition: Championship week for every conference across America.
The College Football Playoff field also will be set this weekend, though how much drama that will entail remains to be seen. The top four when Tuesday’s penultimate rankings are revealed is sure to be Georgia, Michigan, TCU and USC, all four of which are in position to be the CFP semifinal teams if they win their respective conference championship games.
No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Michigan are in even stronger position. If the Bulldogs (17-point favorites over LSU in the SEC Championship) or Wolverines (-16 vs. Purdue for the Big Ten title) should lose, they might still stick in the top four.
On the other hand, if TCU or USC lost, teams like Ohio State and Alabama would re-enter the playoff picture. And those teams are much shorter favorites: USC is laying just 3 points against Utah in the Pac-12 Championship on Friday night, and TCU is -2½ against Kansas State for the Big 12 title.
Here’s a complete championship week schedule with TV information and a list of the available point spreads and over/under totals at Caesars Sportsbook:
(rankings from AP Top 25; new College Football Playoff rankings come out Tuesday)
Conference championship games
FRIDAY, DEC. 2
Conference USA: North Texas at UTSA (-8, o/u 67½), 7:30 p.m., CBSSN
Pac-12 (at Las Vegas): No. 4 USC (-3, o/u 67) vs. No. 12 Utah, 8 p.m., Fox
SATURDAY, DEC. 3
Big 12 (at Arlington, Texas): No. 13 Kansas State vs. No. 3 TCU (-2½, o/u 61½), noon, ABC
MAC (at Detroit): Toledo (-1½, o/u 55) vs. Ohio, noon, ESPN
Sun Belt: Coastal Carolina at Troy (-11, o/u 48), 3:30 p.m., ESPN
SEC (at Atlanta): No. 1 Georgia (-17, o/u 50½) vs. No. 11 LSU, 4 p.m., CBS
AAC: No. 22 Central Florida at No. 18 Tulane (-3½, o/u 56½), 4 p.m., ABC
Mountain West: Fresno State at Boise State (-3½, o/u 53½), 4 p.m., Fox
SWAC: Southern at Jackson State (-17½, o/u 50½), 4 p.m., ESPN2
Big Ten (at Indianapolis): Purdue vs. No. 2 Michigan (-16, o/u 52), 8 p.m., Fox
ACC (at Charlotte, N.C.): No. 10 Clemson (-7½, o/u 63) vs. No. 24 North Carolina, 8 p.m., ABC
Other game
Akron at Buffalo (-13, o/u 56½), 1 p.m. Friday
