College Football: Conference Title Races Heat Up Amid Playoff Uncertainty
With the regular season winding down, teams across ten FBS leagues are fighting for championship spots while a potential 24-team playoff looms.
By Elena Greco ·
The regular season is entering its final stretch in college football, intensifying the race for conference title game berths across the nation.
A potential expansion of the College Football Playoff to 24 teams next season could eliminate these championship clashes, but for now, the stakes remain high. The ACC sees Miami leading the pack at 6-0 in conference play, followed by Wake Forest at 5-1 and Louisville at 5-2. The conference recently altered its tiebreaker rules to include an analytics ranking, a change prompted by Duke's performance last year. Wake Forest will play SMU in Dallas on Saturday, a game that could further complicate the standings.
In the American Athletic Conference, North Texas holds a 5-0 record and sits alone in first place. They face Texas-San Antonio on November 14. The Big 12 race is tight, with Utah leading at 6-0 and Texas Tech trailing by one game after a 53-48 victory over West Virginia. Texas Tech must travel to Oklahoma State and Baylor in the next two weeks.
The Big Ten is dealing with quarterback injuries, with UCLA holding a 6-0 conference record ahead of Indiana at 5-1. Southern California has a win over Ohio State and will face Indiana this coming week. In Conference USA, Liberty and Jacksonville State are both 5-0 and do not play each other, meaning a computer ranking could determine the host if both remain unbeaten.
The Mid-American Conference features a complex tiebreaker situation involving Ohio, Western Michigan, Toledo, and Buffalo. Ohio hosts Toledo on November 27, while Miami, Ohio, plays at Western Michigan on November 24. In the Mountain West, New Mexico leads with a 5-0 record, followed by Wyoming at 5-1. The league has a rule that exempts its highest-ranked team from certain tiebreakers.
The reconstituted Pac-12, now with eight teams, is led by Boise State at 5-0, two games ahead of Oregon State. Oregon State travels to Boise State on November 14. In the SEC, Georgia holds the lead at 6-1, with Alabama and Kentucky at 5-2. No top-five SEC teams play each other in the remaining schedule. The Sun Belt remains the only FBS league with divisions, where Louisiana Tech can clinch a title game spot with a win over Southern Mississippi on Saturday.
Betting markets currently favor Miami in the ACC, North Texas in the AAC, Utah in the Big 12, Indiana in the Big Ten, Liberty in Conference USA, Toledo in the MAC, New Mexico in the Mountain West, Boise State in the Pac-12, Georgia in the SEC, and Louisiana Tech in the Sun Belt.
