College Football 2017 Week 14 (championship week) running thread

[Steak Snabler]

Here are the lines for championship weekend, as well as the last weekend of Sun Belt regular-season play, FIU's Harvey makeup game and Florida State’s bowl-eligibility bowl. All point spreads from Vegas Insider and all times Eastern:

Friday

Pac 12 (at Santa Clara): Stanford (+3) vs. USC, 8 p.m., ESPN

Saturday

Championship games

AAC: Memphis (+7) at Central Florida, noon, ABC

MAC (at Detroit): Akron (+20) vs. Toledo, noon, ESPN

C-USA: North Texas (+10.5) at FAU, noon, ESPN2

Big 12 (at Arlington): TCU (+7) vs. Oklahoma, 12:30 p.m., Fox

SEC (at Atlanta): Georgia (+3) vs. Auburn, 4 p.m., CBS

MWC: Fresno State (+9.5) at Boise State, 7:45 p.m., ESPN

Big Ten (at Indianapolis): Ohio State (-6) vs. Wisconsin, 8 p.m., Fox

ACC (at Charlotte): Miami (+9.5) vs. Clemson, 8 p.m., ABC

Regular season games

Louisiana-Monroe (+26.5) at Florida State, noon (no TV)

UMass (+2) at Florida International, noon (no TV)

Idaho at Georgia State, noon (no TV) — no line due to Idaho QB injury

Louisiana-Lafayette (+15) at Appalachian State, 2:30 p.m. (no TV)

South Alabama (+10) at New Mexico State, 4:30 p.m. (no TV)

Troy (+1.5) at Arkansas State, 7:30 p.m., ESPN2

Appalachian State clinches a tie for the Sun Belt championship with a win, sharing the title with the Troy-Arkansas State winner. If App State loses, the Troy-Arkansas State winner is outright champion.

 

[TyWebb]

In case you are split on who to root for in the SEC title game, the drunkest TyWebb imaginable will be on this thread to give his well-reasoned and not at all biased thoughts on the game should the Dawgs win.

Should it go the other way, he will still be drunk, but not in the mood to talk.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Wisconsin getting six is tempting indeed.

 

[amraeder]

Akron +20?

(I actually have no thoughts about this game. But having grown up in spitting distance from Akron, I enjoy them being something other than a total doormat.)

 

[Dick Whitman]

Auburn is going to win that game by two touchdowns minimum. Free money.

 

[Songbird]

Auburn will not beat Georgia by 14. Or 10, or even 7.

Georgia might win.

 

[Batman]

Memphis-UCF is intriguing. Memphis has sneakily gone 10-1, crept into the AP Top 20, and scored at least 40 points in eight of the 11 games. The only time it was held under 30 was in the regular season against UCF (its one loss, score was 40-13), and has dropped 66 on SMU and 70 on East Carolina the last two weeks.
Winner of this one will get the Group of 5 spot in the New Year's Six bowls.

 

[maumann]

Having to beat an opponent twice in the same season, one week after using up huge amounts of emotional reserves against your hated in-state archrival, and playing in a de facto home stadium for Georgia? I think the Bulldogs have more motivation than you are giving them credit for.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Having to beat an opponent twice in the same season, one week after using up huge amounts of emotional reserves against your hated in-state archrival, and playing in a de facto home stadium for Georgia? I think the Bulldogs have more motivation than you are giving them credit for.

I think Georgia is plenty motivated.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Both teams are well aware losing means they're out of the playoff. So I believe motivation to be equal. The question is, has Georgia learned how to counter how Auburn beat their asses last time? Could be.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Does the old saw hold true about how hard it is to beat a team twice? Probably some decent data on that in the era of conference championship games, but i haven’t seen anyone break it down.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Auburn will not beat Georgia by 14. Or 10, or even 7.

Georgia might win.

Auburn already beat Georgia by 23. Why not again? Because Georgia really, really wants to win? Georgia fattened itself on the SEC Soft.

Wisconsin getting six is tempting indeed.

Wisconsin hasn't come closer than seven against Ohio State their last four meetings. It's 2014 all over again for tOSU. Barret hurt, backup leads them to a blowout victory, they sneak into the playoffs and dominate.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Auburn already beat Georgia by 23. Why not again? Because Georgia really, really wants to win? Georgia fattened itself on the SEC Soft.



Wisconsin hasn't come closer than seven against Ohio State their last four meetings. It's 2014 all over again for tOSU. Barret hurt, backup leads them to a blowout victory, they sneak into the playoffs and dominate.

What if it's 2016 all over again? Sneak into playoff, routed out of it.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

What if it's 2016 all over again? Sneak into playoff, routed out of it.

Better to have loved and lost.

 

[TyWebb]

Does the old saw hold true about how hard it is to beat a team twice? Probably some decent data on that in the era of conference championship games, but i haven’t seen anyone break it down.

I believe I saw a stat that said the SEC championship has been a rematch six times, and the team that won the first meeting won five of those six.

EDIT: Yeah, 5-1 in favor of the team that won the first meeting. The lone exception is LSU beating Tennessee in 2001.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Wisconsin hasn't come closer than seven against Ohio State their last four meetings. It's 2014 all over again for tOSU. Barret hurt, backup leads them to a blowout victory, they sneak into the playoffs and dominate.

As long as they don't run into Iowa.

 

[da man]

Auburn already beat Georgia by 23. Why not again? Because Georgia really, really wants to win? Georgia fattened itself on the SEC Soft.

I don't know that it's that simple. For one, how healthy is Kerryon Johnson?

 

[TyWebb]

So in my Dawg brain that can rationalize past reality with the best of them, there are few things I think Georgia has working for them on Saturday that they didn't two weeks ago:
- Neutral field - It can't be understated how difficult Jordan-Hare is to play in.
- National perception - The target is on the other back this time. A minor thing, but Georgia has never been great at playing as the favorite.
- Health - Kerryon potentially being out, or even not playing at 100 percent, is huge. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, are at pretty much full strength.
- Easier rivalry game - Even though it was a convincing win, Auburn had to work to beat Bama. And they got beat up in the process. Georgia cruised past Tech.

Unfortunately, at least for me, one of the things in Auburn's favor - that defensive line - is probably what will decide this one. Fromm is going to be a great QB, but he isn't ready to shoulder what Auburn will put on him.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I'd be all over USC in the Pac-12 championship game BTW. A team coming off a bye playing a team on the Saturday-Friday short week. That has been a devastating combo up and down the schedule for the last two years of Pac-12 scheduling.

 

[Stoney]

It's 2014 all over again for tOSU. Barret hurt, backup leads them to a blowout victory, they sneak into the playoffs and dominate.

Do you honestly think a two loss team that recently got plastered 55-24 by Iowa deserves a playoff spot?