Week 13 Sees Big Blue Nation Win For Second Time

Conference championship games are a relatively new feature in college football history. Since 1992, almost every conference has featured a championship game at some point, although some conferences that once had one now cannot due to not having enough teams in the conference. Let’s take a look at the conference championship games:

We’ll start with the oldest of the championships, the SEC Championship Game. The first major college conference championship game was the 1992 SEC Championship, which Alabama won 28-21 over Florida. Twenty games have been played so far in the series, with the Eastern Division holding an 11-9 edge. Florida has both appeared in and won the most SEC Championship games, with seven wins in ten games. This year’s game breaks a four-game streak of having the #1-rated team in the BCS participating (2008 – Alabama, 2009 – Florida, 2010 – Auburn, 2011 – LSU). I guess they’ll have to settle for a #2 vs. #3 matchup! Alabama has never played anyone except Florida in SEC Title games until this year. Georgia has played LSU three times and Arkansas once in its previous appearances.

What’s the second-oldest conference championship game currently played? Would you believe it’s the MAC Championship? The game has been played since 1997. The team with the most championships and appearances is Marshall (now in Conference USA), with five wins in six games. This year’s game between #21 Northern Illinois and #17 Kent State marks only the second time in championship game history that both teams are ranked coming into the game (in 2003, #13 Miami (Ohio) beat #20 Bowling Green 49-27). If Kent State wins, they have a chance to earn a BCS Bowl berth by virtue of being a top-16 team rated higher than an automatic-qualifying conference champion, and it would be their first conference championship since 1972, when a defensive back named Nick Saban played for the Golden Flashes. If Northern Illinois wins, it would mark their second straight conference title and third MAC title overall.

The ACC Championship Game, played since 2005, pits 10-2 Florida State against 6-6 Georgia Tech. Each team has won one championship game in the past (FSU in the first game in 2005 over Virginia Tech, 27-22; Georgia Tech in 2009 over Clemson, 39-34, although the Yellow Jackets later had to vacate the game and the championship). The Coastal Division representative has always been either Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech. This is the first year of the championship game in which one of the teams comes in unranked. Virginia Tech has the most ACC Championship Game wins and appearances, winning three of their five games.

The Conference USA Championship Game has also been played since 2005. This year, Tulsa and Central Florida will play for the title, the third time in the eight year history of the game these two teams have matched up. The Knights and the Golden Hurricane have the most appearances in the game (four each counting this year), although UCF and East Carolina tie for the most wins, with two apiece. This will be the last Conference USA game for UCF, as they leave for the Big East next year. The teams played in the regular season; Tulsa won 23-21 at home. The title game will also be played at Tulsa, but don’t necessarily chalk that up as an automatic win for the Golden Hurricane – the hosting team is only 4-3 in conference title games.

The Big Ten Championship and Pac-12 Championship games only been played once before, so there’s not a whole lot of history to draw from, but each features a repeat contestant (Wisconsin from the Big Ten and UCLA from the Pac-12). Both games feature rematches from a regular season game (Nebraska beat Wisconsin 30-27 on September 29, while Stanford beat UCLA 35-17 last week). The winners of these contests will play in the Rose Bowl against each other, of course; Wisconsin will be vying for its third straight trip to Pasadena and ninth overall; Nebraska will be playing for its third trip, but their first as a Big Ten member. UCLA and Stanford will each be playing for their thirteenth Rose Bowl appearance, which would rank fifth all-time.

Congratulations to Big Blue Nation, who wins their second week of the year, with 193 points. bamaken finished second with 192 points, and Mark was third with 190 points.

Standings after twelve weeks (dropping “two worst” weeks)…

It’s the final week of the game, so it’s the last chance to improve your standing! The first game is the MAC Championship Game, which features Northern Illinois and Kent State, on Friday, November 30 @ 7 ET, so make sure to get your picks in by then!
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Brandon German
e-Systems.net, Inc.