Previewing The Top Games This Weekend, Including The Battle For The B1G TEN

Article Written By: Justin Pollock

Thursday
December 5
                   
No. 19 Louisville(-3.5) at Cincinnati

No. 19 Louisville Cardinals(10-1) will be on the road against the Cincinnati Bearcats (9-2) this weekend. The winner of this game is going to claim the number 2 spot in the AAC. At the announcement of this match-up, the Cardinals were favorites(-6.5) , but that number has been declining ever since. Both teams have a number in the right column(being losses) this season as the Cardinals lost to UCF 38-35 at home and the Cincinnati Bearcats have a pair of losses, one coming from Illinois 45-17 and the other to South Florida 26-20.

Prediction: Louisville 38 Cincinnati 34

Friday
December 6

                                                             MAC Championship

    Bowling Green at No. 14 Northern Illinois(-3)

This is a big game for the Senior Heisman candidate Jordan Lynch as it is his last game before heading to the big apple to find out the final results, and if there was a game that Jordan Lynch could ever finish out with an easy opponent it wouldn’t be this one. The Bowling Green Falcons are great on both sides as they are 5th overall for allowed PPG at 13.75. The Huskies have been playing great again this year behind Lynch as they are once again 12-0 in regular season play, the huskies are a combine 23-2 for their last 25 games, the only teams they lost to were the Iowa Hawkeyes and  Florida State Seminoles last season.

Prediction: Bowling Green 21 Northern Illinois 27

Saturday                                                                                                                                                                          December 7

                                                                       No.17 Oklahoma at No. 6 Oklahoma State(-10.5)

The classic rivalry game for the state of Oklahoma. The all time series is led heavily by Oklahoma, with an overall record of 76-16-7. This year, I have to go with Oklahoma State finishing strong with a W against the Sooners. Make it, 76-17-7.

Prediction: Oklahoma 28 Oklahoma State 45

                                                                                      No. 25 Texas at No. 9 Baylor(-13)

Texas is the USC of the south, is a statement we can all agree on. This season, they have been through the lowest of low and have seen their season turn around in a week. As the Longhorns started off at 1-2, they fired their DC Manny Diaz. After that “quick-fix”, the Longhorns went on a 6-game winning streak, getting to 7-2. Now,they are here at 8-3, going up against a very high powered offense in the Baylor Bears, who are 10-1. The Bears are coming off a rough road loss at Oklahoma State, getting hammered 49-17. This game is not only the battle for the Lone Star state, but also for second place in the BIG 12.

Prediction: Texas 27 Baylor 45

SEC Championship

                                                                                       No. 5 Missouri(-2) at No. 3 Auburn

Is this game going to end as dramatic as the Iron bowl with a 109 yard return from Chris Davis? Most likely not, but you never know as this game is going to have a lot of emotion and this game is for all the marbles. If Auburn comes out with the W they could be playing in the National Championship Game in Pasadena, Ca. If they lose, then they go to the Capital One bowl game and play either Michigan State or Ohio State. The Tigers in Missouri turned their program around in a season under HC Gary Pinkel as last season they were 2-6 in SEC play and 5-7 overall and missing out on going bowling so they could come out hungry  for their first ever SEC Championship game since coming over from the BIG 12.

Prediction: Auburn 35 Missouri 24

                                                                                                        Pac-12 Championship

                                                                                         No. 7 Stanford at No.11 Arizona State(-3)

The Stanford Cardinals are coming into this game as underdog as this is their 2nd straight appearance in the Pac-12 championship game under QB Kevin Hogan. The Arizona State Sun Devils are coming off a HUGE game over rival Arizona Wildcats as the offense looked unstoppable winning by a margin of 37 points 58-21.

Prediction: Stanford 31 Arizona State 28

                                                                                ACC Championship

                                                                                   No. 20 Duke at No. 1 Florida State(-27.5)

The Duke Bluedevils are going into Bank of America stadium Saturday coming off their best year in school history at 10-2 losing to only Pittsburgh (58-55) and Georgia Tech (38-14) and yes we are talking about the Duke Football team not Basketball. Their opponent has a Heisman QB that you may have heard about somewhere before, Freshmen Jameis Winston who is currently a top three candidate to win the Heisman Trophy in New York. The all time series between these two schools is 18-0 with Florida State dominate run over Duke. Florida State is ranked Number one in the nation not only because of their offense, but their defense also. They’re only allowing 11 points per game this season that ranks 1st among all FBS schools.

Prediction: Duke 17 Florida State 41    

                                                                              MWC Championship

                                                                                        Utah State at No. 23 Fresno State(-6)

This is a match-up between the winner of the Mountain and West divisions in the MWC, the Utah State Aggies are 8-4 (7-1) overall and the Fresno State are 10-1 (7-1) overall led by QB Derek Carr. The Aggies are coming off a win over Wyoming 35-7 in which the Aggies “D” showed up and kept the Cowboys from scoring a lot of points. In the case of the Bulldogs they were opposite of Utah the “D” stayed at home as  San Jose State scored plenty and won with a score of 62-52 and became a part of the postseason with a 6-6 record. Carr is throwing Heisman stats around for the season he is 45-5 (TD-INT) and he also has 4462 yards on the season.

Prediction: Utah State 49 Fresno State 38

                                                                         B1G TEN Championship

                                                                           No.2 Ohio State(-6.5) at. No. 10 Michigan State

This is going to be the game of the weekend as the (12-0) Ohio State Buckeyes take on rival Michigan State (11-1) both are undefeated in divisional play ,but the buckeyes are 24-0 combined over two seasons.  Braxton Miller is going up against a top 10 defense in Michigan State who is only allowing 11.9 PPG this season. Both teams are coming off close wins one was very low scoring and the other was very high, the Spartans beat the Minnesota Gophers 14-3 and the Buckeyes beat the Michigan Wolverines by a point 42-41 as Michigan head Brady Hoke decided to go for two points which failed. At the start of the second QT of the OSU-MICH game there was a fight between players, but since it happened before halftime the players don’t have to miss any time in the B1G TEN championship game. Ohio State is a 6 1/2 points favor in the Championship game which is located in Lucas Oil Stadium (COLTS). ESPN College Gameday has decided to go there Saturday Morning for the game.

Prediction: Ohio State 31 Michigan State 34

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