{"id":413082,"date":"2025-11-29T15:16:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T15:16:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/413082\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T15:16:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T15:16:18","slug":"college-football-conference-championship-scenarios-who-can-clinch-and-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/413082\/","title":{"rendered":"College football conference championship scenarios: Who can clinch and how"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Athletic has live coverage of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/live-blogs\/ohio-state-michigan-live-updates-score-result-college-football-week-14\/NmH6MV9R20iX\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ohio State vs. Michigan<\/a> from college football rivalry week.<\/p>\n<p>On the final Saturday of the college football regular season, there\u2019s plenty still at stake.<\/p>\n<p>Friday\u2019s games cleared up some of the conference championship picture: Georgia (SEC), Indiana (Big Ten), Texas Tech and BYU (Big 12) and North Texas (American) all punched their tickets to championship week.<\/p>\n<p>But across the nine FBS conferences, only the Big 12 has a title matchup set entering Saturday\u2019s games.<\/p>\n<p>The scenarios for some, like the SEC and Big Ten, are relatively simple. As for the ACC \u2026 well, time to study up on tiebreakers.<\/p>\n<p>Here are all of the possible conference title game matchups \u2014 and what needs to happen Saturday to get there.<\/p>\n<p>SEC<\/p>\n<p>SEC championship race<\/p>\n<tr>TeamConference recordOverall<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt relative team\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>7-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>11-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>7-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>11-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>6-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>9-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p><strong>Clinched:\u00a0<\/strong>Georgia<\/p>\n<p><strong>Games with title-race implications<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ole Miss 38, Mississippi State 19<\/li>\n<li>Texas 27, Texas A&amp;M 17<\/li>\n<li>Alabama at Auburn (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Possible matchups<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alabama-Georgia<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Alabama wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Georgia-Ole Miss<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Alabama loses<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Big Ten<\/p>\n<p>Big Ten championship race<\/p>\n<tr>TeamConference recordOverall<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt relative team\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>9-0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>12-0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>8-0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>11-0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt relative team\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>7-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>10-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt relative team\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>7-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>9-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p><strong>Clinched: <\/strong>Indiana<\/p>\n<p><strong>Games with title-race implications<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Indiana 56, Purdue 3<\/li>\n<li>Ohio State at Michigan (Saturday, noon ET)<\/li>\n<li>Oregon at Washington (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Possible matchups<\/p>\n<p><strong>Indiana-Ohio State<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Ohio State wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Indiana-Oregon<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Michigan wins\/Ohio State loses + Oregon wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Indiana-Michigan<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Michigan wins\/Ohio State loses + Oregon loses<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Big 12<\/p>\n<p>Big 12 championship race<\/p>\n<tr>TeamConference recordOverall<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>7-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>10-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>7-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>10-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p><strong>Clinched:\u00a0<\/strong>Texas Tech, BYU<\/p>\n<p><strong>Games with title-race implications<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Utah 31, Kansas 21<\/li>\n<li>Arizona 23, Arizona State 7<\/li>\n<li>Texas Tech at West Virginia (Saturday, noon ET)<\/li>\n<li>UCF at BYU (Saturday, 1 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Title-game matchup<\/p>\n<p>Texas Tech and BYU both clinched spots in the Big 12 title game before playing this week <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6847039\/2025\/11\/29\/big-12-championship-texas-tech-byu-arizona-state-loss\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">because of Arizona State\u2019s loss to Arizona on Friday night<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>ACC<\/p>\n<p>ACC championship race<\/p>\n<tr>TeamConference recordOverall<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt relative team\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>6-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>9-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>6-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>8-3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>6-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>8-3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>6-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>9-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>5-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>9-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>5-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>6-5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p><strong>Games with title-race implications<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Miami at Pitt (Saturday, noon ET)<\/li>\n<li>Boston College at Syracuse (Saturday, 3 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<li>Wake Forest at Duke (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<li>Virginia Tech at Virginia (Saturday, 7 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<li>UNC at NC State (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<li>SMU at Cal (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Possible matchups<\/p>\n<p><strong>Virginia-SMU<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Virginia wins + SMU wins, <strong>OR<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Virginia wins + SMU loses + Miami wins\/Pitt loses + Wake Forest wins + UNC wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Virginia-Pitt<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Virginia wins + Pitt wins\/Miami loses + SMU loses<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>SMU-Pitt<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>SMU wins + Pitt wins\/Miami loses + Virginia loses<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Virginia-Duke<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Virginia wins + Duke wins + SMU loses + Miami wins\/Pitt loses, <strong>OR<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Virginia loses + Duke wins + SMU loses + Miami wins\/Pitt loses + UNC wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Virginia-Miami<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Virginia wins + Miami wins\/Pitt loses + SMU loses + Duke loses + NC State wins + Syracuse wins, <strong>OR<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Virginia loses + Miami wins\/Pitt loses + SMU loses + Duke loses + UNC wins + Syracuse wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>SMU-Duke<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>SMU wins + Duke wins + Virginia loses + Miami wins\/Pitt loses + UNC wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>SMU-Miami<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>SMU wins + Miami wins\/Pitt loses + Virginia loses + Duke loses<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Pitt-Georgia Tech<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Pitt wins\/Miami loses + Virginia loses + SMU loses<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Duke-Miami<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Duke wins + Miami wins\/Pitt loses + Virginia loses + SMU loses + NC State wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Miami-Georgia Tech<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Miami wins\/Pitt loses + Virginia loses + SMU loses + Duke loses + NC State wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Virginia-Georgia Tech, Miami or SMU*<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Virginia wins + Miami wins\/Pitt loses + SMU loses + Duke loses + NC State wins + Boston College wins, <strong>OR<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Virginia loses + Miami wins\/Pitt loses + SMU loses + Duke loses + UNC wins + Boston College wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>SMU-Duke or Miami*<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>SMU wins + Duke wins + Miami wins\/Pitt loses + Virginia loses + NC State wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>*In the last two scenarios, the second spot in the ACC championship would be decided by SportSource rating score, the sixth tiebreaker criterion.<\/p>\n<p>American<\/p>\n<p>American championship race<\/p>\n<tr>TeamConference recordOverall<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>7-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>11-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>7-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>9-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>6-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>9-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p><strong>Clinched:\u00a0<\/strong>North Texas<\/p>\n<p><strong>Games with title-race implications<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Navy 28, Memphis 17<\/li>\n<li>North Texas 52, Temple 25<\/li>\n<li>Charlotte at Tulane (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Possible matchups<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tulane-North Texas<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Tulane wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>North Texas-Navy<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Tulane loses<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Conference USA<\/p>\n<p><strong>Games with title-race implications<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Western Kentucky at Jacksonville State (Saturday, 2 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<li>Kennesaw State at Liberty (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Possible matchups<\/p>\n<p><strong>Western Kentucky-Kennesaw State<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Western Kentucky wins\/Jacksonville State loses + Kennesaw State wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Jacksonville State-Kennesaw State<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Jacksonville State wins\/Western Kentucky loses<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Western Kentucky-Jacksonville State<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Western Kentucky wins\/Jacksonville State loses + Kennesaw State loses<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>MAC<\/p>\n<p>MAC championship race<\/p>\n<tr>TeamConference recordOverall<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>7-1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>8-4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt relative team\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>6-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>8-4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>5-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>7-4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>5-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>7-4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt relative team\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>5-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>6-5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p><strong>Clinched:\u00a0<\/strong>Western Michigan<\/p>\n<p><strong>Games with title-race implications<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Western Michigan 31, Eastern Michigan 21<\/li>\n<li>Ohio 31, Buffalo 26<\/li>\n<li>Toledo at Central Michigan (Saturday, noon ET)<\/li>\n<li>Ball State at Miami (Ohio) (Saturday, noon ET)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Possible matchups<\/p>\n<p><strong>Western Michigan vs. Miami (Ohio)<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Miami (Ohio) wins<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Western Michigan vs. Toledo*<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Toledo wins + Miami (Ohio) loses<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>*The team with the higher rating (Toledo or Ohio) from SportSource Analytics would advance. Toledo\u2019s rating was better entering the weekend.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Western Michigan vs. Ohio*<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Miami (Ohio) loses + Central Michigan wins\/Toledo loses<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>*The team with the higher rating (Ohio or Central Michigan) from SportSource Analytics would advance. Ohio\u2019s rating was better entering the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Mountain West<\/p>\n<p>Mountain West championship race<\/p>\n<tr>TeamConference recordOverall<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>6-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>9-3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt relative team\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>6-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>9-3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>6-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>8-4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>5-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>9-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p><strong>Games with title-race implications<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New Mexico 23, San Diego State 17 (2OT)<\/li>\n<li>Boise State 25, Utah State 24<\/li>\n<li>UNLV at Nevada (Saturday, 9 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Possible matchups<\/p>\n<p><strong>Some combination of San Diego State, Boise State, New Mexico and UNLV<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Mountain West is guaranteed to have at least a three-way tie atop the standings at 6-2, and it will become a four-way tie if UNLV defeats Nevada. <a href=\"https:\/\/themw.com\/2025-football-tiebreaker-scenarios\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">According to the conference tiebreaker scenarios<\/a>, because not all teams within the tied group played each other, the matchup will be determined by a composite average of predictive and results-based metrics on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Sun Belt<\/p>\n<p>Sun Belt West Division race<\/p>\n<tr>TeamConference recordOverall<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>5-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>7-4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"ia-hlt team relative\"\/>\n<td>\n<p>5-2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td>\n<p>7-4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p><strong>Clinched: <\/strong>James Madison has already clinched the East with a 7-0 conference record.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Games with title-race implications<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Troy at Southern Miss (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>James Madison vs. Southern Miss<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Southern Miss defeats Troy<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>James Madison vs. Troy<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Troy defeats Southern Miss<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of Ohio State vs. Michigan from college football rivalry week. On the final&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":413083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[8802,74155,3920,121962,1428,1372,1318,3919,23536,9443,103336,127816,55514,41611,1426,7800,35601,1317,1315,1316,74067,74060,57463,4733,1716,9445,35606,13875,14971,74059,62,8799,74064,121348,35598,67,132,138916,68,32858,74057,104676],"class_list":{"0":"post-413082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-alabama-crimson-tide","9":"tag-boise-state-broncos","10":"tag-byu-cougars","11":"tag-central-michigan-chippewas","12":"tag-college-football","13":"tag-duke-blue-devils","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-georgia-bulldogs","16":"tag-georgia-tech-yellow-jackets","17":"tag-indiana-hoosiers","18":"tag-jacksonville-state-gamecocks","19":"tag-james-madison-dukes","20":"tag-kennesaw-state-owls","21":"tag-miami-oh-redhawks","22":"tag-miami-hurricanes","23":"tag-michigan-wolverines","24":"tag-navy-midshipmen","25":"tag-ncaa","26":"tag-ncaa-football","27":"tag-ncaafootball","28":"tag-new-mexico-lobos","29":"tag-north-texas-mean-green","30":"tag-ohio-bobcats","31":"tag-ohio-state-buckeyes","32":"tag-ole-miss-rebels","33":"tag-oregon-ducks","34":"tag-pittsburgh-panthers","35":"tag-san-diego-state-aztecs","36":"tag-smu-mustangs","37":"tag-southern-mississippi-golden-eagles","38":"tag-sports","39":"tag-texas-tech-red-raiders","40":"tag-toledo-rockets","41":"tag-troy-trojans","42":"tag-tulane-green-wave","43":"tag-united-states","44":"tag-unitedstates","45":"tag-unlv-rebels","46":"tag-us","47":"tag-virginia-cavaliers","48":"tag-western-kentucky-hilltoppers","49":"tag-western-michigan-broncos"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}