College Football Championship Friday 2016

EDITOR’S NOTE: Hi everyone! Welcome! I’m glad you took the time to look at my blog. Here is my first blog post:

The College Football Playoff will officially begin on December 31st at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. What we don’t know right now is whether that game will be the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl or the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and who will be playing in those games. What we do know is championship week begins tonight (Friday) for NCAA Division I College Football games.

Tonight (Friday), the Western Michigan Broncos (12-0, 8-0) battle the Ohio Bobcats (8-4, 6-2) for the MAC Championship while the Colorado Buffaloes (10-2, 8-1) square off against the Washington Huskies (11-1, 8-1) in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

Western Michigan is undefeated through the regular season, ranked 17th in the College Football Playoff Rankings and probably will not make the 2016 College Football Playoff simply because they have not played a ranked opponent all season.

The most points the Broncos have given up to an opponent this season was vs. Toledo the day after Thanksgiving (November 25th) in which they gave up 35 points. That’s better than four out of the eight teams in the top eight of the College Football Playoff rankings. Those teams are: Alabama & Clemson (43 points), Colorado (45 points), and Penn State (49 points).

Anyway, if Western Michigan wins tonight they should play in the best bowl game possible of non-College Football Playoff teams which probably will be in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on January 2nd, 2017, against a Power-Five at-large bowl bid team.

On the other hand, the Ohio Bobcats lost to the only ranked opponent they have played this season, a 28-19 loss at #15 Tennessee on September 17th. The Bobcats haven’t given up that many points to an opponent in nine straight contests since.

Meanwhile, the Pac-12 Championship Game features the Colorado Buffaloes who are currently ranked eighth in the College Football Playoff and the Washington Huskies who are currently ranked fourth. The Buffaloes and Huskies are making their Pac-12 Conference Championship Game debuts in football.

The Buffaloes’ only shot to conceivably make the playoff is if they beat the Huskies and to hope the other teams currently ahead of them play awful in this weekend’s games.

Colorado’s record against ranked opponents this season is two wins and one loss. They lost at #4 Michigan 45-28 on September 17th and beat both #22 Washington State 38-24 and #22 Utah 27-22 at home in the final two weeks of the regular season.

With a win tonight, the Buffaloes would join four other teams with at least three wins against ranked opponents this season who have a shot to make the College Football Playoff. Those teams are: Alabama (7), Ohio State (4), Wisconsin (3) and Washington (3).

Washington’s wins against ranked opponents came when they defeated the #7 Stanford at home 44-6 on September 30th, and beat both #17 Utah 31-24 on October 29th and #23 Washington State 45-17 on November 25th in road games. USC (then ranked #20) defeated the Huskies 26-13 in Washington’s lone home loss on November 12th.

The Huskies are one of only two top eight teams in the current College Football Playoff rankings who have not given up 30 or more points in any one game to their opponents this season. Ohio State gave up 27 points to Michigan on November 26th while Washington gave up 28 points at Arizona on September 24th in an overtime game in which the Huskies won.

Colorado has a six-game winning streak and is likely headed to the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual or the Hyundai Sun Bowl. Washington has a two-game winning streak and is probably headed to the College Football Playoff, the Rose Bowl Game or the Sun Bowl.

The MAC Championship Game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Eastern Time at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, and can be seen televised on ESPN2. The Pac-12 Championship Game is scheduled for 9 p.m. Eastern Time at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, and can be seen televised on FOX.