collegefootballandnascar

Good morning fellow college football fans… It’s time for the final picks of the 2008 regular season — OK, I guess the championship games aren’t considered ‘regular’ season anymore, but here goes what I think will happen this weekend:

1. ACC Championship Game — #25 Virginia Tech 17, #17 Boston College 14. Earlier in the season, the Hokies lost a tough one in Boston. Last year, the Hokies lost the regular season game to BC and fought back hard in the ACCCG to win their 2nd ACC Championship in 4 years. VT will be hungry for a win and hoping to prove all the doubters out there that they can move the ball. This game will come down to defense, and VT has the edge with the #6 defense in the country. Not to take away anything from BC who has the #8 defense in the country, but is also playing with a backup QB who Bud Foster will attack. Hokies win a close one.

2. SEC Championship Game —  #4 Florida 31, #1 Alabama 24. I don’t care that BAMA is undefeated and dominated Auburn last week, the Florida Gators will Tebow their way to their 2nd SEC championship in three years and play for the national championship game again — which they will win, but that prediction will come later. BAMA may look like the obvious choice, having gone undefeated, but since Florida lost to Mississippi, they have rattled off 8 HUGE wins, beating their opponents by an average score of  52-12 and have only scored less than 40 points 3 times and those were 26, 30, 31 and 38 points, so this team can score and they can score fast. Florida ROLLS Tide to the national championship.

3. BIG 12 Championship Game —  #2 Oklahoma 52, #20 Missouri 28. No doubt in my  mind that Oklahoma wins this game and wins it big. As much as I like to think that Texas should be representing the Big 12 South in this game, it didn’t happen and there is no point in arguing over it. Oklahoma has put up some huge numbers lately including a thrasing of Texas Tech in Lubboch by the score of 65-21. This has been one of the few Big 12 teams that appears to have somewhat of a defense. No question they have the offense to put points on the board. They average 53 points a game and have scored fewer than 45 points once — a 45-35 loss to Texas. Oklahoma has been known in years past for blowing the ‘big games’ and it looked like they had done the same against Texas, but redeemed themselves with huge wins and will play in the national championship this year.

4. MAC Championship Game —  #12 Ball State 31, Buffalo 14. Definitely not one of the most highly anticipated games of the weekend, but Ball State will be trying to continue their stride towards and unblemished record and look to do so against a stoute Buffalo team. Buffalo might hang around for the first half, but in the end Ball State will get it done and seperate themselves, winning a MAC Championship. Unfortunately for Ball State they are the 3rd non-BCS team in the pecking order and have virtually no hope of playing in a BCS game. The Cardinals will finish the season undefeated and at least have the bragging rights in the MAC, possibly setting them up for a decent pre-season ranking next year. If they can run the table again, they may see the BCS game they deserve.

5. Conference USA Championship —  East Carolina 37, Tulsa 31. East Carolina looked to be an early BCS buster after opening victories against ranked Virginia Tech and West Virginia. A three-game losing streak in middle of the season turned the table for the Pirates and their 15-minutes of fame were quickly up. Coach Skip Holtz got the team refocused and won the games that mattered, putting then in the conference championship. Tulsa on the other hand blasted their way through the season losing only 2 games, with 1 being in conference. I still think ECU will finish the season strong and win this game close.

Those are the 5 championship games being held this weekend. It appears most will be good games — with the exception of the Big 12 Championship. I know a lot of people have thoughts that the ACC game will be a snoozer, but I think two top-8 defenses in the country will be exciting to watch.

Check back tomorrow for predictions on the upcoming NFL weekend.

B-Blog

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