After weeks of uncertainty and trying to forecast every potential outcome, far-fetched as some may have been, the dust has finally settled and college football’s conference championship games are set.
The 2024 college football season ended in eventful fashion over the weekend with a set of Week 14 games that offered a number of exciting finishes, unexpected results and, yes, plenty of attempted flag plants at midfield.
No. 6 Georgia survived an eight-overtime thriller against Georgia Tech. No. 2 Ohio State was stunned as a three-touchdown favorite against Michigan. No. 7 Miami potentially saw its College Football Playoff dreams evaporate in a loss at Syracuse.
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Those various outcomes, and even some of the less captivating games, provided some much-needed clarity.
For weeks, fans across the country learned about the various and often convoluted tiebreaker rules each league had to determine who faced off in the conference championship game. Now, with the regular season complete, those matchups for next week are finalized.
Who made it to those conference championship games, many of which will help determine automatic berths to the inaugural 12-team playoff?
Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming college football conference championship games:
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Each of the nine full FBS conferences — so not including the two-team Pac-12 — will stage a championship game next week.
Here’s a look at each of those matchups:
The Mustangs finished with the best record in the ACC in their inaugural season in the league, winning each of their eight conference games. Thanks to Miami’s loss to Syracuse, Clemson’s 7-1 ACC record put it one game ahead of the Hurricanes.
The Ducks finished the regular season as the lone undefeated FBS squad. They’ll aim to maintain their unblemished record against the Nittany Lions, who earned a trip to Indianapolis thanks to Ohio State’s loss to Michigan. That result put them in a tie with Indiana, each of which has an 8-1 Big Ten record. Penn State went through because their conference opponents had a higher win percentage than the Hoosiers’.
In perhaps the most involved tiebreaker situation of any league, four teams finished tied atop the Big 12 standings, each with a 7-2 record: Arizona State, Iowa State, Colorado and BYU. An astonishing nine of the conference’s 16 teams remained in contention headed into Week 14. Ultimately, the Sun Devils earned a spot by rolling rival Arizona 49-7 while BYU’s win over Houston, paired with Iowa State’s victory against Kansas State, sent the Cyclones to the title game while eliminating Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes from contention.
The Longhorns finished atop the SEC in their first season in the league, capping off a 7-1 debut season with a 17-7 win against rival Texas A&M. The Bulldogs finished in a tie with Tennessee for second, with each team sporting a 6-2 record, but Georgia got through by virtue of their head-to-head victory against the Volunteers. This game will be a rematch of the Bulldogs’ 30-15 win in Austin, Texas on October 19.
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Barring something truly unforeseen, the winner of this game will earn a spot in the playoff. Should Ashton Jeanty and the Broncos emerge victorious, there’s a strong chance they’ll get a first-round bye, should they remain ahead of the yet-to-be-determined Big 12 champion in the playoff committee rankings. This game’s a rematch of Boise State’s 29-24 win in Las Vegas on October 25.
The Black Knights’ loss to Notre Dame and the Green Wave’s loss to Memphis almost certainly eliminates the winner of this game from earning the spot reserved in the playoff field for the fifth-highest-rated conference champion.
In the only FBS conference that still has divisions, the west division champion Ragin’ Cajuns will take on the east division champion Thundering Herd. The host of the game will be determined based on a composite average of computer rankings that won’t be finalized and announced until Sunday.
The RedHawks and Bobcats finished the regular season with identical 7-1 marks in conference play, putting them a game ahead of Bowling Green and Buffalo.
The Gamecocks, in their second FBS season and led by former Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez, finished first atop the league standings and will face the Hilltoppers, who actually beat them 19-17 on Saturday in the teams’ regular-season finale.
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Here’s a look at the schedule for next week’s conference championship games:
All times Eastern.
