College Football Conference Championship Games, Odds And Top 4 Picks
Summary
The regular season concluded with key rivalry games setting the conference championship matchups. Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia, and Alabama secured spots in their respective Power 4 title games, which will help determine the 12-team College Football Playoff field. Nine championship games are scheduled for December 5-6, with betting lines provided for each contest.
Analysis and picks are offered for the major conference championships. Texas Tech is favored over BYU in the Big 12, while Georgia seeks revenge against Alabama in the SEC. Virginia is picked over Duke in the ACC, and Indiana is selected to cover against Ohio State in the Big Ten. The outcomes will finalize the playoff bracket, with several SEC and Big Ten teams expected to qualify.
The regular season concluded in Week 14 with a huge schedule of rivalry games with top contests determining the four power conference championship game matchups. That includes the Big Ten and SEC, where No. 1-ranked Ohio State rolled over Michigan in Ann Arbor to secure their spot against No. 2 Indiana. The top SEC teams were battling including in some top rivalry games with Alabama beating Auburn to win their way into the SEC Championship Game and 12-team College Football Playoff.  Â
Conference Championship Games Matchups And Odds
There are nine FBS conference championship games the first weekend of December, and they make up the entire college football schedule on Dec. 5-6. Four games are on home campuses on Friday, and five games are in neutral settings on Saturday with some College Football Playoff spots hanging in the balance. The Power 4 conference championship games will draw major wager action at BetOnline and be among the most-watched college football games this season ahead of the College Football Playoff.Â
Betting lines and college football odds from BetOnline refresh periodically and are subject to change, including on props and live/in-game betting. Current point spread on favorites, plus game totals. All times ET.
Friday, Dec. 5
- Conference USA – Kennesaw State at Jacksonville State (-1), 58.5, – 7 p.m. on CBSSN
- Sun Belt – Troy at James Madison (-22), 47.5 – 7 p.m. on ESPN
- American Athletic Conference – Tulane at North Texas (-3), 67.5 – 8 p.m. on ABC
- Mountain West – UNLV at Boise State (-3), 58 – 8 p.m. on FOX
Line adjustments from opening lines Sunday include Jacksonville State -1.5 to -1, James Madison -21.5 to -22, North Texas -3 to -2.5, and Boise State -3 to -3.5 and total 56.5 to 58.
Saturday, Dec. 6
- Big 12 – Texas Tech (-13) vs. BYU, 50 (Arlington, Texas), 12 p.m. on ABC
- Mid American Conference (MAC) – Western Michigan (-2.5) vs. Miami, Ohio, 43 (Detroit), 12 p.m. on ESPN
- Southeastern Conference (SEC) – Georgia (-2.5) vs. Alabama, 47.5 (Atlanta), 4 p.m. on ABC
- Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) – Virginia (-3) vs. Duke, 57.5 (Charlotte), 8 p.m. on ABC
- Big Ten – Ohio State (-5.5) vs. Indiana, 48.5 (Indianapolis), 8 p.m. on FOX
Line adjustments from opening lines Sunday include: WMU/Miami total 44 to 43, Georgia -1.5 to -2.5, Virginia -2.5 to -3, Ohio State -6.5 to -5.5.
Georgia and Alabama won the SEC tiebreakers after winning their final game. Georgia was already 7-1 in SEC play and finished in a 4-way tie with Alabama winning their Iron Bowl rivalry game over Auburn. Ole Miss also won and head coach Lane Kiffin accepted the new HC position at LSU, and he will not coach the Rebels in the College Football Playoff. Undefeated Texas A&M lost their first game of the season at Texas. That dropped the Aggies out of first place and A&M misses out on the SEC Championship Game through tiebreakers.Â
The Mountain West Conference went to a tie-breaker determined by a composite average of nationally ranked metrics. Four teams finished on top at 6-2, and Boise State will play UNLV in Idaho for the third straight season with Boise State winning the last two MWC titles.Â
The 12-team College Football Playoff Field will be announced Dec. 7, and five SEC teams are expected to be included – Georgia, Alabama, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Oklahoma. Three Big Ten teams will join the CFP tournament bracket – Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon. The Big 12 will have one entrant if Texas Tech beats BYU again, but if the Cougars prevail, then the TT Red Raiders will still most likely make the CFP, leaving one other team out of the playoff and potentially Alabama if they lose to Georgia. The ACC will have one representative in the College Football Playoff along with a Group of Five team – likely the American Athletic Conference (ACC) champion. The top-4 seeds and first-round byes in the College Football Playoff are no longer reserved for conference champions.
Top 4 Conference Championship Game Picks
The first-ever SEC championship game was played in 1992, and Alabama defeated Florida 28-21. That signaled the start of Division 1 college football conference title games. Entering the 2025 conference championship season there will have been a total of 173 FBS title games that have taken place since 1992. Playbook Sports notes that there have been a total of 117 same-season rematches in college conference title games since 2000. For what it’s worth, same-season revengers are just 54-60 SU and 57-57 ATS. Georgia plays with redemption and same-season revenge against Alabama this season on Dec. 6, and BYU tries to win the regular-season rematch with Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game.Â
Big 12 – Texas Tech features a 11.6 points per game scoring defense to rank No. 2 in the country between Ohio State and Indiana. The Red Raiders 41 points per game offense is also best in the Big 12 and top-5 nationally, and TT ranks No. 2 in the country with an average points margin of 30.4 points per game. Both Texas Tech and BYU are 11-1 overall and 8-1 in Big 12 play. On Nov. 8, the Red Raiders crushed the Cougars 29-7 in Lubbock holding BYU to a season-low 255 yards of offense. Tech is riding a 5-game winning streak winning all five games by at least 22 points following their only loss at Arizona State, 29-22. The winner of Texas Tech-BYU advances to the 12-team College Football Playoff. The Red Raiders could still make it if they lose. Pick: Texas Tech.Â
SEC– The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide played in Week 5 on Sept. 27 and Alabama won 24-21 to snap Georgia’s 33-game home winning streak. Georgia was a 2.5-point favorite in that game, and now the Dawgs took some early money and are favored by the same 2.5 point spread on a neutral field in Atlanta. The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide have nearly identical scoring defense stats, allowing 17.6 and 18.0 points per game this season, and offensive scoring at 32.6 to 31.2. Surprisingly, Alabama’s rushing attack ranks among the worst in the nation averaging 113 yards per game (Georgia 191 rushing ypg). Pick: Georgia.
ACC – The winner of Virginia (10-2, 7-1 ACC) and Duke (7-5, 6-2 ACC) makes the College Football Playoff. Miami is expected to be ranked higher at No. 12 when the fifth edition of the CFP rankings are released Dec. 2 with Virginia near No. 17 and Duke outside the Top 25. Virginia’s 20.4 points per game defense is superior to Duke (30.5), which ranks No. 99 in the country. The Blue Devils poor running game (130 ypg) is an issue, but their 280 passing ypg and 5.9 yards per play offense is respectable. However, 5-losses by Duke including to UCONN, Tulane, Georgia Tech and one-sided losses to Illinois and Virginia (34-17) at home while getting out-gained 540-255 yards by the Cavaliers are not. Pick: Virginia.
Big Ten – Ohio State and Indiana are the only two teams to finish the season undefeated at 12-0. They both went 9-0 in Big Ten play, but did not meet this season. The Buckeyes and Hoosiers rank 1st and 3rd in the country in scoring defense. Those two defensive dominators allow just 8.5 points and 11.9 points per game. The Buckeyes were the first team since 1995 (Florida) to hold all opponents under 17 points, but the Buckeyes only played two teams ranked in the Top 25 of the College Football Playoff rankings, and Ohio State has the lowest schedule strength (No. 54) of the top contenders, except Texas Tech (No. 57). Heisman Trophy favorite QB’s Julian Sayin (+130) of the Buckeyes and Fernando Mendoza (+120) of the Hoosiers will face top-tier opposing defenses in the Big Ten title game while trying to lead their teams to victory and sway Heisman voters as well. Win or lose, both teams still have a solid shot to get a first round by in the CFP, as the Buckeye’s and Hoosiers lead the nation in ESPN’s total efficiency rankings, and Indiana is No. 1 strength of record metric. Some Hoosiers +6 still available. Pick: Indiana
Enjoy the college football conference championship games ahead of the bowl games and College Football Playoff, and be sure to tune into America’s Game – Army vs. Navy on Dec. 13 with Pride, Pageantry and Patriotism on full display.
You can bet on it.
