This weekend’s college football games will answer a lot of questions
The six conferences that have championship games wrap up their league races this weekend. The five conferences without title games still have two weekends of games remaining. Here is an overview of how all the conference races shape up:
Atlantic Coast: Clemson has clinched the Atlantic Division and will play the Virginia Tech-Virginia winner in the championship game.
Big East: Five teams have two losses: Louisville and Rutgers are 4-2 and end their seasons this weekend. Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and West Virginia are 3-2 with two games remaining each. Louisville can wrap up the conference’s BCS bowl berth with a win and losses by Cincinnati and Pitt. Rutgers can take that spot with a win and losses by Louisville and West Virginia.
Big Ten: Legends Division winner Michigan State will face the Penn State-Wisconsin winner in the championship game.
Big 12: Oklahoma State, which is idle this weekend, can clinch the championship if Oklahoma loses to Iowa State on Saturday. Otherwise, the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State winner on Dec. 3 will be the champion, even if Kansas State is part of a three-way tie for first place.
Conference USA: The winner of today’s game between Houston and Tulsa will win the West and host the championship game. Southern Miss will win the East if it defeats Memphis. If Southern Miss loses, Marshall would win the division by beating East Carolina.
Mid-American: Ohio has clinched the East. Northern Illinois wins the West if it beats Eastern Michigan. The West is Toledo’s if it defeats Ball State and Northern Illinois loses.
Mountain West: TCU has clinched a share of first place and will be the conference’s top team.
Pac-12: Oregon takes the North if it defeats Oregon State. If Oregon loses, Stanford wins the North. The North winner will host the championship game. USC leads the South but is ineligible for the championship game and postseason play. UCLA wins the South if it beats USC. If UCLA loses, as many as three teams — UCLA, Arizona State and Utah — could win the division.
Southeastern: Georgia has won the East. LSU will win the West if it defeats Arkansas. If Arkansas beats LSU and Alabama loses to Auburn, Arkansas would win the West. Wins by Arkansas and Alabama would put them in a three-way tie with LSU and the tie-breaker would go down to a formula that involves the BCS standings to determine which team would play Georgia.
Sun Belt: Arkansas State leads Louisiana-Lafayette by one game with one game remaining for each team, and Arkansas State holds the tie-breaker advantage.
Western Athletic: Louisiana Tech wins if it defeats New Mexico State in its final game Saturday. For Nevada to win the conference, it must defeat Utah State and Idaho and have Louisiana Tech lose.