College Football Marquee Matchups Week 14

The final week of the college football season is finally here and with it comes all of the conference championship games. Once these championship games are complete, we will have a better idea as to which teams will play in the BCS bowl games and what the rest of the bowl schedule will look like. No. 16 UCLA Bruins at No. 8 Stanford Cardinal – The UCLA Bruins will do battle with the Stanford Cardinal for the second time in two weeks as the two teams are set to meet up in the Pac 12 championship game. When these two teams met November 24th, Stanford had their way with the UCLA Bruins defense, especially in the running game. Running back Stepfan Taylor ran for 142 yards and two touchdowns while quarterback Kevin Hogan completed 15 of 22 passes for 160 yards and another score en route to a 35-17 victory. The Cardinal can expect a much better effort out of the UCLA defense this time around as the Bruins did not have much to play for after wrapping up the Pac 12 south division the week before by beating their cross town rival USC. With a Pac 12 championship on the line as well as a spot in a BCS bowl game, the Bruins will be a lot more fired up for this Friday night’s contest. No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide vs No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs – In what is essentially a BCS championship semi-final game, the Alabama Crimson Tide will play the Georgia Bulldogs in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta for the SEC championship and a right to play Notre Dame for the national championship. The Crimson Tide are coming off of back to back 49-0 victories, including one against their rival Auburn last weekend. Left for dead just three weeks ago after a stunning loss to Texas AM at home, the Crimson Tide find themselves with a chance to once again play for the national title. That opportunity will ensure the Crimson Tide players are completely focused and ready to go in this pivotal SEC championship game. The Georgia Bulldogs are coming off a lopsided victory over their rival, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, last weekend as well. Georgia won that game 42-10 and has scored at least 37 points in each of their last four games. With the Bulldogs’ offense seemingly running on all cylinders, Georgia appears poised to give Alabama everything they can handle. The Georgia defense has stepped up its game in recent weeks as well after getting off to a slow start at the beginning of this season. In the end, the winner of this game will be determined by the quarterback who makes the fewest mistakes as both defenses are expected to control the running game of the opposing team. No. 13 Florida State Seminoles vs Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – The Florida State Seminoles will face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the ACC title game with the chance to go to a BCS bowl game on the line. While some were predicting the Florida State Seminoles could contend for the national title this season, an early season loss to North Carolina State removed them from the BCS title game picture. Even though the Seminoles will not be able to meet that team goal of playing for a BCS title, the team can still earn a BCS bowl berth by beating Georgia Tech. The Seminoles were playing great football before their loss to the Florida Gators last weekend by a final score of 37-26. A return to an ACC opponent should help the Seminoles as Florida was the most talented team they faced all season long. As long as quarterback E.J. Manuel plays up to his potential, the Florida State Seminoles should easily defeat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to win the ACC crown. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are just 6-6 on the season and 5-3 in the ACC, but had won three in a row before losing to the Georgia Bulldogs last week. In their three prior games, Georgia Tech scored 33, 68 and 42 points, something that will have to continue if the Yellow Jackets have any shot of winning this game. Look for Georgia Tech to control the clock with their triple option running game to limit the big play possibilities of the Seminoles. No. 12 Nebraska Cornhuskers and Wisconsin Badgers – In just their second season in the Big Ten, the Nebraska Cornhuskers find themselves playing in the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Cornhuskers narrowly escaped Iowa City and the Iowa Hawkeyes last weekend to secure their spot in the championship game. With quarterback Taylor Martinez playing some of his best football of the season, the Cornhuskers have been able to run the table in the Big Ten after losing to the Ohio State Buckeyes back on October 6th. With both the Penn State Nittany Lions and Ohio State Buckeyes ineligible for postseason play, the Wisconsin Badgers find themselves playing for another Big Ten college football championship. Wisconsin wrapped up their division on November 10th and lost their next two games against the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions. The Badgers will have to put those two losses behind them and focus on the Cornhuskers this Saturday night if they want to make their third straight Rose Bowl appearance. These two teams actually met back on September 29th in Lincoln, Nebraska with the Cornhuskers coming away with a 30-27 victory. Taylor Martinez threw for 181 yards and two touchdowns in that game while also adding 107 rushing yards and another score. Wisconsin running back Montee Ball rushed for 90 yards on 32 carries and scored three touchdowns. This rematch between Wisconsin and Nebraska should prove to be an exciting game with two contrasting styles of play going at it. By Don Phan - Just another sports enthusiast.