As college football hurtles toward championship season, the race for conference titles is heating up. Here’s a quick breakdown of who has already punched their ticket and who’s still in contention across the Power 4 and Group of 5 conferences:
Power Four Conference Championship Tracker
ACC:
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Clinched: SMU has secured a berth in the title game.
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Scenarios: Miami can clinch with a win at Syracuse next week. Clemson needs Miami to lose to Syracuse to secure their spot.
Big Ten:
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Clinched: Oregon is confirmed for the Big Ten Championship Game.
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Scenarios: Ohio State advances with a win against Michigan at home. Penn State needs a win over Maryland and help elsewhere to clinch.
Big 12:
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Clinched: No team has clinched yet.
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Scenarios: If a four-way tie at 7-2 between Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, and Iowa State occurs, Arizona State and Iowa State would advance to the title game based on tie-breaking rules. The Big 12 tells CBS Sports there are over 250 possible combinations of teams that would meet in the conference championship game.
SEC:
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Clinched: Georgia has locked up a spot in the SEC Title Game for the fourth consecutive year and the seventh time in the last eight seasons.
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Scenarios: Texas controls its own destiny in its first SEC season and can secure a spot with a win against No. 15 Texas A&M (the Longhorns are currently favored by 7.5 points). Likewise, three-loss Texas A&M can keep its CFP hopes alive by beating Texas. If it does so, it will make the SEC Championship Game to face Georgia, where it can jump from off the bubble to first-round CFP bye if it takes the Dawgs out.
Group of Five Conference Championship Tracker
American Athletic Conference:
Conference USA:
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Clinched: Jacksonville State will host the conference title game.
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Scenarios: Liberty clinches with a win over Sam Houston. Western Kentucky can clinch with a win over Jacksonville State and a Liberty loss. Sam Houston needs to beat Liberty and see Western Kentucky lose to Jacksonville State.
Mid-American Conference (MAC):
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Contenders: Bowling Green, Miami (Ohio), and Ohio control their destinies, all sitting at 6-1. Key matchups on Nov. 29 include Bowling Green hosting Miami (Ohio) and Ohio hosting Ball State.
Mountain West:
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Clinched: Boise State has secured its eighth title game appearance, a conference record.
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Scenarios: Colorado State advances with a win over Utah State and a UNLV loss to Nevada. UNLV gets in with a win over Nevada and a Colorado State loss. If both win, the higher-ranked team in the final CFP Rankings will advance. If both lose, results-based computer metrics will decide.
Sun Belt:
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Contenders: Marshall and Louisiana control their destinies.
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Scenarios: Marshall advances with a win at James Madison, while Louisiana can clinch with a win at Louisiana-Monroe.
We’ll see if the final week of the season can match the chaos that the penultimate weekend brought. If so, the tiebreaker scenario is going to get even crazier.
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