The only conference championship game that is a rematch of a regular season affair is Georgia Tech vs. Clemson.  Back on a Thursday night in September, Tech burst out to a 24-0 lead, gave it all up for Clemson to go up 27-24, and then came back with a pair of field goals for the 30-27 win.   Tech was a 5-point home favorite that night and has gone from a 1-point favorite to a 1-point dog in this one.  They’re a bit banged up, but Paul Johnson, is, of course, Paul Johnson.

It speaks volumes about the ACC that their two divisional championship teams were each beaten decisively by middling SEC teams last Saturday.  Another metric is the fan interest, or lack thereof, in the ACC Championship game.   Online ticket brokers can get you into Raymond James Stadium for $19 vs. a “get in” price of $362 for the SEC’s showdown in Atlanta.

Texas is using their defensive lapses in College Station as a springboard into Saturday’s Big 12 Championship Game.  Texas A&M’s 39 point, 539 yard explosion against Texas is obviously worrisome to Longhorn partisans.  But prior to that game the Longhorns had allowed more than 20 points, and over 310 yards in a game just once each.  Chalk it up to Aggie lightning in a bottle? 

If you’re interested in how those stats compare with the potential SEC opponents of the Longhorns, let’s take a look. High opponent production allowed by Florida was 20 points and 357 yards by Arkansas.   Alabama’s high allowances have been 24 points by Virginia Tech and 341 yards by Tennessee. 

Nick Saban is 13-1 straight up in the SEC against an opponent he lost to the year before. Of course, with Urban Meyer’s 95-17 career coaching record, and Saban’s 79-24 record at LSU and Alabama, it’s not like these guys have lost too many games of any type.    Florida may facing some distractions with defensive coordinator Charlie Strong having the Louisville job in the bag and superstar Carlos Dunbar being suspended for his drunken driving arrest.  In addition to Strong having the Louisville job wrapped up, Dennis Franchione (ex New Mexico, TCU, Alabama) appears to be in very good shape for the UNLV job.   Can you say “retread”?

Can’t blame the Trojans for their TD bomb in the games closing seconds, as the Bruins brought it on themselves by calling timeouts, but USC sure was doing a lot of woofing about their 28-7 win over UCLA considering that the Trojans had the same amount of first downs and 14 more total yards than the Bruins.   A 4-1 turnover differential told the tale in that one. If you knew that there would be a 485-289 yardage edge for Toledo, how much would you have bet on them at +7.5 against Bowling Green?  Good thing you didn’t know, as the final score was Bowling Green 38-24 due to a 5-1 edge in turnovers. (That is only mentioned due to Bowling Green being 7-5 and bowl eligible.)

Get ready for a lot of justifiable howling from ACC teams who fall down the bowl ladder as a result of the Gator Bowl choosing mediocre Florida State to celebrate Bobby Bowden.  The folks in Jacksonville figure this will attract attention and, as always, the bowls are all about filling hotel rooms and restaurants in the host city.  This is the second straight year that the once-proud Gator Bowl will have a 6-6 team for reasons of commerce, as Clemson brought a lot of people to Jacksonville to celebrate New Year’s last season.

Good luck as we (unbelievably) wrap up the college regular season.