It is Championship Weekend in college football. Three titles have already been decided, with six more on the line today, starting with the Big 10 & Big 12 title games (Fox & ABC, respectively).
On Friday, Oregon repeated as Pac-12 champ, ending USC's hopes for a perfect season, 31-24. Ball State, alma mater of talk show icon David Letterman, upended Buffalo to win the Mid-American Conference title, and Alabama-Birmingham defeated Marshall to win the Conference-USA championship.
Today, it's Ohio State vs. Northwestern in the Big 10, Oklahoma, looking for six titles in a row, vs. Iowa State in the Big 12, Alabama vs. Florida in the SEC, Notre Dame vs. Clemson in the ACC title game, a revenge game for the Tigers, who didn't have QB Trevor Lawrence due to coronavirus the first time.
Boise State and undefeated San Diego State will decide the Mountain West title, and Cincinnati plays for the American Athletic Conference title vs. Tulsa. The Power 5 conference games will have bearing on not only the College Football Playoff in 2 weeks, but the few bowls that are on the calendar, pairings of which will be announced as early as tomorrow.
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As the Giants prepare to play Cleveland on Sunday, they'll do so without linebackers coach Bret Bielema, who has accepted the head coaching job at Illinois, replacing Lovie Smith, who was dismissed earlier this week. The Illini will close their season against Penn State this afternoon. Bielema, who, like Giants head coach Joe Judge, was an assistant to Bill Belichick at New England after leaving Arkansas.
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While Notre Dame and Clemson will decide who actually does advance to the Rose Bowl in 13 days, coaches Brian Kelly and Dabo Swinney are expressing concerns about the event committee's insistence on playing the game in Pasadena, which would prevent the families of players & coaches on both teams from attending the game due to a COVID-19-enforced shutdown in California.
Kelly, reportedly, has threatened to boycott the game if the event committee can't get a waiver to allow families to attend the game.
They say two wrongs don't make a right, and this is a clear case. You can see Kelly's point. The Rose Bowl, rich in tradition, would be a destination for vacationing families this time of year under normal circumstances. What Kelly is looking for is for the Rose Bowl committee to move the game out of Pasadena for 2021 due to the pandemic, and to a safer locale.
The NFL's San Francisco 49ers are currently sharing space with the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, exactly for this reason.
The Rose Bowl committee's position, however, is based on a stubborn adherence to tradition. They can't have fans at the game because of the pandemic, but the city fathers in Pasadena are worried about---what else?----money, as in, loss of revenue not only from the game, but also the Tournament of Roses parade that morning. New Year's Day is the benchmark, if ya will, for the city's coffers every year.
Like, we're all dealing with the pandemic in some form or another. Kelly might've made a public relations blunder with his boycott threat, but there's no guarantee the Fighting Irish will be bound for Pasadena anyway.
Spoiler alert: Clemson collects a receipt.
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When Sunday Night Football goes on the air tomorrow, it will be Mike Tirico at the mic, calling the game with Cris Collinsworth for the 2nd straight week. Al Michaels is remaining at home as a precaution, although sideline reporter Michelle Tafoya, who was also off last week, will return. Credit NBC with taking the appropriate steps here. Liam McHugh will anchor Football Night in America for Tirico for the 2nd straight week.
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It'll be interesting to see what the ratings look like, as the ACC title game will air opposite the first half of the NFL Network doubleheader this afternoon (Buffalo vs. Denver), while the C-USA & SEC title games air directly opposite the other half of the NFLN double-dip (Green Bay vs. Carolina). Because NFL Network isn't in as many homes as, say, ESPN, the numbers ain't gonna be good. Trust me.
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