NCAAFB Conference Championship Weekend: Historical Context & Matchups

We have arrived at the final weekend of the college football regular season, a weekend known as “Conference Championship Weekend.”

All the games played this weekend – one game on Friday, December 6, several on Saturday, December 7 – are conference championship games.

College football did not have any major conference championship games in 1991. Then, in 1992, former Southeastern Conference Commissioner, Roy Kramer, created the SEC Championship Game. The 1992 game between Alabama and Florida was an experiment to see if creating an outright championship game in a conference would work.

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Had Florida knocked then-unbeaten Alabama out of national championship contention, the SEC Championship Game might not have become the major commercial success it is today for the SEC, which is widely acknowledged as college football’s best conference. However, Alabama won the 1992 game. It played and beat Miami in the Sugar Bowl for the national title.

The SEC Championship Game took off and is a big money-maker for the SEC.

In 1996, the Big 12 started a championship game for its conference.

In 2005, the Atlantic Coast Conference jumped into the pool.

In 2011, the Pac-12 and the Big Ten became part of the fun.

Last year, the Sun Belt Conference created a championship game, becoming the final conference among the 10 Football Bowl Subdivision conferences to have a title game.

This weekend’s lineup:

On Friday (Saturday morning in Australia), Utah and Oregon play in the Pac-12 Championship Game.

On Saturday (Sunday morning in Australia), Oklahoma plays Baylor in the Big 12 Championship Game.

Appalachian State plays Louisiana-Lafayette in the Sun Belt title game.

Florida Atlantic plays Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) for the Conference USA title.

Hawaii plays Boise State for the Mountain West title.

Memphis plays Cincinnati for the American Athletic Conference title.

LSU plays Georgia for the SEC championship.

Miami University (Miami of Ohio, as opposed to Miami of Florida) plays Central Michigan for the Mid-American Conference title.

Clemson plays Virginia for the ACC championship.

Ohio State plays Wisconsin for the Big Ten championship.

The Sun Belt, Conference USA, the Mountain West, and the AAC play their conference championship games on campus, at the site of the team with the better conference record.

The Pac-12, Big 12, SEC, MAC, ACC, and Big Ten play neutral-site conference championship games in domes (with climate-controlled conditions which are friendly to fans and television) or in centrally-located areas which reduce the travel costs/lengths for fans.

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These games have some good components and some limitations. They represent the evolution of college football and, simultaneously, college football’s failure to evolve even more.

The good part: Before 1992, conferences could have two teams tied at the top of the standings which did not play each other. Conferences would select which team went to their biggest bowl game. People would make a decision, instead of having the two teams play on the field to settle the issue directly.

The conference championship game made sure that conference championships were decided on the field. That’s good.

The limitation of this has become apparent in more recent years. Sometimes, a conference title game puts two great teams together. The winner of a conference title game, in these circumstances, goes to the playoff as the winner of an elimination game. A good example came last year: Alabama beat Georgia in the SEC Championship Game. Alabama went to the playoff, Georgia was knocked out.

However, what happens when one of the two teams in a conference title game isn’t very good? This becomes a waste of time. A good example came last year: Clemson beat Pittsburgh – a five-loss team – in the ACC Championship Game by a large margin.

No one would have complained if Clemson was anointed ACC champion, as clearly the league’s best team. A really good team from another conference could have taken Pittsburgh’s place, OR (a better idea) Clemson could be given the weekend off. Two other really good teams could play in Charlotte, North Carolina (site of the ACC Championship Game) and play for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

We have seen in recent years that while conference championship games are often good, they can just as often be a flaw in the sport’s postseason structure.

This year’s main playoff debate is between Utah and the winner of Saturday’s Oklahoma-Baylor Big 12 Championship Game. Assuming Utah beats Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship Game, a debate involving Utah and the OU-Baylor winner will roar through College Football Twitter.

People will tell you that Utah CLEARLY deserves to be in the playoff. Others will just as clearly tell you that Oklahoma OBVIOUSLY should be in.

The hidden truth: Neither team would have a slam-dunk case. They should play on the field… this weekend. If college football reformed the structure of the conference championship games, it would be possible.

We will have more to say on the College Football Playoff – and whether it was fair or not in 2019 – after the selection of the teams this upcoming Sunday, Dec. 8. Stay tuned. We will also preview the various bowl games which will be announced that same Sunday. 

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