Who will win the conference championship games? Plus College Football Playoff chaos on deck?

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This weekend, there’s a chance that every Power 4 conference championship will be won by a newly realigned member. College football in 2024 has been great.

Ashton Jeanty (2) and the Boise State Broncos will take on UNLV in the Mountain West Championship Game on Friday. (Loren Orr / Getty Images)

Title Game Picks

Friday games

Here are my predictions for all nine conference championship games this weekend. All point spreads are from BetMGM.

Conference USA: Western Kentucky (8-4) at Jacksonville State (8-4) (7 p.m., CBSSN)

• These teams just played last week, and Western Kentucky won 19-17 on a 50-yard field goal in the final seconds. Jacksonville State was held to 99 passing yards as quarterback Tyler Huff left the game with an injury in the third quarter (his status for the conference championship remains questionable).
• Line: Jacksonville State -5.5
• Prediction: Jacksonville State 21, Western Kentucky 17

AAC: Tulane (9-3) at No. 24 Army (10-1) (8 p.m., ABC)

• Tulane’s loss to Memphis last week deflated the College Football Playoff potential of this game. Still, Army has had a historic season and has a shot at the AAC title in its inaugural season in the conference. But the Black Knights will have to avoid looking ahead to next week’s Army-Navy game. Tulane is sixth in the country in scoring offense, averaging 39.1 points per game and 44.3 points in its wins.
• Line: Tulane -4.5
• Prediction: Tulane 32, Army 18

Mountain West: No. 20 UNLV (10-2) at No. 10 Boise State (11-1) (8 p.m., Fox)

• The winner here is all but guaranteed a Playoff berth — and maybe even a first-round bye if Boise State wins. When these two met in an October thriller, the Broncos won 29-24 as star RB Ashton Jeanty scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter. Still, Jeanty was held to his second-lowest rushing output of the season by UNLV’s run defense (10th nationally in yards allowed), which makes the Rebels a good test for the Heisman hopeful. The Broncos haven’t lost on their home blue turf since September 2023.
• Line: Boise State -4
• Prediction: Boise State 28, UNLV 21

Saturday games

MAC: Ohio (9-3) vs. Miami (Ohio) (8-4) (in Detroit, noon, ESPN)

• When these teams met in October, Ohio entered the fourth quarter trailing 30-6 but scored two touchdowns to make the final score 30-20, still in favor of the RedHawks. The Bobcats are 0-5 in MAC title games since the conference began holding one in 1997. The Bobcats are well-rounded, ranking first in the MAC in total offense and second in total defense. Ohio QB Parker Navarro is a dual-threat playmaker but has a 10-to-10 TD-to-INT ratio.
• Line: Miami (Ohio) -2
• Prediction: Miami (Ohio) 17, Ohio 10

Big 12: No. 16 Iowa State (10-2) vs. No. 15 Arizona State (10-2) (in Arlington, Texas, noon, ABC)

• The Sun Devils have gone from last in the Big 12 preseason media poll to competing for the conference championship. The crowded Big 12 race comes down to one simple outcome for Arizona State and Iowa State: Win and you’re in the Playoff. Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt is coming off his best game of the season (17-for-22, 291 yards, three TDs, zero INTs) and will need to stay hot against an Iowa State passing defense that is best in the Big 12 and third nationally. The good thing for Leavitt? Star RB Cam Skattebo should be able to pick up any slack on the ground.
• Line: Arizona State -2.5
• Prediction: Arizona State 28, Iowa State 24

SEC: No. 5 Georgia (10-2) vs. No. 2 Texas (11-1) (in Atlanta, 4 p.m., ABC)

• Both teams should make the Playoff, but the winner will get a bye, and this could be one of the most entertaining games of the weekend. Texas enters as the slight favorite even though the Longhorns lost 30-15 to Georgia in October. Texas picked off Carson Beck three times in that loss while Georgia held Quinn Ewers to his season-low completion rate. Since then, however, the Dawgs lost to Ole Miss and needed eight overtimes to beat Georgia Tech.
• Line: Texas -3
• Prediction: Georgia 34, Texas 31

Sun Belt: Marshall (9-3) at Louisiana (10-2) (7:30 p.m., ESPN)

• Marshall is on a six-game winning streak and is coming off a double-overtime win against James Madison last week that clinched its spot in the conference championship (its first since joining the Sun Belt in 2022). Meanwhile, this is Louisiana’s fifth appearance in the conference title game’s seven-year existence (though the 2020 game was canceled).
• Line: Louisiana -5.5
• Prediction: Louisiana 28, Marshall 17

Big Ten: No. 3 Penn State (11-1) vs. No. 1 Oregon (12-0) (in Indianapolis, 8 p.m., CBS)

• Consistency has defined the paths of Penn State and Oregon this season. Neither team has a bad loss on its resume, and there aren’t many FBS teams that can say that. Penn State tight end Tyler Warren might be a sleeping giant in the Heisman Trophy race, but if Oregon can slow him down, it will have a good chance of throwing Andy Kotelnicki’s offense off balance. This game could be for the No. 1 seed in the Playoff field.
• Line: Oregon -3.5
• Prediction: Oregon 21, Penn State 14

ACC: No. 17 Clemson (9-3) vs. No. 8 SMU (11-1) (in Charlotte, N.C., 8 p.m., ABC)

• The Tigers are familiar with this stage — they have won seven of the last nine ACC titles — while SMU is up for the title in its first season as a conference member. Running back Phil Mafah leads Clemson’s rushing attack, which ranks first in the ACC, but that will be tested against an SMU defense that allows an average of 95.8 yards on the ground per game. A Clemson win could prevent Alabama from joining the Playoff field, and I’m predicting a Clemson win.
• Line: SMU -2.5
• Prediction: Clemson 21, SMU 20

Click here for more title game predictions. Also, Justin Williams ranks the title games by Playoff implications here.

Quick Snaps

One year ago, we were on the verge of one of the most criticized decisions of the four-team Playoff era: leaving Florida State out. Now, the Seminoles are picking up the pieces from their worst season in 50 years, and FSU is again left wondering … what happened?

This year’s biggest Playoff debate (so far) has been strength of schedule, which Stewart Mandel weighed in on today. As the rankings look right now, the committee seems to be favoring the easier schedules.

The transfer portal opens Monday, but it already has a fair share of notable quarterbacks planning to enter, including Oklahoma’s Jackson Arnold and USC’s Miller Moss.

You can buy tickets to every college football game here.

For streaming info on Fubo, click here.

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(Top photo of Dillon Gabriel: John Fisher / Getty Images)