Championship Week in College Football Sparks Handicapping Debate

It’s here! Championship week in College football begins, as the Utah Utes face the Oregon Ducks in the 2019 Pac-12 Championship Game on Friday, December 6th at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clarita, California. Look by the play-by-play from Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Molly McGrath. And, expect activity at the active Pennsylvania Online Sports Betting site to be ignited by participants deciding who will win.

For No. 5 Utah, this would be its first conference title ever. For No. 13 Oregon, this would be its first Pac-12 Championship since 2014. The Utes (11-1) won the Pac-12 South with an 8-1 record, while the Ducks (10-2) won the Pac-12 North, also with an 8-1 mark.

The last meeting between the two schools, on Nov. 10, 2018, resulted in a 32-25 victory for Utah, with the Utes handicapped at present as the 6.5-point favorite to win this match-up.

Weather forecasters, however, are not about to predict the outcome of this match-up given that the national forecast calls for rain, heavy at times, when the Utes and Ducks kick things off at 6 p.m. PT with winds estimated at 22 miles per hour.

“At the end of the day nobody wants to hear excuses, you’ve got to go out and make plays,” said Utah receivers coach Guy Holliday said in an interview. “It’s still going to come down to the team that makes the most plays that will win the game. So that’s our philosophy. It’s not going to change our game plan. We’re going to approach the game as we always have, you know, try to do whatever it takes to win the football game.”

Other Key Match-Ups

The No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners face the No. 7 Baylor Bears at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (ABC, Dec. 7; 12 p.m. ET), this time for the Big 12 Championship and possibly a spot in the College Football playoff. The announcers are Sean McDonough, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe.

Oklahoma won its fifth in a row over Baylor with a 34-31 decision Nov. 16, in one of the most memorable games of the season. Jalen Hurts passed for four touchdowns in that Sooners victory.

The Sooners are nine-point favorites and the over-under for total points scored is 64 in the latest Oklahoma vs. Baylor odds

The No. 2 LSU Tigers face the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs for the SEC championship (CBS, Dec. 7; 4 p.m. ET). This will be the fourth meeting between the two, with the Tigers holding a 2-1 edge. LSU, meanwhile, is in its first title game since 2011, and handicappers are pointing to an expected advantage for the Tigers. The announcers are Sean McDonough, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe.

The No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes and J.K. Dobbins, who rushed for 1,657 yards and 19 touchdowns this year, will meet the No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten title game (Fox, Dec. 7; 8 p.m. ET). After back-to-back losses to Illinois and Ohio State, Wisconsin won its last four to lock up the Big Ten West title.

Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst and his players are anxious at this new shot at the Buckeyes. “I certainly think there’s a sense of eagerness or excitement that you’ve done all that you can and you get a right to play in this game,” said Chryst. “There’s a lot of things that had to happen, and the focus needed to be on playing the season out and you look up at the end and see what you’ve earned the right to do.”

The play-by-play announcers will be Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft.

The tournament for the 2019 FCS football championship continues on Saturday, Dec. 7 with eight second-round games. Each of those games will air on ESPN3. The match-ups are as follows:

1:00 PM: FCS Playoffs-Second Round: Monmouth at James Madison

2:00 PM: FCS Playoffs-Second Round: Northern Iowa at South Dakota State

3:00 PM: FCS Playoffs-Second Round: Albany at Montana State

3:00 PM: FCS Playoffs-Second Round: Southeastern Louisiana at Montana

3:00 PM: FCS Playoffs-Second Round: Kennesaw State at Weber State

3:00 PM: FCS Playoffs-Second Round: Illinois State at Central Arkansas

3:30 PM: FCS Playoffs-Second Round: Nicholls at North Dakota State

9:00 PM: FCS Playoffs-Second Round: Austin Peay at Sacramento State