5 best games to watch on championship weekend

Well, here we are, the end of the season. We’re down to the final weekend before the bowl season rolls around. There’s not a lot of quantity on Saturday but there’s plenty of quality.

Here’s the five best games to watch this weekend:

1. Alabama vs. Florida (4 p.m. ET, CBS): Yes, I’m catering to my audience by listing this game first, so forgive me. The next three games on the list should all be close and competitive and worth watching. I’m worried this one won’t be. If Florida plays as poorly as it did last week in a 27-2 loss at home to Florida State, the Gators might lose by 40 Saturday in Atlanta in the SEC Championship Game. Let’s hope not; a competitive game would be fun. But they eye test tells me otherwise.
2. Clemson vs. North Carolina (8 p.m. ET, ABC): Maybe it’s an ACC thing, but No. 1-ranked Clemson is starting to remind me of last year’s Florida State team. The Seminoles weren’t playing all that great entering the playoffs and they got knocked out early. Clemson hasn’t been all that impressive lately either, and even though they’re undefeated and No. 1, don’t sleep on the Tar Heels. Need to put a playoff leader on upset alert? This is the most obvious spot.
3. Michigan State vs. Iowa (8 p.m. ET, FOX): The playoffs basically start a week early for these two in the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis.  Iowa is No. 4 in this week’s CFP poll, the Spartans one spot behind. The general consensus is that the winner is in the playoffs. We’re all still curious about undefeated Iowa, of course. How good are they? We’ll soon find out because Michigan State is the best team they’ve played all year.
4. Stanford vs. USC (7:45 p.m. ET, ESPN): Stanford is hoping someone slips up ahead of them and it takes care of business against USC in the Pac-12 championship game in Santa Clara, Calif. The Cardinal has two losses, but they’ve played a strong schedule. Best case scenario is that they need a Clemson loss to get in. It’s a long shot.
5. Temple vs. Houston (Noon ET, ABC): It’s ridiculous that all those other conference games are all in the same late time window. We’ve got to watch something at noon, and the American title game isn’t so bad. Houston and Tom Herman have been the Group of 5 darlings this year and Temple got lots of love early. The winner gets a New Year’s Six bowl, so do some scouting.

Tom Brew

Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist and author who is covering SEC football for Saturday Down South.