NCAA Conference Championship viewing guide, open game thread

One of the best days of football season is upon us! It’s conference championship day, meaning that Bowl season is almost here and the NFL season is nearing its end. Man, why does football have to fly by so fast? I’m nowhere near ready for it to end.

Today is a perfect day to lounge around and watch game after game, with every conference championship game save for the Pac-12 championship, which happened last night and wasn’t nearly as close as expected.

No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 Baylor kick things off at 9 am PT, Noon ET on ABC in a Big 12 championship showdown that could end up as a de facto CFP play-in game. It will give fans a chance to check out MLB Kenneth Murray, whom the Raiders may be eyeing in the 2020 draft. It will also be a chance for Baylor to avenge their lone loss of the season, a 34-31 choke of a game after being up 28-3. A team losing a 28-3 lead? Sounds familiar.

Meanwhile at 9 am PT, Noon ET, the Sun Belt championship between No. 21 Appalachian State and Louisiana will go down on ESPN and the Mac Championship between Miami of Ohio and Central Michigan will take place on ESPN 2.

At 10:30 am PT, 1:30 pm ET, UAB and FAU battle in the Conference USA championship game on CBSSN. This may very well be Lane Kiffin’s last game as head coach at FAU as he is expected to announce he’s taking the head coaching job at Ole Miss within the next week.

Then, the American Athletic Conference championship takes place on ABC at 12:30 pm PT, 3:30 ET in a rematch of last week’s No. 20 Cincinnati versus No. 17 Memphis showdown. If Memphis wins again, they’ll likely lock up a New Years Bowl berth.

No. 2 LSU and No. 4 Georgia will square up at 1 pm PT, 4 pm ET on CBS in an SEC championship game that will undoubtedly have major CFP implications. At the same time, No. 19 Boise State and Hawaii will be facing off in the Mountain West championship game.

In the late window, No. 3 Clemson and No. 23 Virginia face off on ABC in the ACC championship at 4:30 pm PT, 7:30 pm ET in a game with an insane 28.5-point spread. There’s been much debate about whether or not a one-loss Clemson team would make the playoffs. With how weak the rest of the ACC is this season, I’d argue that they should be left out.

The final game of today’s slate features No. 1 Ohio State and No. 8 Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship on Fox at 5 pm PT, 8 pm ET. The Buckeyes decimated Wisconsin 38-7 in their first match of the year, meaning that both of the late window games may not be particularly close contests.