The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 SEC Championship between Alabama and Georgia.
There’s a sense of familiarity to conference championship weekend, with six of the nine FBS title games being rematches from the regular season. However, that shouldn’t dampen the intrigue, with potential College Football Playoff spots on the line in at least four of the matchups and seeding implications for the 12-team bracket, which will be revealed on Selection Sunday — plus an epic, undefeated, No. 1 versus No. 2 clash in the Big Ten.
Let’s rank the conference championship games and lay out their CFP implications, but not before a little FCS love to get things started.
(All point spreads are courtesy BetMGM. All kickoff times are Eastern.)
10. FCS Playoffs: No. 14 South Dakota State (9-4) at No. 3 Montana (11-1), Sat., 2 p.m., ESPN+
With only nine FBS conference championship games (miss you, Pac-12), we’re giving the 10th spot to a second-round FCS playoff matchup between a pair of heavyweights. South Dakota State fell off a bit this season under first-year coach Dan Jackson, but the Jackrabbits have made 14 consecutive FCS playoffs, including championships in 2022 and 2023 and a semifinal appearance last season. Montana, in its second stint under head coach Bobby Hauck, lost to SDSU in that 2023 title game and is seeking its first national championship since 2001, when it was referred to as Division I-AA.
Line: Montana -3
9. Conference USA: Kennesaw State (9-3) at Jacksonville State (8-4), Fri., 7 p.m., CBS Sports Network
Credit to a pair of schools that recently leaped to the FBS, both with first-year coaches: Jerry Mack at Kennesaw State and Charles Kelly at Jacksonville State. Kennesaw, which only started its football program in 2015, is in its second season at the FBS level after nine years in FCS. Mack quickly flipped the Owls from 2-10 to 9-3, with a chance to tally double-digit wins and a league title. Jacksonville State joined the FBS in 2023, and Kelly, who replaced Rich Rodriguez, will look to lead the Gamecocks and the league’s top offense to a second-straight Conference USA crown. Jax State won the first meeting 35-26 last month.
Line: Kennesaw State -2.5
8. MAC: Miami (Ohio) (7-5) vs. Western Michigan (8-4), Sat., Noon, ESPN
First-place Western Michigan, in its third season under Lance Taylor, is seeking its first MAC championship since 2016. The Broncos will have to overcome a Miami (OH) team that already beat them 26-17 in Oxford, Ohio, in late October, the only conference loss of the season for WMU. The second-place RedHawks eked into the title game via some fortunate tiebreakers: Despite losing to Ohio and Toledo, also tied for second, the Bobcats and Rockets didn’t play each other, and Miami had the best win percentage of the three against common opponents. The RedHawks and coach Chuck Martin won the MAC in 2019 and 2023.
Line: Western Michigan -2.5
7. Mountain West: UNLV (10-2) at Boise State (8-4), Fri., 8 p.m., Fox
More tiebreaker oddities: After a four-way logjam for first-place — featuring UNLV, Boise State, New Mexico and San Diego State, all at 6-2 — computer metrics determined UNLV and Boise State would play for the championship. (And if you think that’s a ridiculous process by which to rank teams, just wait until you hear about the weekly CFP rankings!) This is the third consecutive season these two have played for the Mountain West title, with first-year UNLV coach Dan Mullen reaching 10 wins despite flipping the roster and Boise State vying to repeat as champions despite quarterback Maddux Madsen missing time and losing stud running back Ashton Jeanty to the NFL. The Broncos beat the Rebels 56-31 on the blue turf in October.
Line: Boise State -4.5
6. Sun Belt: Troy (8-4) at No. 25 James Madison (11-1), Fri., 7 p.m., ESPN
James Madison is the story here. The Dukes are heavy favorites, with a chance to slide into the CFP if Duke wins the ACC and clears a path for two Group of 5 champions to nab automatic qualifying bids. JMU has boatraced almost every opponent this season, with the only loss coming at Louisville in early September. The team averages 37.8 points per game, with a top-10 defense in the FBS (4.2 yards per play allowed) and an average margin of victory of 27.4 points against Sun Belt foes. Head coach Bob Chesney has agreed to take the same position at UCLA, but will coach JMU in this game and, if the Dukes make it, the CFP.
Line: JMU -23.5
5. American: No. 24 North Texas (11-1) at No. 20 Tulane (10-2), Fri., 8 p.m., ABC
This is a true Playoff elimination game in the American championship, with the winner earning one of the automatic qualifying bids. Both teams have already had their head coaches hired away — North Texas’s Eric Morris is headed to Oklahoma State and Tulane’s Jon Sumrall to Florida — but both will coach in this game and through the CFP, should they make it. The Mean Green are second in the FBS at 7.4 yards per play, led by quarterback Drew Mestemaker’s FBS-best 3,835 passing yards. North Texas can claim its first conference title since winning the Sun Belt in 2004. Tulane, which has power-conference wins over Northwestern and Duke this season, won the American crown in 2022.
Line: North Texas -2.5
4. ACC: Duke (7-5) vs. No. 17 Virginia (10-2), Sat., 8 p.m., ABC
The ACC Chaos Scenario is real, and it’s spectacular … unless you’re the ACC. Five-loss Duke snuck in the back door of this championship game, the result of only two of those five losses coming in conference play. A Blue Devils win on Saturday night could potentially knock the conference out of the Playoff altogether. A Virginia win would avoid all of that pandemonium and send the Hoos to the CFP while delivering their first ACC title since 1995. It’s another title-game rematch, this one of a Nov. 15 meeting in Durham that Virginia won 34-17, outgaining Duke 540 yards to 255 and holding the Blue Devils to just 42 rushing yards.
Line: Virginia -4.5
3. Big 12: No. 11 BYU (11-1) vs. No. 4 Texas Tech (11-1), Sat., Noon, ABC
BYU got some good news this week when head coach Kalani Sitake rebuffed Penn State to stay in Provo, but the Cougars are fighting for their Playoff lives in this one. BYU, which has spent weeks just below the at-large cut line, needs to knock off Texas Tech to make the 12-team field. The Cougars will need to play much better than they did a month ago in a 29-7 loss in Lubbock, in which Texas Tech’s defense completely bottled up BYU. The Red Raiders are safely in the CFP, where they should have a legit chance to make a run, but a victory would lock up a first-round bye — and the first 12-win season in program history.
Line: Texas Tech -12.5
2. SEC: No. 3 Georgia (11-1) vs. No. 9 Alabama (10-2), Sat., 4 p.m., ABC
Alabama should be in the Playoff field after curiously jumping Notre Dame in Tuesday’s CFP rankings, but the Tide would be wise to avoid getting blown out in this one, just in case. A win could also vault them all the way to a first-round Playoff bye, giving this game some ACC-level range. Alabama has won 10 of the last 11 meetings between these two rivals dating back to 2008 — including a 27-24 win in Athens earlier this season — though Georgia’s lone win was in the national championship for the 2021 season, the first of back-to-back titles. The Bulldogs have also been on a tear the last month, with a defense rounding into form and a rushing attack averaging nearly 200 yards over its last six games.
Line: Georgia -2.5
1. Big Ten: No. 2 Indiana (12-0) vs. No. 1 Ohio State (12-0), Sat., 8 p.m., Fox
The hottest ticket in Indy pits No. 1 versus No. 2 in the Big Ten matchup we’ve been craving for months. Ohio State, though largely untested, has been dominant and looks poised to defend its national title after finally vanquishing Michigan. Indiana has an impressive road win at Oregon and was pushed to the brink at Penn State, but the real test is how the Hoosiers and Curt Cignetti stack up against a Buckeyes team that pummeled them 38-15 in Columbus last season. This Indiana team is better than last year’s, with a Heisman-level quarterback, but there are still some questions about whether they are on Ohio State’s level. Both of these teams are locks for the Playoff, and probably for first-round byes, but it’s still the can’t-miss game of a can’t-miss weekend.
Line: Ohio State -4