It’s Conference Championship Week. By the time the weekend is over we’ll know who has been crowned the best in each league and will wait to see if the College Football Selection Committee has any surprises in store.

We’ve rated all of the conference championship games on watchability. Games are ranked on a 1-5 Georgia Dome scale (the site of the SEC Championship Game), with 5 being the most watchable game and 1 being the least.

5 GEORGIA DOMES

No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 18 Florida, 4 p.m. ET, CBS — If you are reading this then you no doubt already know the SEC title game is a must watch. If Alabama takes care of business then the Crimson Tide is in the College Football Playoff with an opportunity to make up for last year’s disappointment. If Florida wins then things get much, much murkier. Can the Gators play their way in with an upset? Could Alabama survive another loss? We’d just have to wait and see what the selection committee has to say, but you can bet fans of all the other conferences will be rooting for the Gators to win what promises to be a defensive struggle.

No. 5 Michigan State vs. No. 4 Iowa, 8 p.m. ET, FOX — The matchup is intriguing and it will be interesting to see the undefeated Hawkeyes play a good team, but the drama suffers if you are not a fan of one team or the other. The Big Ten will get a team in the playoff regardless of the outcome. So it’s essentially a national quarterfinal game, but there won’t be any huge national shakeup regardless of which team advances to the semis.


4 GEORGIA DOMES

No. 10 North Carolina vs. No. 1 Clemson, 8 p.m. ET, ABC — What does it say about the ACC that a North Carolina team that lost to SEC East bottom feeder South Carolina rolled through the conference schedule and into the title game? What does it say if the Tar Heels actually knock off the top-ranked Tigers? UNC is obviously better than it was in early September, but with its resume an upset could knock the conference out of the playoff.

No. 20 USC vs. No. 7 Stanford, 7:45 p.m. ET, ESPN — The Pac-12 needs Stanford to win if it has any hope of avoiding being left out of the playoffs. The Cardinal will likely jump the loser of the Big Ten title game with a win, but some other dominoes have to fall before it can move all the way up into the Top 4. It might end up being a fantastic game with the Trojans motivate to play for their newly-named head coach, but it more than likely won’t have a big impact outside of the Pac-12.


3 GEORGIA DOMES

No. 22 Temple at No. 19 Houston, noon ET, ABC — If the Cougars hadn’t been upset by UConn this game might have left the selection committee with an interesting dilemma. But now it’s simply a matchup of two pretty good, fairly entertaining teams. Of more interest might be checking out two up-and-coming coaches. Will Tom Herman and Matt Rhule soon make the jump to a Power 5 conference or will the American keep two great coaches a little longer?


2 GEORGIA DOMES

Bowling Green vs. Northern Illinois, 8 p.m ET (Friday), ESPN2 — It’s the pinnacle of Friday Night MACtion. If you are home on Friday night it’s worth tuning in to get your football fix. These aren’t great teams, even by mid-major standards, but the MAC title game should be a highly competitive one.

Southern Miss at Western Kentucky, noon ET, ESPN2 — The Conference USA title game features one of the most dynamic passing attacks around with Western Kentucky quarterback Brandon Doughty leading the way. Southern Miss has quietly completed its turnaround after going from one of the most consistent programs in the country to win-less trainwreck and back to the conference title game.

Air Force vs. San Diego State, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2 — Unless you are a fan of either school, or root for a team with an opening and are hoping to land Air Force coach Troy Calhoun, there’s much more interesting games to watch in this time slot on Saturday evening.