Football 2017: Conference Championships

Texas A&M won't be involved in football this weekend since most of the action will be conference championship games. The last time A&M participated in one of those, the coach was R.C. Slocum, the conference was the Big 12, and we were still living in the 20th century. In the dreams of former students, the next coach will be capable of producing teams that will at least play in conference championship games, if not win them. When A&M is good enough to beat Alabama and LSU in the same season, they can start thinking about winning the SEC West. That's something they weren't able to do with the best quarterback in school history, so I'm not optimistic.

Here are the main games with the scores predicted by College Football News:

• Pac-12: Southern Cal (9-3) vs Stanford (10-2) on ESPN (Friday 7:00 PM). The Trojans are favored by 4 points, and CFN thinks they'll cover in a 27-21 win. Update: USC edged Stanford 31-28.
• Big 12: Oklahoma (11-1) vs TCU (10-2) on Fox (Saturday 11:30 AM). The Sooners are favored by a touchdown over the Christians, but CFN expects a narrow 31-30 win. I may watch some of this game to see what former Aggie flameout Kenny (Down) Hill is able to accomplish against OU. Update: The Sooners steamrolled Kenny's team 41-17.
• SEC: Auburn (10-2) vs Georgia (11-1) on CBS (Saturday 3:00 PM). The Bulldogs are the underdogs at 2.5 points, but CFN forecasts a 27-23 upset win. Since the state of Alabama is currently the asshole of (at least) the western world, I'll watch this game and root for Georgia to kick some Auburn butt. Update: The state of Alabama sucks, and it made my day to watch Georgia stomp Auburn's ass 28-7.
• Big Ten: Ohio State (10-2) vs Wisconsin (12-0) on Fox (Saturday 7:00 PM). The Big 10 has twelve teams, and the Big 12 has ten teams. That inaccuracy bothers me, and I think the conferences should change their names to the Big 12 Minus 2 and the Big 10 Plus 2. Ohio State with two losses is favored by 6.5 points over unbeaten Wisconsin. I hate the Buckeyes, so I hope the Badgers get the 30-26 upset win predicted by CFN. Update: Unfortunately, Ohio State ruined Wisconsin's perfect record, 27-21.
• ACC: Clemson (11-1) vs Miami (10-1) on ABC (Saturday 7:00 PM). Clemson is one of the powers in college football, like Miami used to be. The Tigers are a huge 9.5 point favorite in this game, and CFN says they'll cruise to a 30-16 win. Update: As expected, Clemson didn't have much trouble thumping Miami 38-3.