Weekly Picks of the Week - Championship Week

Picks in Bold

Rankings based on BCS Standings
All lines provided by BETONLINE.ag

#17 Oklahoma Sooners (+10) @ #6 Oklahoma State Cowboys

12:00
ABC

#25 Texas Longhorns (+15) @ #9 Baylor Bears

9:15
FOX

SEC Championship

#5 Missouri Tigers v. #3 Auburn Tigers (-1.5)

Georgia Dome, Atlanta
4:00
CBS

PAC-12 Championship

#7 Stanford Cardinal @ #11 Arizona State Sun Devils (-3)

7:45
ESPN

ACC Championship

#20 Duke Blue Devils v. #1 Florida State Seminoles (-29)

Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte
8:00
ABC

Big 10 Championship
#2 Ohio State Buckeyes v. #10 Michigan State Spartans (+5.5)

Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis
8:15
FOX

-I hate how the sports media always claims that the most recent or upcoming play, game, player, etc is the "Greatest [insert play, game, player, etc,] Ever".  However, after watching the game-winning play in the Alabama v. Auburn game this weekend, that might actually have been the greatest play in college football history.  It was a missed field goal returned from the back of the end zone for a touchdown as time had already expired that decided who played for the SEC Championship.  It doesn't get much bigger than that.  What play could be bigger?  "The Play" or the one with the band on the field was pretty awesome, but it was between 5-5 Stanford and 6-4 Cal and the winner of that game didn't really matter.  The only play that you could say that was better was the Vince Young TD run in the National Championship against USC with 19 seconds on the clock in 2006.  In context, that play was much bigger because it determined the winner of the National Championship, but the Auburn play was by far more dramatic.  Either way, the last play of this past weekend's Iron Bowl really might be the best play I have ever seen and I'm not just saying that for the sake of saying it.

-Do you know how I know that Shaquille O'Neal was really popular about 20 years ago?  By the number of college football players named Shaq playing college football right now.  I did a quick search through a recruiting site to see how many kids named Shaquille showed up in the recruiting database over a six year span and my results are kind of funny.  You can see Shaq's rise and fall in popularity very clearly with my results:

• 2015 - 5
• 2014 - 14
• 2013 - 14
• 2012 - 21
• 2011 - 25
• 2010 - 4

-My favorite stat of the year might be the following:  The SEC Championship Game will feature two teams (Auburn v. Missouri) that had a combined 2 conference wins the previous season, both by Missouri.  In other words, I bet not a single person picked either team to win their respective divisions and end up in the SEC Championship.

-Oh, and I guarantee a winning week or your money back, blah blah blah.

The Funniest Sign From Last Week's College GameDay

(I only picked this sign because that is an actual picture of Alabama QB A.J. McCarron.  Yeah, his chest is covered in a giant tattoo.  Who saw that coming?)

-Alright, enjoy championship week.

Last Week's Results: 3-3
Season Results: 36-42-3

"This is Molly McGrath.  She was the sideline reporter for the Oregon St/Oregon game last week.  I'm showing you this picture so that you now know what the future Ms. Sambo looks like.  I might be in love."