2014 College Football Conference Championship Weekend

2014 College Football Conference Championship Weekend

Many fans across the nation are already looking forward to the first ever College Football Playoff, but before that can happen there’s one last hurdle to finish. This weekend marks Conference Championships and the excitement starts tonight (Friday) with Northern Illinois facing Bowling Green in the MAC Championship.

Although the Big 12 has not held a Conference Championship game since 2010, there are still six FBS conferences hosting championship games this week — all of which will be played on a neutral field with the exception of the Conference USA Championship. These games include:

1. ACC: 12-0 Florida State (-4) vs. 10-2 Georgia Tech
2. Big Ten: 10-2 Wisconsin (-4.5) vs. 11-1 Ohio State
3. Pac-12: 10-1 Oregon (-13) vs. 10-2 Arizona
4. SEC: 10-1 Alabama (-14.5) vs. 10-2 Missouri
5. MAC: 10-2 Northern Illinois (-6.5) vs. 7-5 Bowling Green
6. C-USA: 11-1 Marshall (-12.5) vs. 8-4 Louisiana Tech

So who should you be backing in these marquee matchups? Take a look at some historical trends taken from our Bet Labs software:

1. Underdogs have gone 27-20 ATS during Conference Championship Weekend with dogs of 5.5+ going 16-7 ATS.
2. Teams receiving less than 50% of spread bets have gone 28-19 ATS
3. Unranked teams have gone 9-2 ATS against ranked teams
4. Teams coming off a loss have gone 10-7 ATS while teams coming off a big win (21+ points) are great fade material with a 12-18 ATS record.
5. The over has gone 28-21 in Conference Championship games. That record leaps to 23-15 if the total is less than 63 and 10-5 is the total is 52 or less.

Looking for a big potential payout? Betting the moneyline dog in every MAC Championship game has gone just 4-5, but bettors would have earned a whopping +12.84 units. This is largely due to Miami of Ohio’s shocking 26-21 victory over Northern Illinois in 2010 — a game in which the RedHawks closed as +800 moneyline dogs.

Early on Tuesday morning, we also tweeted out the following trend concerning the Over in SEC Championship games:

The Over is 5-0 in the last 5 SEC Championship games, going over the total by an average of 15 points. pic.twitter.com/lU6eQEKp6S

— Bet Labs Software (@Bet_Labs) December 2, 2014

As bettors can view on our free College Football odds page, BetOnline is one of a handful of sportsbooks currently offering a total for the SEC Championship with a posted over/under of 48.5.

Top 10 most bet Championship Games in our Database:

1. 2008 Big 12 Championship – Oklahoma vs. Missouri
2. 2008 SEC Championship – Florida vs. Alabama
3. 2009 SEC Championship – Florida vs. Alabama
4. 2009 Big 12 Championship – Nebraska vs. Texas
5. 2013 SEC Championship – Auburn vs. Missouri
6. 2011 SEC Championship – LSU vs. Georgia
7. 2012 SEC Championship – Georgia vs. Alabama
8. 2009 ACC Championship – Clemson vs. Georgia Tech
9. 2010 SEC Championship – South Carolina vs. Auburn
10. 2010 Big 12 Championship – Oklahoma vs. Nebraska

Who do you like in this weekend’s games? Do you think the playoff picture will be blown up by an upset this week? Please leave your thoughts in the section below.

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