(Photo Source: pac-12.com)

A big weekend for college football

If you cannot keep up with the many college football conference games that will determine the four-team playoff field and the New Year’s Day bowl setup, take heart.

ESPN will devote four hours on Sunday (noon-4 p.m. ET) to the results of the Friday night and Saturday games and the playoff field. It will be fun to see how it all shakes out. You’ll get the four semifinalists and 12:30 p.m., the full final rankings at 2 p.m. and the New Year’s Six and semifinal game times at 3 p.m.

Some conference championship games are better than others. Your own favorite schools may determine what you watch. We will recommend a few, along with the ESPN show.

Settle in on Friday night for the Big 12 title game. It’s No. 5 Utah (11-1) vs. No. 13 Oregon (10-2) on ABC at 8 p.m. A win by the Utes could get them into the top four and the playoffs.

Saturday’s Big 12 clash matches No. 7 Baylor (11-1) and No. 6 Oklahoma (11-1) at noon on ABC. The real biggies come later in the day.

At 4 p.m., No. 2 LSU (12-0) takes on No. 4 Georgia (11-1) for the SEC title. The Bulldogs will have a tough making the playoff field with two defeats. A win could cause a ton of upheaval. And at 8 p.m. on Fox, No. 1 Ohio State (12-0) meets No. 8 Wisconsin (10-2), which it eviscerated 38-7 earlier this season.

Your key NFL battles:
The Baltimore Ravens (10-2) play the Buffalo Bills (9-3) on the road at 1 p.m. on CBS. The San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints, both 10-2, will vie for attention at the same time on Fox. The Kansas City Chiefs (8-4) play the New England Patriots (10-2) at 4:25 p.m. on CBS and the Seattle Seahawks (10-2) and Los Angeles Rams (7-5), battling for the NFC West crown, play at 8:20 p.m. on NBC.

Is there college basketball? There is. The NBA, the NHL? Indeed. But we’ve given you here are the choicest bits. You pick. You watch.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman