College football schedule, picks, odds, lines: SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 title games

All is on the line in these games during the final week of the 2017 college football season

By Chip Patterson

Dec 2, 2017 at 10:54 am ET • 3 min read

One last chance. Sometimes, that is all you really need. By the time Saturday is over, we should have a pretty good idea who will be playing in the College Football Playoff -- or at least we think. But in order to get there, there are conference championships to be won.

USC took the first one Friday night in a thrilling defeat of Stanford for the Pac-12 crown. Now it is up to the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, AAC and others to put on a show Saturday. Will there be upsets? Probably. Will there be controversy? You bet. You can also be sure all of it will culminate in one of the best weeks of the season.

So without any further ado ...

Our CBS Sports college football experts have picked every game -- against the spread -- ahead of Saturday's slate. Check out their picks from the week's top games below and be sure to see the entire slate of top 25 picks for conference championship week. Also check out our SportsLine projection model, which predicts the score of every game on the slate.

All times Eastern

Big 12 Championship -- No. 11 TCU vs. No. 3 Oklahoma (-7.5) -- 12:30 p.m. on FOX: When I say that Oklahoma beat TCU 38-20 in November, you should know it wasn't even that close. The Sooners did all their damage in the first 30 minutes and coasted the rest of the way. The key for TCU will be making sure it doesn't get that out of hand that quickly again. Otherwise, the Frogs have to abandon their game plan and come from behind with Kenny Hill chucking the ball 50 times, not their strength. Gary Patterson draws up a game plan that keeps this one closer, but no one's had an answer for Mayfield. -- Ben Kercheval

	Dennis Dodd	Barton Simmons	Jerry Palm	Chip Patterson	Tom Fornelli	Ben Kercheval	Barrett Sallee
OU -7.5	Oklahoma	TCU	Oklahoma	TCU	TCU	TCU	Oklahoma
SU	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma	Oklahoma

SEC Championship -- No. 6 Georgia vs. No. 2 Auburn (-2.5) -- 4 p.m. on CBS: Before the season, I picked Georgia over Auburn in the SEC Championship Game with a College Football Playoff berth on the line. Today, I'm sticking to that pick. While I think Kerryon Johnson is good enough during the week, a few hits from linebackers Roquan Smith and Lorenzo Carter might change that. Tigers coach Gus Malzahn will try to protect Johnson, the offense won't be as fluid and it will allow Georgia to hang around. If you allow Georgia to hang around, Nick Chubb and Sony Michel will take over. The Bulldogs will spring the upset with a statement drive in the fourth quarter that results in the game-winning field goal to send them to the CFP. -- Barrett Sallee

	Dennis Dodd	Barton Simmons	Jerry Palm	Chip Patterson	Tom Fornelli	Ben Kercheval	Barrett Sallee
AUBURN -2.5	Auburn	Auburn	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia
SU	Auburn	Auburn	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia	Georgia

Big Ten Championship -- No. 8 Ohio State (-6.5) vs. No. 4 Wisconsin -- 8 p.m. on FOX: Wisconsin may be ranked higher, but Ohio State's favored for good reason. While my initial instinct was to take the points with the Badgers, the closer I look, the harder that is to do. Ohio State has the better offense, and Wisconsin has the better defense, but the gaps between the two offenses is greater than the defenses. Plus, Wisconsin's offense is built on running the ball. Using S&P+, Ohio State has the best run defense in the country. Which means this game could come down to the quarterbacks, and in a battle of J.T. Barrett and Alex Hornibrook, it's hard for me to roll with the Badger southpaw. -- Tom Fornelli

	Dennis Dodd	Barton Simmons	Jerry Palm	Chip Patterson	Tom Fornelli	Ben Kercheval	Barrett Sallee
OSU -6.5	Wisconsin	Ohio St.	Wisconsin	Wisconsin	Ohio St.	Wisconsin	Wisconsin
SU	Wisconsin	Ohio St.	Wisconsin	Wisconsin	Ohio St.	Wisconsin	Wisconsin

ACC Championship -- No. 7 Miami vs. No. 1 Clemson (-9.5) -- 8 p.m. on ABC: Even with the injuries, it's really tough to see Miami not showing up in a big way for this game. Clemson's offense is not built to run and gun its way to high-scoring blowouts, so if the Hurricanes can come up big on third down and win the turnover battle -- the Turnover Chain not only sends a jolt of energy up and down the Miami sideline, it usually coincides with a short field and scoring opportunities for the offense -- they can hang around in this game. So for picks, I actually love playing the under here because I would be shocked if either team tops 24 points as both rely on their stellar defensive play and try to limit the mistakes. I expect Clemson to win against the hobbling Hurricanes, but with a low-scoring game and Malik Rosier's ability to make plays on the ground, I'll the underdog against the spread. -- Chip Patterson