Recent postseason opponent vanquished by Hogs looks to lock up title, CFP spot

Arkansas Razorbacks fans with plenty of quality football to watch on championship Saturday

Texas Tech's Will Hammond (15) is sacked by Arkansas' Anton Juncaj (4) in the end zone for a safety during the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. | Commercial Appeal-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — There aren't a lot of Saturdays where the Razorback basketball team is playing that Hogs fans don't lock in on what the Razorbacks are doing, but odds are high this weekend is the one exception.

While John Calipari leads his team against Fresno State down in Little Rock, college football keeps going with the biggest of two days worth of conference championship games as the College Football Playoff picture comes into focus.

Championship Saturday has plenty of former Arkansas foes involved, including a Texas Tech team Sam Pittman's Razorbacks smoked in the Liberty Bowl to close last season with a 7-6 overall record.

11 a.m.

Texas Tech Red Raiders quarterback Behren Morton (2) celebrates after defeating the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

No. 11 BYU @ No. 4 Texas Tech, ABC
Much of America will be cheering on the Red Raiders. For once, that means college football fans overlooking big money boosters at Texas Tech trying their best to buy a national championship over in Lubbock.

Instead, it's a two-fold situation. The first is a widely accepted desire to keep Notre Dame from getting into the playoffs because of a lack of high quality wins against a relatively weak schedule and a refusal by the selection committee to pay attention to head-to-head results unless two teams are ranked next to one another despite equal records.

If BYU falls, Miami gets placed in direct comparison to the Irish for what is expected to be the final at-large playoff spot. Simple logic says since the two teams have the same record and the Hurricanes took down Notre Dame early in the season, Miami should jump up and take the spot.

The flip side to this is the fans who appreciated watching BYU thwart Penn State from poaching head coach Kalani Sitake. The uprising at the hands of Crumbl Cookies was seen as justice, further wrecking a mess of a coaching search for a school that fired a coach in James Franklin who was minutes away from going to the national championship game just a few months earlier.

Texas Tech beat the Cougars by 22 back in mid-November.

3 p.m.

Georgia Bulldogs running back Chauncey Bowens (33) runs against Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Domani Jackson (1) in the second half at Sanford Stadium. | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

No. 3 Georgia @ No. 9 Alabama, ABC
Rinse, lather, repeat. This was supposed to be a year dominated by Texas schools where there was supposed to be a chance that Texas and Texas A&M played each other in back-to-back weeks.

However, the Longhorns fell apart, struggling all season while narrowly avoiding a five-loss season and the Aggies made the mistake of losing a single game to their top rival. This year will be the 14th since 2011 the championship game has included either Georgia or Alabama.

It's the fifth time over that stretch, including four meetings since 2018, that these two teams have met. There's not a lot of drama surrounding this game because Georgia isn't a threat to fall out of the final playoff rankings and the selection committee has sworn to not punish teams that are in the playoffs for playing and losing a conference championship game.

Alabama handed the Bulldogs their only loss, 24-21, back in late September in Athens. It was the win that stabilized the Tide program and took the heat of head coach Kalen DeBoer after an embarrassing loss to Florida State to open the year.

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7 p.m.

The Oregon defense gets a stop against Indiana’s Kaelon Black during the second quarter at Autzen Stadium October 11, 2025. | Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

No. 2 Indiana @ No. 1 Ohio State, FOX
The biggest game of the day is the one that will have the least impact on the College Football Playoffs. Barring an extreme blowout by either team, both undefeated programs are expected to finish the year in the Top 4 regardless of adding a first loss.

However, that doesn't mean America isn't interested in seeing how much improvement has really taken place at Indiana. The Hoosiers are no longer Cinderella.

Instead, they are Rocky looking to deliver the huge upset in the sequel. They lost 38-15 last year in Columbus in Week 13, which prevented the two from facing off in the conference championship game.

By avoiding each other until the Big Ten title game, Indiana managed to only play one team that's currently ranked, No. 5 Oregon, and the Buckeyes faced two ranked team with wins over No. 13 Texas at home in the season opener and No. 19 Michigan to close the season.

Virginia Cavaliers wide receiver Trell Harris (11) takes a hit from Duke Blue Devils saftey Ma'khi Jones (26) during the third quarter at Wallace Wade Stadium. | Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

Duke @ No. 17 Virginia, ABC
This is an absolute nightmare scenario for the ACC. After Georgia Tech carried the torch all season long and Miami tried to keep conference respect alive, stumbles by both put the ACC in a massive tie-breaker scenario that put a five-loss Duke team into the championship.

If the Blue Devils pull the upset, the ACC will be the conference left out in the cold this season. The Cavaliers blasted Duke on the road, 34-17, just a couple of weeks ago, so odds are high Virginia earns a CFP bid.