Indiana should be able to breathe easy this week. It has very little chance of making it into the Big Ten championship game.
On the other hand, Georgia's spot in the Southeastern Conference title game is so risky that if the Bulldogs lose they might have been better off sitting it out.
Over the next two weeks, the warm familiarity of conference championship games, which began in 1992 thanks to the SEC, could run into the cold reality that comes with the first 12-team College Football Playoff. League title games give the nation's top contenders a chance to hang a banner and impress the CFP committee, but more than ever, the bragging rights come with the risk of a season-wrecking loss — even with an expanded field.
“I just don’t think it’s a quality conversation,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said last week, sticking with the time-honored cliche of looking no further than the next weekend's opponent.
Those who want to have that talk, though, already know where Georgia stands. The Bulldogs (9-2) are ranked sixth in this week's AP Top 25 and projected somewhere near that in the next set of CFP rankings that come out Tuesday. They already have two losses and will have to beat No. 3 Texas or No. 20 Texas A&M in the SEC title game on Dec. 7 to avoid a third.
How bad would a third loss hurt?
The chairman of the selection committee insists that a team making a conference title game shouldn't count against it. What that really means won't be known until the games are played and the pairings come out on Dec. 8.
"We're going to let the season play out," Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said. “But I think teams who make that championship game, the committee looks at them and puts them in high esteem."
All of which could be good news for Indiana in the unlikely event the Hoosiers find themselves playing for the Big Ten title.
IU is coming off a flop in its first major test of the season, a 38-15 loss to Ohio State last weekend. After his team's first loss of the season, coach Curt Cignetti took offense to being asked whether the Hoosiers were still a playoff-caliber team.
“Is that a serious question?” he asked. “I’m not even gonna answer that. The answer is so obvious.”
What might hurt Indiana, which dropped five spots to No. 10 in the AP poll, would be another drubbing.
The Hoosiers would be at least a two-touchdown underdog in a title-game matchup against top-ranked Oregon. The odds of that happening, however, are slim. It would take a Michigan upset over No. 2 Ohio State on Saturday, combined with a Maryland upset over No. 4 Penn State and, of course, an Indiana win over Purdue (1-10).
Because this is the first year of the 12-team playoff, there's no perfect comparison to make. For instance, this is the first time Power Four conference champions are guaranteed a spot in the playoff.
But 2017 provides a textbook example of how a team losing its conference title game suffered.
That year, Alabama had one loss (to Auburn) and didn't play in the SEC title game, but made the four-team field ahead of Wisconsin, which was 12-1 after a loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game. Ohio State didn't make it either — two losses didn't get teams into a four-team field. Neither did undefeated UCF.
Saturday's results made things a little more clear for the rest of the conferences:
— In the Big 12, winning the title game will probably be the only way for Arizona State (9-2), BYU (9-2), Iowa State (9-2), Colorado (8-3) or anyone else to earn a spot in the 12-team playoff. None are ranked higher than 14th in the AP poll.
— The Atlantic Coast Conference could get multiple bids. Miami (10-1), SMU (10-1) and Clemson (9-2) all finished in the top 12 of this week's AP poll. They were cheering the loudest when both Alabama and Ole Miss suffered their third losses of the season.
— The Mountain West would be a one-bid conference, but that's only a sure thing if Boise State wins. A loss by the Broncos could open the CFP for Tulane or Army of the American Athletic. Both the MWC and AAC title games take place at 8 p.m. on Dec. 6.
— Where the committee places Alabama and Ole Miss on Tuesday will be an indicator of what it thinks of teams with three losses that played very strong schedules.
— It could also set the stakes for Georgia, which faces the prospect of loss No. 3 in the Dec. 7 title game, assuming the Bulldogs beat rival Georgia Tech this week.
— Clemson has been steadily climbing. Its 34-3 loss to Georgia came on Aug. 31. Is it ancient history to the committee, though?
— Indiana's status as a playoff team — in, out, nervous? — will become apparent. The Ohio State game was Indiana's first against a top-flight opponent. Then again, it is the Hoosiers' only loss and their weak Big Ten schedule is not their fault.
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Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, right, is restrained by an assistant as he yells instructions to his players on the field during the second half of an NCAA college football game against UMass, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Georgia running back Nate Frazier (3) out runs UMass defensive back Leonard St. Gourdin (11) to the end zone for a tochdown during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden kicked off his final holiday season at the White House on Monday by issuing the traditional reprieve to two turkeys who will bypass the Thanksgiving table to live out their days in southern Minnesota.
Biden welcomed 2,500 guests to the South Lawn under sunny skies as he cracked jokes about the fates of “Peach” and “Blossom” and sounded wistful tones about the last weeks of his presidency after a half-century in Washington power circles.
“It’s been the honor of my life. I’m forever grateful,” Biden said, taking note of his impending departure on Jan. 20, 2025. That's when power will transfer to Republican President-elect Donald Trump, the man Biden defeated four years ago and was battling again until he was pressured to bow out of the race amid concerns about his age and viability. Biden is 82.
Until Inauguration Day, the president and first lady Jill Biden will continue a busy run of festivities that will double as their long goodbye. The White House schedule in December is replete with holiday parties for various constituencies, from West Wing staff to members of Congress and the White House press corps.
Biden relished the brief ceremony with the pardoned turkeys, named for the official flower of the president's home state of Delaware.
“The peach pie in my state is one of my favorites,” he said during remarks that were occasionally interrupted by Peach gobbling atop the table to Biden's right. “Peach is making a last-minute plea,” Biden said at one point, drawing laughter from an overflow crowd that included Cabinet members, White House staff and their families, and students from 4H programs and Future Farmers of America chapters.
Biden introduced Peach as a bird who “lives by the motto, ‘Keep calm and gobble on.’” Blossom, the president said, has a different motto: “No fowl play. Just Minnesota nice.”
Peach and Blossom came from the farm of John Zimmerman, near the southern Minnesota city of Northfield. Zimmerman, who has raised about 4 million turkeys, is president of the National Turkey Federation, the group that has gifted U.S. presidents Thanksgiving turkeys since the Truman administration after World War II. President Harry Truman, however, preferred to eat the birds. Official pardon ceremonies did not become an annual White House tradition until the administration of President George H.W. Bush in 1989.
With their presidential reprieve, Peach and Blossom will live out their days at Farmamerica, an agriculture interpretative center near Waseca in southern Minnesota. The center's aim is to promote agriculture and educate future farmers and others about agriculture in America.
Separately Monday, first lady Jill Biden received the official White House Christmas tree that will be decorated and put on display in the Blue Room. The 18.5 foot (5.64 meters) Fraser fir came from a farm in an area of western North Carolina that recently was devastated by Hurricane Helene.
Cartner’s Christmas Tree Farm lost thousands of trees in the storm “but this one remained standing and they named it ‘Tremendous’ for the extraordinary hope that it represents,” Jill Biden said at the event.
The Bidens were also traveling to New York City on Monday for an evening “Friendsgiving” event at a Coast Guard station on Staten Island.
Biden began his valedictory calendar Friday night with a gala for hundreds of his friends, supporters and staff members who gathered in a pavilion erected on the South Lawn, with a view out to the Lincoln Memorial.
Cabinet secretaries, Democratic donors and his longest-serving staff members came together to hear from the president and pay tribute, with no evidence that Biden was effectively forced from the Democratic ticket this summer and watched Vice President Kamala Harris suffer defeat on Nov. 5.
“I’m so proud that we’ve done all of this with a deep belief in the core values of America,” said Biden, sporting a tuxedo for the black-tie event. Setting aside his criticisms of Trump as a fundamental threat to democracy, Biden added his characteristic national cheerleading: “I fully believe that America is better positioned to lead the world today than at any point in my 50 years of public service.”
The first lady toasted her husband with a nod to his 2020 campaign promise to “restore the soul of the nation,” in Trump’s aftermath. With the results on Election Day, however, Biden’s four years now become sandwiched in the middle of an era dominated by Trump's presence on the national stage and in the White House.
Even as the first couple avoided the context surrounding the president's coming exit, those political realities were nonetheless apparent, as younger Democrats like Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Biden's Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg not only raised their glasses to the president but held forth with many attendees who could remain in the party's power circles in the 2028 election cycle and beyond.
First lady Jill Biden, right, walks with her grandson Beau Biden after receiving the official 2024 White House Christmas Tree on the North Portico of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Cartner's Christmas Tree Farm from Newland, N.C., provided the Fraser fir that will be displayed in the Blue Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
First lady Jill Biden, second right, walks with her grandson Beau Biden, right, to receive the official 2024 White House Christmas Tree on the North Portico of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Cartner's Christmas Tree Farm from Newland, N.C., provided the Fraser fir that will be displayed in the Blue Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
First lady Jill Biden waves as she walks with her grandson Beau Biden after receiving the official 2024 White House Christmas Tree on the North Portico of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Cartner's Christmas Tree Farm from Newland, N.C., provided the Fraser fir that will be displayed in the Blue Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The official 2024 White House Christmas Tree arrives on the North Portico of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Cartner's Christmas Tree Farm from Newland, N.C., provided the Fraser fir that will be displayed in the Blue Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Joe Biden, center right, departs with his grandson Beau Biden after pardoning the national Thanksgiving turkeys during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden, center right, departs with his grandson Beau Biden after pardoning the national Thanksgiving turkeys during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden speaks after pardoning the national Thanksgiving turkey, Peach, during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden speaks and pardons the national Thanksgiving turkey, Peach, during a pardoning ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024, as John Zimmerman, chair of the National Turkey Federation and his son Grant, look on. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Beau Biden, grandson of President Joe Biden, is pictured with the national Thanksgiving turkeys, Peach and Blossom, after a pardoning ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden is pictured with John Zimmerman, chair of the National Turkey Federation, from left, and Zimmerman's son Grant, after pardoning the national Thanksgiving turkey Peach during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden pardons one of the national Thanksgiving turkeys, Peach, during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Beau Biden, left, looks at Peach, the national Thanksgiving turkey who was pardoned by President Joe Biden, during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. Grant Zimmerman, son of John Zimmerman, chair of the National Turkey Federation, watches at right. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Joe Biden stands with one of the national Thanksgiving turkeys, Peach, during a pardoning ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden, right, stands with John Zimmerman, left, chair of the National Turkey Federation, his son Grant Zimmerman, center, and the national Thanksgiving turkey, Peach, during a pardoning ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The national Thanksgiving turkeys Peach and Blossom are pictured before a pardoning ceremony with President Joe Biden on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Beau Biden, grandson of President Joe Biden, is pictured with the national Thanksgiving turkeys, Peach and Blossom, after a pardoning ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
President Joe Biden is pictured after pardoning the national Thanksgiving turkey, Peach, during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
