College Football Best Bets: Three Favorite Picks for the 2022 Conference Championship Games

It's the best week of the year for college football fans, as it's time for us to dive into the conference championships. This weekend efatures some really exciting matchups and we previewed some of the biggest ones earlier in the week. But the ones below are the moneymakers, as we're trying to find the sharpest picks of the weekend. 

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College Football Conference Championship Games Best Bets 

Mountain West Conference Championship: Fresno State Bulldogs vs. Boise State Broncos - 4:00PM ET

Fresno State is a much better football team than the record might suggest, as star quarterback Jake Haener missed some time this season. Haener has thrown for 2,432 yards with 17 touchdowns and only three picks this year, and the Bulldogs are 6-1 in the seven full games he has played. The one loss came against a very good Oregon State squad, but it's fair to say they would have lost another one against USC. Still, Fresno State has won every game it has been supposed to win with Haener under center and that's why it's hard to pick against the team here. 

Boise State did earn a 40-20 win when these teams met on October 8, but that can actually be looked at as an advantage for Fresno State. The Bulldogs got to see Taylen Green and the Broncos offense that they'll be facing in this one, but that doesn't go both ways. Boise State's defense faced a Fresno State team that was being led by Logan Fife at quarterback, but that's nothing like the Bulldogs attack we'll see on Saturday. Haener can make every throw in the book and Fresno State's offense will be ready to go here.

Boise State also hasn't been good to bettors when coming off dominant performances under Andy Avalos. The Broncos are just 2-8 against the spread after wins by 17 or more in that time. 

BET: Fresno State +3 at -110 at DraftKings Sportsbook

🏈 Fresno State vs. Boise State Predictions
📈 Betting preview: Fresno State vs. Boise State

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American Athletic Conference Championship: UCF Knights vs. Tulane Green Wave - 4:00PM ET

The list of reasons that UCF looks like the right pick in this game is rather long. But the two main ones would be that the Knights already beat the Green Wave this season (on the road) and that Tulane head coach Willie Fritz was distracted by a pursuit of the Georgia Tech opening this week. Despite all of that, we're going with the Green Wave, who have seen themselves go from -2.5 to as much as -4 on some books. 

The reality here is that Fritz has been through the coaching carousel before and he knows how to maintain focus and get his team prepared. And overall, he is one of the best coaches in the country, which makes it hard to believe that he'd get outsmarted by Gus Malzahn twice. 

Look for Tulane's rushing defense to look a lot better this time around, as the Green Wave are just far too good defensively to be giving up more than 300 yards on the ground again. They'll have a much better plan in place for Round 2 of this matchup and we also think the offense will make fewer mistakes. Tulane turned the ball over twice in the first meeting with UCF, but the team had fewer than two turnovers in all but three games this season. 

BET: Tulane -3.5 at -110 at DraftKings Sportsbook

🏈 UCF vs. Tulane Predictions
📈 Betting preview: UCF vs. Tulane

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Big Ten Conference Championship: Purdue Boilermakers vs. Michigan Wolverines - 8:00PM ET

Purdue might not look like it has a chance against Michigan, but we're not even looking at the side in that one. Instead, we're just hoping for a lot of points in a meeting between two teams that can score. Purdue comes into this one after having scored at least 30 points in two of its last three games, while Michigan has done the same thing in three of its last four. 

The truth here is that the Wolverines are going to be able to run the ball over the Boilermakers, even without Blake Corum. Donovan Edwards is absolutely electric out of the backfield, so he'll just get some more carries here. But we also see Aidan O'Connell finding some success against the Michigan passing defense, even if it's in garbage time. 

All in all, this is just a total that we view as a little too low, so we're riding with the Over here. 

BET: Over 51.5 at -110 at DraftKings Sportsbook

🏈 Purdue vs. Michigan Predictions
📈 Betting preview: Purdue vs. Michigan