College football predictions: Georgia vs. Alabama among best CFB spread picks for Conference Championship Week

The 2025 college football regular season is over. This weekend, we get to see who the conference champions are. Conference championships don't carry quite as much weight or importance with the new 12-team College Football Playoff field but they're awfully important for seeding or, in cases like the ACC, an automatic playoff bid. With so many conference title games taking place on Friday and Saturday, we've highlighted the side of the spread we like for five of these championship clashes. All odds are courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook, where you can get $200 in bonus bets if your first bet wins:

Best college football spread picks for conference championships

Tulane +2.5 vs. North Texas (Friday, 8 p.m. ET)

This is an intriguing matchup as both 11-1 North Texas and 10-2 Tulane are likely playing for a CFP bid as the Group of Five representative, and both teams are set to lose their head coaches as UNT's Eric Morris is heading to Oklahoma State and Tulane's Jon Sumrall is Florida bound. Normally, a head coach leaving could loom large, but with both teams in the same boat, that doesn't really give an edge to either side. The Mean Green have the better record than the Green Wave, with their lone loss coming to UAB while Tulane fell to Ole Miss and UTSA. Voters seem to have more faith in the Wave, however, based on AP and CFP rankings, so we'll lean that side as well and back Tulane to cover or even win outright.

Texas Tech -12.5 vs. BYU (Saturday, 12 p.m. ET)

There's only one conference title game with a larger spread than this (James Madison at -23.5 over Troy in the Sun Belt), and it stands to reason that the spread would be this wide. BYU has had a stellar season, but Texas Tech is 11-1 and blew out the Cougars 29-7 a few weeks ago. The Red Raiders have blown out basically everyone they've faced, too, allowing 16 total points across their final three games. Add in the potential distraction of BYU head coach Kalani Sitake being the perceived frontrunner for the Penn State opening and you have the potential for another easy Tech win and cover.

Alabama +2.5 vs. Georgia (Saturday, 4 p.m. ET)

It's interesting to see Georgia favored here. Yes, the Tide have lost two games to Georgia's one and yes, the game is in the state of Georgia. And yes, Alabama had a harder time against Auburn than you'd like to see. But don't forget that Kirby Smart is just 1-7 against Alabama has Georgia's head coach. While you may think Nick Saban did the heavy lifting there, Kalen DeBoer is 2-0 against Smart's teams. Perhaps Smart gets the upper hand here, which would hand Bama its third loss and potentially knock the Tide out of the CFP, but this is a situation where you've got to see it to believe it.

Indiana +4.5 vs. Ohio State (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET)

Both teams are 12-0 and will make the CFP regardless of what happens Saturday night, but this will determine the No. 1 overall seed in the playoff and it does have the potential to prevent the loser from having a first-round bye. The Buckeyes have allowed no more than 16 points in a single game this year, but Indiana is a different cat. Last year's Hoosiers benefited tremendously from an easy schedule. This year's team is far more battle tested and better all around. The Buckeyes are probably the better team and should win, but Indiana can keep things tight behind an offense that's scored fewer than 30 points just twice this year. 

Duke +3.5 vs. Virginia (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET)

How weird has the ACC been this year? Virginia finished 10-2 and 7-1 in conference play to make the title game, but Duke made the ACC Championship Game thanks to a five-way tiebreaker with Miami, SMU, Pitt and Georgia Tech. The Blue Devils went 6-2 in ACC play but are just 7-5 overall. A Blue Devils win would get them to 8-5 and into the playoff. The Cavaliers won this matchup 34-17 a few weeks ago, but Duke rebounded with two straight wins to close out the year. Plus, we all love chaos. Think about the fallout of an 8-5 Blue Devils team making the CFP. It's hardly improbable and at the very least, an inspired Duke side should be able to make Virginia sweat with a cover.