In this final issue ahead of winter break, let’s take a moment to dive into the latest in intercollegiate sports news.

Michigan State’s men’s basketball faced Louisville Wednesday night at home, winning 73-64. Their women’s team had a close call game as well, losing to Notre Dame 76-71. Wrestling rounded things out with another victory, finishing 19-17 against Lock Haven. 

On Friday, the wins continued with Grand Valley State University’s track team at their Holiday Open. The men placed third, while the women placed fourth. Men’s hockey took a defeat to Penn State, with a final score of 4-2. Finally, wrestling took another win this week, this time leading Bucknell 23-10.

Down state in Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan (U-M) men’s basketball team traveled to North Carolina to add a loss to their record, with the game finishing 72-51. Women’s basketball gave Louisville a visit on Thursday night, ending in a 70-48 loss for the Wolverines. The university’s weekend continued on a rough streak with volleyball losing 3-2 to Ball State, following ice hockey’s 5-1 loss to Minnesota.

Home in bear country, Oakland University’s men’s and women’s basketball teams both challenged the University of Illinois-Chicago. The men were on enemy turf while the women faced off at home, with both games ending in 81-77 and 67-99 victories respectively for the Golden Grizzlies.

The teams faced some challenges and tough losses but also some great wins this last week. The days, however, do get colder, the leaves on trees scarcer by the day and the dreaded snow encroaching closer and closer. This means one thing — football championships.

Football has wrapped up the normal season as it heads into playoffs. We now head into the six bowls (two semifinal games and four premier bowls) — the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Peach Bowl. The SEC championship game is No. 1 Georgia against No. 3 Alabama, with Georgia originally the favored team to win this match up. While Alabama has 18 national championships under their belt and Georgia only one, the latter team went into the game undefeated.

The American Athletic Conference (AAC) championship is No. 21 Houston against No. 4 Cincinnati. This was a big ranking difference, but the conference performance was unbeatable for both teams. Houston had lost one game out of twelve overall, while Cincinnati was undefeated all around and favored to win in this matchup.

The Big Ten championship is No. 2 Michigan against No. 13 Iowa. This is another pair up where there is only a one game win-loss difference for these teams — however, each have lost at least one game. Both teams went there with something to prove to themselves and everyone else, with predictions favoring Michigan to come out on top.

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship is No. 15 Pittsburgh against No. 16 Wake Forest. These teams held exactly the same conference and overall win-loss total — going into the game, it was a total coin flip of who would win, though Wake Forest was the favored team in most predictions.

The Big 12 championship is No. 9 Baylor versus No. 5 Oklahoma State. Baylor seemed to have struggled in conference a little, having lost more in these games than Oklahoma State. They still pulled through the season to match Oklahoma State’s overall 11-2 win-loss, and earned predictions to take home this championship title. 

We have a full six weeks of crazy matchups and wild cards, and will all be sitting on the edge of our seats cheering on our favorite teams as we await the results of the games.