3 college football teams that benefit from not making their conference championship

The conference championship scene is set and, for some, this is a chance to play their way into the 12-team College Football Playoff field.

The games have a massive amount of importance for the Big 12, ACC, and MWC, who will see their conference champion get into the 12-team CFP field by way of an automatic-qualifying bid. However, for teams in the SEC and Big Ten, there's actually an argument to be had that they might benefit from not making it to the conference title game.

Of course, you always want to make your conference championship game, unless you're Lane Kiffin. But, getting an extra week of rest instead of playing in a game could be of great benefit for these three teams.

The Tennessee Volunteers locked up their spot in the College Football Playoff with a win over Vanderbilt on Saturday. The Volunteers are on the bubble for being a hosting seed in the playoff but, most likely, they'll miss out on that by just a seed or two.

Still, Tennessee missing the SEC Championship game might actually play into its favor. Who has confidence that Tennessee would go into Atlanta and beat, say, Georgia? The Volunteers have already lost once to Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs and a game in Atlanta is a pseudo-home game for the Bulldogs.

If Tennessee played in that game and lost, they would play an extra game and still have to play in the first-round — likely still on the road — but they'd be in a worse spot because they had to play another game. Tennessee should be content to sit at home this coming weekend and await their first-round matchup.

Ohio State fans would much rather be playing in Indianapolis this weekend and celebrating a win over Michigan. Instead, they're licking their wounds and having to deal with all the hate from opposing fanbases.

In some ways, that might be the best thing that could happen for Ohio State.

Count this writer as one who isn't convinced that Ohio State would've beaten Oregon in Indianapolis anyway. The Buckeyes simply don't have the offensive firepower — unless they somehow find some magic in the next couple of weeks — but they have an elite defense and they'll now get a chance to get healthy before likely hosting a first-round matchup.

Ohio State not playing in the Big Ten championship game and having to listen to two full weeks of haters might be the best thing for this team. They'll regroup and a little humility could go a long way in potentially changing their postseason fate.

There's some chatter that a three-loss SEC team like South Carolina or Alabama could get in over Indiana. Sorry, that's simply not going to be the case.

Indiana finished the season 11-1 overall and the Hoosiers just blew out Purdue by the tune of 66-0. Yes, it's a bad Purdue team, but that was a statement to the College Football Playoff committee.

Sitting at an 11-1 record, Indiana is poised to earn an at-large bid. Say what you want about "conference championships not hurting teams" — which is actually not true — but that would absolutely be the case if the Hoosiers went to the Big Ten championship game. If Indiana went to the Big Ten championship game — likely to get beaten by Oregon, potentially handily — there would be a conversation about a two-loss Hoosier team being left out.

Instead, they get to sit at home and await their seeding. Indiana isn't getting left out. The Hoosiers will be traveling in the first-round and they could potentially fall to as low as the No. 11 or No. 12 seed, but they're going to be in the field.

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