This Weekend in College Football: Week 13

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Michigan State @ Northwestern (ESPN): Northwestern has had an awful time of it this season, and it doesn't look to suddenly be getting any better with Sparty's defense to contend with.
• Duke @ Wake Forest (ESPN2): There often hasn't been a lot riding on this game, has there? It's hard to figure that Duke would lose here, no matter how much I'd like them to .
• Oklahoma @ Kansas State (FS1): Even though they're, shall we say, offensively challenged these days the Sooners still pack enough punch to beat K-State.
• Cincinnati @ Houston (ESPNEWS): Tobby Tuberville does nothing but win (against really bad teams, that is). Houston came up just short against the AAC's front runners in their past two games, so they have more than a good shot against the Bearcats.
• Virginia @ Miami (ESPNU): When Miami lost to Duke last weekend, I wasn't happy or sad. I was angry. Mainly, I was angry that we pretty much went out and beat Duke like they're, well, Duke back in September, yet Miami and Virginia Tech manage to have the worst games of their seasons against the Blue Devils. Absolutely ridiculous. At any rate, Miami is still good enough to be able to easily beat Virginia.
• Michigan @ Iowa (BTN): You could watch this game, but I don't really know why. I guess I'm going with Michigan.
• Mississippi State @ Arkansas (SEC): Miss State should be able to earn that tantalizing fifth win here, putting it all on the line for the Egg Bowl next weekend.

12:30:

• Pittsburgh @ Syracuse (ACC): The ACC's newbies face off! However, the 'Cuse seems to be a much worse team at this point.
• East Carolina @ North Carolina State (ACC): I've had NC State losing this game in the bowl predictions and such, but I'm not really sure how. ECU isn't great or anything, but NCSU is kind of bad. I'm sticking with the Wolfpack, but this feels like an upset is a brewin'.

1:30: Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical @ Georgia Tech (espn3.com): Last week, Clemson played their most complete game of the season against GT. The Tigers won every phase of the game except for the "Robert Godhigh" phase. But, nonetheless, GT must march on. This team is pretty aggressively mediocre: we've lost to everyone better than us and beat everyone worse than us. Anyway, this game. Alabama A&M is 4-7 this year with a 4-5 record in SWAC play. They actually have not played any other FBS opponents this season, so it's hard to compare exactly, but usually the level of play in the SWAC is not great. The key to this game are the same as they are to any opponent like this: don't let them get into it. Hopefully we do a much better job of executing on the plan than we did last Thursday.

3:30:

• Texas Agricultural and Mechanical @ Louisiana State (CBS): I've been leaning toward TAMU on this one, but it is tough. You have TAMU's excellent offense against LSU's pretty good defense, and then LSU's okay offense against TAMU's awful defense. It's a matter of which one screws up first. Given that, still leaning TAMU.
• Brigham Young @ Notre Dame (NBC): I think BYU is a pretty legitimate team and can score the "upset" against Notre Dame.
• Oregon @ Arizona (ABC/ESPN2): Thanks to USC last weekend, Oregon is back in the driver's seat in the Pac 12 North, and this came shouldn't cause them to have to give it up again.
• Indiana @ Ohio State (ABC/ESPN2): Ohio State needs all the help they can get, and it's likely even a blowout here will help that much.
• Wisconsin @ Minnesota (ESPN): I suspect Minnesota's four game winning streak and good feelings will face a pretty stark reality check against the Badgers this weekend and Sparty next weekend.
• Idaho @ Florida State (ESPNU): FSU.
• Colorado State @ Utah State (CBSS): Utah State's only losses are still to BYU, Utah, Southern Cal, and Boise State. Those are all good teams. Colorado State, not so much.
• Utah @ Washington State (Pac12): Wazzou can make a bowl if they win this game, but I actually don't think they will. Utah is pretty solid and I'm not sure Wazzou is quite there yet. I am dreading that pick, though.
• Boston College @ Maryland (ACC/FSN): BC is 6-4 mostly from beating the Marylands of the world. I expect this trend to continue.
• Nebraska @ Pennsylvania State (BTN): What is Nebraska at this point? I have no clue. I do like their chances to beat Penn State, though.

4:00:

• California @ Stanford (FS1): The Big Game doesn't feel quite so big when one of the teams is very, very bad. Stanford should roll.
• New Mexico @ Fresno State (ESPNEWS): Fresno.

7:00:

• Arizona State @ California-Los Angeles (FOX): Until USC announced their intentions by beating Stanford last weekend, this looked like the battle in the Pac-12 South. For weeks in the bowl predictions I had been calling this game for UCLA, but I switched last week and I'm going to stick with the Sun Devils.
• Vanderbilt @ Tennessee (ESPN2): This is one hard to pick, as Vandy is the better team but they always seem to have trouble with the Volunteers. I'm sticking with them anyway.
• Kentucky @ Georgia (ESPNU): I think UGA's chances here.
• Tulsa @ Louisiana Tech (CBSS): When CBS Sports picked this game, I'm guessing they were thinking that Tulsa might be a little better than 2-8. Both of these offenses rank in the 100's, and Tulsa's defense is down there too, so I'm going with LaTech.

7:45: Missouri @ Mississippi (ESPN): Mizzou continues their march toward a SEC East title with a win here. I think they'll get it.

8:00:

• Baylor @ Oklahoma State (ABC): Your Saturday forecast for Stillwater, OK: highs in the low 40's with game time temperature expected to be around freezing. Will that be enough to slow down Baylor? I've been expecting the Bears to take at least one loss in their last five games, and this is the last chance. Can Oklahoma State do it? At this point, if they can't, I doubt anyone can. But given the conditions and what feels like inevitability, I'm going with the Cowboys.
• Kansas @ Iowa State (FS1): I'm picking Kansas to win a game? This feels like madness.

9:30: Southern California @ Colorado (Pac12): USC. (Can I take a second to continue to praise Rece Davis and the fact that he also uses the Internet's jokes about Ed Orgeron on air? Also can I just say that I support DaCoachO being USC's head coach because even though it will be a disaster it will be hilarious, well, at least if you're not a USC fan?)

10:30:

• Washington @ Oregon State (ESPN2): I think this is actually an interesting game, though UDub has a slight edge on paper. So I'm going with the Huskies, but this should be a good nightcap.
• Boise State @ San Diego State (CBSS): This game could be okay, but if Boise gets going early (and they've gotten going to the tune of 90 points the last two weeks), then it will be an even stiffer test for the Aztecs.