This Weekend in College Football: Week 12

As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.

Noon:

• Michigan @ Pennsylvania State (ABC): Both these teams sport excellent defenses, but Michigan, unlike Penn State, has some semblance of a pulse on offense.
• North Carolina @ Virginia Tech (ESPN): Carolina's rampage through the ACC Coast figures to carry them all the way to Charlotte, which it would with a win here.
• Purdue @ Iowa (ESPN2): Speaking of continuing unabated through the weak division of your conference...
• Iowa State @ Kansas State (FS1): Honestly, I'm going with Iowa State in this one. K-State's six-game losing streak is just bad at this point. Iowa State has a win over Texas a competitive loss to Oklahoma State in the meantime.
• Memphis @ Temple (ESPNU): With both these teams taking defeats, the luster has worn off a bit of these two, but it may still be the best game in this time slot.
• Illinois @ Minnesota (ESPNEWS): The Illinois "playing with house money" season continues, as I'm giving them a slight edge here.
• Florida Atlantic @ Florida (SEC): So... this one is mostly a matter of how early the Gators feel comfortable pulling their starters.
• Rutgers @ Army (CBSS): If Army has any shot of getting another win against a FBS team this year, this is probably their best chance. So why not?
• Indiana @ Maryland (BTN): At a party last weekend, my Ohio State buddy assured me that Indiana isn't as terrible this year as they have been in the recent past. And hey, he's right. Sure, they've lost six straight games, but only two of them were by more than one score (a 26 point loss to Sparty and a 26 point loss to... Penn State, of all teams). But they were game against the Buckeyes, Hawkeyes, and Wolverine(-eyes?), and they can score points. Which is a long way of saying, I'm guessing they're going to vent some frustration on Maryland and Purdue here in the next couple of weeks.

12:30

• Syracuse @ North Carolina State (ACC): NC State has six wins and their best win this year is probably... this game, if they win it. Which they probably well. Let me put this way, if GT played their out-of-conference schedule, we'd be bowling.
• Georgia Tech @ Miami (ACC): Speaking of... us, well, this season is pretty much a disaster at this point. I'm not sure what else to say about it. I think it hit me how terrible the injury situation has been when, in the middle of the Virginia Tech game last week, I realized there were guys on defense making plays whose names I'd never heard, and I was watching the tenth game of the season. That is not normally when you want guys to be getting their first starts/snaps!
  As for this game, I have no idea how it will go. Given the state of these two teams, there may well be a few... dozen fans in the stands Saturday afternoon. I'm not sure what else to say.

3:30:

• Louisiana State @ Mississippi (CBS): Speaking of matchups that have lost their luster, this looked like it could be a battle of the SEC West of Alabama fell from their perch, but instead it was their contenders who faltered. In the battle or best runner-up, then, who will prevail? Eh, probably LSU, the Arkansas thing feels like a fluke.
• Michigan State @ Ohio State (ABC): Ohio State is a large favorite here and I'm not entirely sure why. Their loss was shocking, but still. I had the Buckeyes the whole in this one anyway, but I still figure the game will be relatively close.
• California-Los Angeles @ Utah (FOX): Hard to get a read on either of these teams at this point. Which one's better? Beats me. Utah in a coinflip.
• Southern California @ Oregon (ESPN): When you're Oregon, a three-loss season is a bit of a calamity, but they're rallied and reeled off four straight, including last week's upset of Stanford. Now, we get a retro-but-not-really matchup between Oregon and Southern Cal. I'm going with the Trojans, mostly because they seem to play some defense?
• Wake Forest @ Clemson (ESPN2): Clemson rolls.
• Arizona @ Arizona State (FS1): It's the battle for the Territorial Cup! And it's a bit anticlimatic, in a way, as I don't think the season has gone the way either school wanted. The Sun Devils could still drop these last two and miss a bowl. I think they'll make it, though.
• Houston @ Connecticut (ESPNU): UConn beat Tulane last weekend, that's not news. What is? They won 7-3. Yeah. Cougars roll.
• Buffalo @ Akron (CBSS): They play MAC games on Saturdays? These two are actually perfectly in the middle of the MAC East standings, so it could be close. I've got Buffalo here, though.
• Northwestern @ Wisconsin (BTN): The teams that were supposed to be competing for the Big Ten West are... not thanks to our glorious, fearless Hawkeye leaders. And so the Wildcats and Badgers got relegated to the Big Ten Network, which I still don't get in HD for some reason. Anyway! Who's going to win? I'm going with Wisconsin, they're just a better team.

3:45: Louisville @ Pittsburgh (ESPNEWS): Yeah Louisville, I see you there, just sort of hanging around behind Clemson and FSU in the Atlantic. And they'll still be there, even after they lose to Pitt.

4:00: Idaho @ Auburn (SEC): I think Auburn's got this one. Hopefully no one gets the copycat idea to punch their eagle.

6:00: Washington @ Oregon State (Pac12): Speaking of disappointing seasons, oof. The Beavers are just bad. UDub rolls.

7:00:

• Navy @ Tulsa (CBSS): Everyone in Annapolis is wondering why Army had such a bad time with this conference thing. After a win in Tulsa, they're going to roll into undefeated Houston next week for a huge game with a C-USA West title on the line. Good times!
• Mississippi State @ Arkansas (ESPN): The even weirder thing about Arkansas's rampage through the SEC West has been that they beat Mississippi and LSU on the road. Seriously, they won two straight against the two best not-Alabama teams in the conference away from home. Will they revert to form now that they're back in the cozy confines of Fayetteville? Hard to pick against them here.
• Georgia Southern @ Georgia (ESPNU): As much as I'd love to see it, I don't think the Eagles stand much of a chance here.

7:15: Tennessee @ Missouri (ESPN2): In six conference games, Mizzou has score 62 points. 62! There's teams with more points in a game than that! That's... not good! Tennessee rolls.

7:30:

• Baylor @ Oklahoma State (FOX): Okay, well, who ya got? Here's what we know. There's going to be lots of points and something crazy will happen. It's in Stillwater, which means that the crazy could really go either way. I'm going with Baylor, because that will create the maximum amount of chaos.
• Charlotte @ Kentucky (SEC): Kentucky rolls.
• Texas A&M @ Vanderbilt (SEC): TAMU rolls. (Still mad the "A&M" doesn't stand for anything, though).
• Boston College vs. Notre Dame (@Boston, MA; NBCSN): Being played at Fenway Park for some reason. Domers roll.

8:00:

• Texas Christian @ Oklahoma (ABC): Again: maximum chaos dictates that Oklahoma wins. Is there any loss that will prove to be more weird than that loss to Texas?
• Tulane @ Southern Methodist (ESPNEWS): With the two Big 12 games overlapping, I'm guessing the viewership for two AAC also-rans will be pretty abysmal. Going with SMU, because, hey, chaos. Let's stay on message here. (Also, for all their other issues, they can actually score.)

10:30:

• California @ Stanford (ESPN): It's the Big Game! Nice and late over here, too. And talk about a legacy of chaos! Despite the Oregon loss, though, I think Stanford is just the better team. However, in this rivalry, more than any other, it goes with saying: crazier things happened.
• San Diego State @ Nevada-Las Vegas (CBSS):

10:45: Colorado @ Washington State (ESPN2): It would really be chaotic if somehow Wazzou dropped this, but... yeah, okay, probably not.