Allen Bored
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Week 12 Featured Games
Thursday
Georgia Tech at #8 Clemson, 7:30/4:30 PM, ESPN
Spread: Clemson -10.5
Announcers: Rece Davis, Jesse Palmer, David Pollack
All-Time Series: Georgia Tech leads 50-24-2
Last Meeting: 10/6/2012 Clemson 47, Georgia Tech 21
Reason to Watch: As usual there has to be at least one ACC division that is a complete clusterfuck and this year it is the Coastal. Georgia Tech is technically alone in first place right now at 5-2 but they’ve played two more conference games than anyone else in the division and will be done with the conference schedule after this week. They probably will have to pull off an upset here to have a realistic shot at winning the division as they are unlikely to win in a tiebreak as they lost to both Miami and Virginia Tech. Clemson is playing for a BCS at large bid at this point since Florida State has already clinched the Atlantic division. If FSU ends up in the BCS title game Clemson is a likely choice for the Orange Bowl even if they pick up a second loss before the year is over.
Back Up Game: Marshall at Tulsa, 7:30/4:30 PM, FOXS1
Friday
Washington at #13 UCLA, 9:00/6:00 PM, ESPN2
Spread: UCLA -2.5
Announcers: Carter Blackman, Danny Kannell
All-Time Series: UCLA leads 38-30-2
Last Meeting: 11/18/2010 Washington 24, UCLA 7
Reason to Watch: In a week with a handful of good games but no real marquee match-up I placed this as the #1 game of the week as it’s a good bet to not be decided until late in the 4th quarter. UCLA still has designs on the Rose Bowl but they can’t afford to pick up a third conference loss if they want to beat out Arizona State for the Pac-12 South title. Washington has no designs on the Rose Bowl and still needs one more win to become bowl eligible. Although they are almost assured to get at least one more win in the Apple Cup to close the year they’d be best to not let it come to that.
Early Saturday
Indiana at #22 Wisconsin, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN2
Spread: Wisconsin -23.5
Announcers: Bob Wischusen, Rod Gilmore
All-Time Series: Wisconsin leads 39-18-2
Last Meeting: 11/10/12 Wisconsin 62, Indiana 14
Reason to Watch: This is a dreadful slate of early games so might as well go with the one that should at least be entertaining if not particularly competitive. Indiana has a fantastic offense but has zero defense. Nationally they rank 8th in points per game and 114th in points against. Wisconsin has a excellent shot at running the table to finish the year 10-2 which could potentially put them in BCS at large consideration but they are being criminally underrated in the BCS rankings. They’ll need to get into the Top 14 to have a chance at a BCS bowl but the odds aren’t looking great at the moment.
Back Up Game: #3 Ohio State at Illinois, Noon/9:00 AM, ESPN
Mid-day Saturday
#25 Georgia at #7 Auburn, 3:30/12:30 PM, CBS
Spread: Auburn -3.5
Announcers: Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson
All-Time Series: Georgia leads 52-50-6
Last Meeting: 11/10/12 Georgia 38, Auburn 0
Reason to Watch: It was a tough choice between this game and Oklahoma State/Texas but going with this one due Auburn being the potential chaos bringer in the final year of the BCS. They more than any one loss team, including Stanford, have the best opportunity at leaping themselves into the BCS title game if enough weird things happen in front of them. They can ruin Alabama’s season in the Iron Bowl which would put them in position to win the SEC championship which by default gets you BCS title consideration. It’s not likely but if you are a fan of chaos you should be rooting for Auburn the rest of the year. It’s been a bit of a lost season for Georgia with all their injuries but they can still get into a good bowl game with a strong finish. They have embarrassed Auburn the past two seasons by a combined score of 83-7.
Back Up Game: #12 Oklahoma State at #24 Texas, 3:30/12:30 PM, FOX
Primetime Saturday
#4 Stanford at USC, 8:00/5:00 PM, ABC
Spread: Stanford -4
Announcers: Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit
All-Time Series: USC leads 56-28-3
Last Meeting: 9/15/12 Stanford 21, USC 14
Reason to Watch: Stanford is coming off probably the most impressive performance of any team all season with their win over Oregon, well at least for the first 50+ minutes of that game before their usually stout special teams almost did them in. It’s tossed them back into peripheral of the BCS title picture and given them a clear path to back-to-back Pac-12 championships. They can all but clinch the North division this week with a win over USC (they have a layup against Cal to close the conference season next week) but that won’t necessarily be easy. Trojans have been a forgotten team since the demise of Lane Kiffin but their defense can keep them in any game which they’ll need to do here as they can’t expect much from their offense against Stanford’s defense. If they pull off the upset it wouldn’t be completely far fetched for them to win the South division with a little bit of help.
Back Up Game: Florida at #10 South Carolina, 7:00/4:00 PM, ESPN2
Late Night Saturday
San Jose State at Nevada, 10:30/7:30 PM, ESPNU
Spread: San Jose State -7.5
Announcers: Joe Davis, David Diaz-Infante
All-Time Series: Nevada leads 12-4
Last Meeting: 11/17/11 Nevada 17, San Jose State 14
Reason to Watch: Three Mountain West games to close out the day and not a single one of them is the least bit compelling so the choice is the one that will probably be the most competitive. San Jose State is coming off a tough home loss to San Diego State. They need one more win to become bowl eligible but really need two to assure themselves a bowl invite as they could get squeezed out of the last Mountain West bowl slot if they finish 6-6. Nevada can still become bowl eligible but it would take a mild upset here and a big upset next week against BYU to pull off the task but they haven’t won a game since late September.
Back Up Game: Wyoming at Boise State, 10:15/7:15 PM, ESPN2
Week 12 Game Rankings
1. Washington at UCLA (Fri.)
2. Stanford at USC
3. Georgia at Auburn
4. Oklahoma State at Texas
5. Georgia Tech at Clemson (Thur.)
6. Miami at Duke
7. Oregon State at Arizona State
8. Florida at South Carolina
9. Texas Tech vs. Baylor
10. Houston at Louisville
11. Michigan State at Nebraska
12. Utah at Oregon
13. Alabama at Mississippi State
14. Washington State at Arizona
15. Indiana at Wisconsin
16. Michigan at Northwestern
17. North Carolina at Pittsburgh
18. Syracuse at Florida State
19. TCU at Kansas State
20. Ohio State at Illinois
21. Maryland at Virginia Tech
22. Cincinnati at Rutgers
23. Kentucky at Vanderbilt
24. Iowa State at Oklahoma
25. N.C. State at Boston College
26. California at Colorado
27. West Virginia at Kansas
28. San Jose State at Nevada
29. South Alabama at Navy
30. Texas State at Arkansas State
31. Purdue at Penn State
32. Marshall at Tulsa (Thur.)
33. Troy at Mississippi
34. Memphis at South Florida
35. Wyoming at Boise State
36. San Diego State at Hawaii
37. UCF at Temple
38. Colorado State at New Mexico
39. UAB at East Carolina
40. Connecticut at SMU
41. Akron at Massachusetts
42. Louisiana Tech at Rice
43. Central Michigan at Western Michigan
44. Louisiana-Lafayette at Georgia State
45. Florida Atlantic at Southern Miss
46. FIU at UTEP
