College Football Week 12 Thread

As always, this is a list of the top 10 games of the week, based on the Athletic’s ranking of teams from 1-134 and in order of start time. Keeping your filthy politics out of sports threads or be banned.

1. #24 Clemson at #28 Pitt, 12, ESPN. Two frauds face off. Clemson seems the less fradualent but after what happened two weeks ago against Louisville, I don’t trust them. But Pitt has lost two very bad games in a row after a good start and probably are in freefall. Would I take Clemson -10 though???? At Pitt? I’d probably go Pitt at home with those points.
2. #3 Texas at #34 Arkansas, 12, ABC. Arkansas is OK. Texas is going to blast them. I’d take the Longhorns -13.5.
3. #26 Tulane at #38 Navy, 12, ESPN2. Probably the most fun of the early games. Navy has had a nice season but Tulane is actually a good football team. Given what Notre Dame did to Navy, I have trouble seeing them hang with a tough Tulane team. I’d take Tulane -7.
4. #48 Virginia at #10 Notre Dame, 3:30, NBC. I’m glad Virginia has had an OK season. And it feels like Notre Dame is due to blow another game somewhere along the line. I don’t think it will be this week. I might take Virginia +23 though.
5. #49 Boston College at #12 SMU, 3:30, ESPN. These are very good times to be a Mustang. Best since the Dickerson/James days before the Death Penalty for what literally every team does today and many did back in the 80s. BC is OK, SMU is going to stomp them at home. Gimme SMU -17.5
6. #43 Baylor at #46 West Virginia, 4, ESPN2. So this is the 7th best game of the week? Well, the flotsam and jetsam of the Big 12 does make for acceptably decent football I suppose, though no one is dying to see this game unless you are a Texas Baptist or resident of the Mountain State. Thank God I am neither. But I’d take West Virginia +2.5 at home if I had to wager.
7. #23 Missouri at #20 South Carolina, 4:15, SEC. First, the only reason this is on SEC is that these aren’t the most marquee names in the SEC. That’s some serious bullshit. It’s November, that stuff shouldn’t matter, and this is the second best game in a somewhat average week of college football. I love what South Carolina has done in reviving their season. In the last three weeks, they’ve hammered decent to good Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt teams. Meanwhile, Missouri feels overrated. 7-2 yes, but is their best win somehow Boston College? So yeah, I expect to see the Gamecocks win this one. Also, the SEC really needs to quit being pathetic loser cowards and go to the 9 game regular season so Missouri can’t pad its schedule with 4 easy non-conference games and get to this point as a ranked team. South Carolina -12 feels about right.
8. #25 Arizona State at #16 Kansas State, 7, ESPN. This could be very good game. Both teams have been unexpectedly good. I love what Kenny Dillingham is doing in Tempe. Their problem is that they’ve had an easy schedule and don’t really have a good win, while KSU has beaten Colorado. I’d definitely give Kansas State the advantage at home but I’d also take ASU +9 in a heartbeat.
9. #5 Tennessee at #10 Georgia, 7:30 ABC. This should be fun if for no other reason that no one believes Tennessee will win this game. Yes, Georgia has now lost twice. But they are -10 against the Vols! Home game usually means 3 points or so, which means that the general consensus is that Georgia is a TD better than Tennessee. And maybe they are! I will say two things though–the Vols have a great defense and Georgia is bizarrely inconsistent. They looked so great in smashing Texas but then looked really quite bad against Ole Miss. So I guess I like Georgia, but I really like Tennessee +10.
10. #51 Cincinnati at #28 Iowa State, 8, FOX. It’s not that I think the Bearcats are anything special but I do think that Iowa State, like Pitt, were total frauds from the beginning and now are free falling with losses. I don’t know I’d take the Bearcats to win in Ames, but I would absolutely take Cincy +9. You know how the Kelce Brothers are betting here!

Meanwhile, I expect Oregon to stomp a very mediocre Wisconsin team on the road. Does Jack of the River getting canned after drunk driving hurt Wisconsin’s game planning? He was probably drunk the whole season anyway. Also, the Big 10 is so incredibly mediocre outside of Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, and Indiana somehow that at this point, if no combo of these teams are playing each other, no top 10 games for that entire conference.