College Football Cheat Sheet: Week 12

We have reached crunch time. Only two more Saturdays remaining in the college football regular season. It might be SoCon Saturday in the SEC, but there are still a ton of major games on the slate with stakes.

We have a couple of potential playoff elimination races, and conference championship game slots still need to be decided in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, and Pac-12. There is also a heated race in the American Athletic Conference. The penultimate weekend of the 2023 college football season has a chance to deliver the goods.

KSR’s College Football Cheat Sheet is here to provide a full preview.

The Slate

USF at UTSA	9:00pm ET (Friday)	ESPN2
Colorado at Washington State	10:30pm ET (Friday)	FS1
No. 3 Michigan at Maryland	Noon ET	FOX
Michigan State at Indiana	Noon ET	Big Ten Network
Purdue at Northwestern	Noon ET	Big Ten Network
Abilene Christian at Texas A&M	Noon ET	ESPN+
Chattanooga at No. 8 Alabama	Noon ET	ESPN+
Coastal Carolina at Army	Noon ET	CBS Sports Network
East Carolina at Navy	Noon ET	ESPNews
No. 10 Louisville at Miami	Noon ET	ABC
Rutgers at No. 12 Penn State	Noon ET	FS1
SMU at Memphis	Noon ET	ESPN2
Southern Miss at Mississippi State	Noon ET	ESPN+
No. 24 Tulane at Florida Atlantic	Noon ET	ESPN+
ULM at No. 13 Ole Miss	Noon ET	SEC Network
No. 14 Oklahoma at BYU	Noon ET	ESPN
UMass at Liberty	1:00pm ET	ESPN+
Appalachian State at James Madison	2:00pm ET	ESPN+
Kent State at Ball State	2:00pm ET	ESPN+
Louisiana Tech at Jacksonville State	2:00pm ET	ESPN+
Rice at Charlotte	2:00pm ET	ESPN+
UTEP at Middle Tennessee	2:00pm ET	ESPN+
Cincinnati at West Virginia	2:30pm ET	ESPN+
No. 22 Utah at No. 17 Arizona	2:30pm ET	Pac-12 Network
Duke at Virginia	3:00pm ET	The CW
North Texas at Tulsa	3:00pm ET	ESPN+
Temple at UAB	3:00pm ET	ESPN+
Texas State at Arkansas State	3:00pm ET	ESPN+
Illinois at No. 16 Iowa	3:30pm ET	FS1
No. 1 Georgia at No. 18 Tennessee	3:30pm ET	CBS
Louisiana at Troy	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
NC State at Virginia Tech	3:30pm ET	ACC Network
No. 20 North Carolina at Clemson	3:30pm ET	ESPN
Sam Houston at WKU	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
UNLV at Air Force	3:30pm ET	CBS Sports Network
Wake Forest at No. 19 Notre Dame	3:30pm ET	NBC
Baylor at TCU	3:30pm ET	ESPN+
UCLA at USC	3:30pm ET	ABC
Minnesota at No. 2 Ohio State	4:00pm ET	Big Ten Network
New Mexico State at Auburn	4:00pm ET	SEC Network
No. 23 Oklahoma State at Houston	4:00pm ET	ESPN2
No. 6 Oregon at Arizona State	4:00pm ET	FOX
Marshall at South Alabama	5:00pm ET	ESPN+
UCF at Texas Tech	5:00pm ET	FS2
Old Dominion at Georgia Southern	6:00pm ET	ESPN+
California at Stanford	6:30pm ET	Pac-12 Network
North Alabama at No. 4 Florida State	6:30pm ET	The CW
Boise State at Utah State	7:00pm ET	CBS Sports Network
No. 21 Kansas State at No. 25 Kansas	7:00pm ET	FS1
FIU at Arkansas	7:30pm ET	ESPNU
Florida at No. 9 Missouri	7:30pm ET	ESPN
Kentucky at South Carolina	7:30pm ET	SEC Network
Nebraska at Wisconsin	7:30pm ET	NBC
No. 5 Washington at No. 11 Oregon State	7:30pm ET	ABC
Georgia State at No. 15 LSU	8:00pm ET	ESPN2
Syracuse at Georgia Tech	8:00pm ET	ACC Network
No. 7 Texas at Iowa State	8:00pm ET	FOX
New Mexico at Fresno State	10:30pm ET	FS1
San Diego State at San Jose State	10:30pm ET	CBS Sports Network

Top 10 Games

1. No. 5 Washington at No. 11 Oregon State
2. No. 1 Georgia at No. 18 Tennessee
3. No. 21 Kansas State @ No. 25 Kansas
4. No. 7 Texas at Iowa State
5. No. 10 Louisville at Miami
6. No. 20 North Carolina at Clemson
7. No. 22 Arizona at No. 17 Utah
8. SMU at Memphis
9. No. 2 Michigan at Maryland
10. Illinois at No. 16 Iowa

College Football Gambling Corner

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Who plays spoiler?

Georgia and Washington enter Week 12 with unblemished records and nearly have a College Football Playoff invite locked up. However, each will play their toughest road game of the season on Saturday.

Washington’s defense is a problem, and Oregon State has a balanced offense that could dominate the game script on Saturday night at Reser Stadium. The Beavers have a huge opportunity to play spoiler against both Oregon and Washington in the last two weeks before those schools bolt for the Big Ten. Expect an incredible crowd in Corvallis. A loss could eliminate the Huskies from playoff contention and take Michael Penix Jr. out of the Heisman Trophy list.

Down on Rocky Top, Josh Heupel‘s program is fresh off a double-digit road loss to Missouri where the offense sputtered big time. The Vols are now looking at an 8-4 finish unless they can pull off a monster upset in Neyland Stadium. Georgia’s offensive balance should have their way with Tennessee’s defense, but Heupel’s offensive scheme can cause issues. However, they haven’t caused issues for Georgia. Will the Vols get the Dawgs in a letdown moment after Kirby Smart‘s team bulldozed top-10 Ole Miss on Senior Day?

Let’s get wild, Big 12

No conference title race is tighter than the Big 12. This league always finds a way to deliver us some good games in November. There is no shortage of important games this week in a conference filled with parity.

• Texas (6-1) at Iowa State (5-2)
• Oklahoma State (5-2) at Houston (2-5)
• Oklahoma (5-2) at BYU (2-5)
• Kansas State (5-2) at Kansas (4-3)
• Cincinnati (1-6) at West Virginia (4-3)

Texas would lock up a trip to the Big 12 Championship Game with a win in Ames. Kansas State and Oklahoma State each face a potential elimination spot on the road. Is this the best Kansas State-Kansas matchup ever? I believe it is. The rest of the league could have a tough time catching Oklahoma if the other two 5-2 teams drop a road game on Saturday.

Will we see a Red River rematch at Jerry World in a couple of weeks? Week 12 will help determine the close conference race in college football.

College Football Degenerate Under: East Carolina at Navy Under 30.5

Take a seat, Iowa. It’s someone else’s turn.

Over in the American Athletic Conference, Navy (4-5, 3-3) will host East Carolina (2-8, 1-5) in a battle of offenses that rank sub-100 in success rate, EPA/play, and yards per play. Meanwhile, both defenses are playing at a top-50 level.

Expect a lot of punts in Annapolis. Don’t be afraid of the totals in the 30s.

The rest of the college football card

— Louisville can lock up a trip to the ACC Championship Game with a win. Miami is almost in a must-win situation as Mario Cristobal really can’t afford to finish the year at 7-5. We’ve got a big November game in South Florida. The Hurricanes are the second-best team UofL has faced this season. Will the soft schedule finally catch up to Jeff Brohm‘s team?

— SMU at Memphis could be one of the best Group of Five games of the year. Both offenses can absolutely go. Don’t be surprised if the first one to 40 points leaves the Liberty Bowl victorious. Get this contest on your TV screen during the noon window.

— Iowa can lock up a Big Ten West title with a home win over Illinois on Senior Day at Kinnick Stadium. Defense and special teams continue to win games in Iowa City, but backup quarterback John Paddock has given this Illinois offense a lift. If the Illini can score 17 points that could put Iowa in the danger zone.

— Florida (5-5, 3-4) needs a win to get back to a bowl game. That will be difficult with remaining top-10 games against Missouri (away) and Florida State (home). All of a sudden, this defense stinks out loud again, and that could be bad news against a top-10 passing defense. It’s hard to envision Billy Napier surviving longer than year three if he begins his tenure in Gainesville with consecutive losing seasons. A dream year could continue to roll on in CoMo in Week 12.