Well, I wanted to have the Louisville matchup with Houston this week, but it’s a frickin Thursday game. For shame. By the way, how is Houston not ranked at 8-2 but Oklahoma is in the top 10 at 8-2? I know, I know, strength of schedule, but Houston should be ranked at least. If it wasn’t for Chad Morris, Houston would probably be in the top 10.
Was really tempted to put the Bama game up here. They are playing 8-2 Chattanooga. Hell, they’ll probably put up a better fight than some of these SEC teams have.
Week 12 Matchups
#4 Clemson (9-1) at Wake Forest (6-4)
Vegas says: -22.5 Clemson
Revan says: 45 - 17 Clemson
Ah, Wake. You were supposed to be the cupcake appetite spoiler before the Thanksgiving Gamecock feast (to be followed up with Hokie leftovers... Hokies are some sort of presumably edible bird creature right?). I was oh so ready to send taunting texts to my sibling that went to Wake. Not anymore.
Our defense is better than how they played against Pitt but Pitt exploited the weaknesses that our defense has had all season. If Wake is smart (and I’m told they’re supposed to be) they’ll try to exploit those weaknesses in the same way. Given that we lament the same defensive weaknesses week to week, I’m wondering how we’ll respond.
Venables is a smart guy. He’ll change something up, right? Or maybe they’ll just assume that we can out-talent them (how’d that work out last week?). Guess we’ll see.
#23 Florida (7-2) at #16 LSU (6-3)
Vegas says: -13.5 LSU
Revan says: 31-21 LSU
Yeah uh, I’m just going to say it’s ridiculous that Florida has to play at LSU. It’s ridiculous that they canceled the game to begin with. I guess both sides have been accused of shenanigans here but whatever. I think we root for LSU to win because it betters serves the whims of #teamchaos. Florida is probably the only team in the East with a shot at beating Alabama, which means they’d probably only get curb stomped by 20 or 30 points.
#22 Washington State (8-2) at #10 Colorado (8-2)
Vegas says: -4.5 Colorado
Revan says: 45-40 Washington State
So here we have... wait, what the hell? Colorado is in the top 10? Checking schedule...
Shit I live on the West Coast and I still don’t watch Pac-12 games. What do you make of this Washington State team? They start the season losing to EWU. I don’t know who that is either. Then they lose to Boise State to start 0-2. Since then they’ve beaten every Pac-12 team they’ve faced (including a beatdown of Stanford, who is ranked again).
They get a chance to prove they’re legit by playing #10 Colorado and their rival #6 Washington to end the season. They’re in the driver’s seat for the Pac-12 North. If they win out, they go to the championship game to play either, er, Colorado again or USC or Utah. I see they’re all bunched up there near the top and I’m definitely not going to waste my time looking at tie-breaker scenarios.
I think the interesting thing is, if they win out and win the Pac-12, could they actually sneak into the playoffs on the strength of 4 “quality” wins against Stanford, Colorado, Washington, and whoever they play in the championship?
Same thing for Colorado, if they win out, could they make it? If they win out they’ll probably face Washington in the Pac-12 Championship and have had 2 “quality losses” to Michigan and USC. They have to beat WSU and #12 Utah to end the season. Then they’d presumably play Washington in the Pac-12 Championship.
They’d probably need some help at the top, but if there’s not much movement, I think that’s a more impressive resume from either team than Louisville.
I think this game is a shootout, but the upset special looks to bounce back by picking WSU.
#9 Oklahoma (8-2) at #14 West Virginia (8-1)
Vegas says: -3 Oklahoma
Revan says: 35-24 Oklahoma
Oh hey, Oklahoma is back in the top 10. Based on our track record against them I think we root for them to make the playoffs right? They end the season at #14 WVU and #11 Oklahoma State. In the championship game they... oh wait.
Without a championship game, the Sooners will need help to make the playoffs. It’s coming back in 2017! Feel the excitement of a rematch in the Big 12 Championship game each year! What is this, basketball?
Marshall (3-7) at Florida International (3-7)
Vegas says: -3 Marshall
Revan says: 31-21 Marshall
It’s time we showed Conference USA some love! For America!
It was really really hard to find a fifth game. Most options would have resulted in a landslide for one team or another. The second best option I had was Tulsa against UCF, but I think most people would have picked Tulsa.
THEREFORE, feeling the EXCITEMENT of this COMPELLING matchup between two bad teams. WHO WILL BE LESS BAD?
C’mon folks you got 4 good matchups and 1 bad one, but at least the bad one is super unpredictable!
Er, yes, I’m going with Marshall because they were in a movie once.