College football Week 12 preview: Five best games to watch this weekend
Just like that, we’ve reached Week 12 of the college football season, and there are several matchups that have both conference championship and College Football Playoff implications that we need to keep a close eye on Saturday.
The most anticipated showdown is No. 7 Tennessee’s visit to No. 12 Georgia on Saturday night. Will the Volunteers have their starting quarterback? Can the Bulldogs' offense find a rhythm and avoid a third SEC loss?
Elsewhere, the Big 12 has six teams that are still somehow in the running to make the title game. This week, No. 17 Colorado hopes to knock off a Utah team that might still be reeling from last week’s emotional loss. Later, No. 6 BYU will try to stay undefeated when it hosts a Kansas team that’s coming off an important win over Iowa State. Currently, Colorado and BYU are on a collision course to meet in Dallas for the Big 12 Championship Game, but both teams need to keep winning — and there’s still time in the season for something wild to happen.
That said, here are the top five games to watch this weekend:
Utah at No. 17 Colorado (noon ET)
Colorado needs to keep winning in order to make it to the Big 12 title game, plain and simple. Standing in the Buffs' way this week is Utah, which has won the past 11 of 12 meetings between these two programs.
However, the Buffaloes may be catching the Utes at the right time. Utah is coming off a rough loss to archrival BYU last week in which a defensive holding penalty extended the Cougars' game-winning drive. To make matters worse, head coach Kyle Whittingham’s quarterback problem has gotten even more challenging. He lost starter Cam Rising for the season a month ago and replaced him with true freshman Isaac Wilson. However, the backup QB’s performance forced Whittingham to make another change. Last week against BYU, third-string Brandon Rose got the start, but then he suffered a season-ending leg injury. Whittingham will likely revert to Wilson, who also happens to be banged up.
Things could get worse for Utah’s offense because Colorado, which is on a three-game winning streak, leads the Big 12 with 29.0 sacks. The Utes will have to keep an eye on defensive lineman Arden Walker, who had two sacks for the Buffs in last week’s 41-27 win over Texas Tech. Not to mention, the defense will need to account for Colorado’s offensive star power in QB Shedeur Sanders and two-way star Travis Hunter — who's in the midst of one of the more unique seasons in recent college football history — as well as an improved running game.
Nebraska at USC (4 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app)
Both teams enter this conference tilt after major offensive changes.
Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule replaced offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield with former West Virginia and Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen. Holgorsen had recently joined the Huskers' staff as an offensive consultant, but Rhule made the decision to promote him to try and inject some energy into the unit. Holgorsen will work with freshman signal-caller Dylan Raiola, who got off to an exciting start in his first season but has had a rough go in Big Ten play (six interceptions in the past four games). He also enters this game not fully healthy after suffering a back injury vs. UCLA two weeks ago.
At USC, head coach Lincoln Riley benched starter Miller Moss in favor of Jayden Maiava, a redshirt sophomore who transferred from UNLV last offseason. Moss has thrown nine interceptions in the past seven games, five of which were in losses by seven points or fewer. Maiava started 14 games last season as a redshirt freshman with the Rebels, passing for 3,085 yards with 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. We’ll see how Riley’s QB experiment plays out, and Trojans fans have to hope it works because after this weekend, USC has two games left against rivals UCLA and Notre Dame to end the season. They'll need to win two out of three to become bowl eligible.
No. 23 Missouri at No. 21 South Carolina (4:15 p.m. ET)
Given what transpired last week, Missouri is coming into this matchup hot. The Tigers stunned Oklahoma, 30-23, after scoring two touchdowns in the final minute of the game. Down 23-16 with two minutes left, backup QB Drew Pyne led a scoring drive to tie the game with about a minute remaining. On the next possession, DE Zion Young returned an OU fumble 17 yards to the house with 22 seconds left to seal the win. It was an emotional moment, and one that sets the Tigers up nicely for this week’s showdown.
Missouri will travel to the other Columbia town in the SEC, where it'll face a South Carolina team that’s riding a three-game winning streak (which included a massive victory over then-No. 10 Texas A&M on Nov. 2). The Gamecocks will lean on RB Raheim "Rocket" Sanders, who has rushed for 270 yards and four scores in the past two games, and DE Kyle Kennard, who has the most tackles for loss (13.5) and second-most sacks (9.5) in the SEC this season, to try and get another win over a top-25 team.
No. 7 Tennessee at No. 12 Georgia (7:30 p.m. ET)
There’s no other way to say this: Georgia’s CFP hopes hinge on the outcome of this game. The Bulldogs are still in the hunt with a win, but a loss makes things very tricky. Would the selection committee include Georgia with three losses? It’s certainly possible, but Georgia would prefer not to leave this kind of thing up to chance and will enter this matchup looking for revenge after being embarrassed by Ole Miss on the road last Saturday. In order to win, though, Georgia will need more from QB Carson Beck, who has thrown 12 interceptions in the past six games and was sacked five times last weekend.
Tennessee, meanwhile, is facing some uncertainty. QB Nico Iamaleava has been listed as questionable after suffering an injury in last week’s win over Mississippi State. He has reportedly been in concussion protocol this week. Iamaleava has been integral to the Vols' success this year, throwing for 1,879 yards with 11 touchdowns and four interceptions. If he can’t play, head coach Josh Heupel will have to rely on backup Gaston Moore, who has seen action in five games this season, passing for 201 yards with two scores and two interceptions.
Kansas at No. 6 BYU (10:15 p.m. ET)
Every week, the college football world holds its breath to see if BYU can remain unbeaten. The Cougars had a close call last week against rival Utah, and then a defensive holding penalty saved the day and helped them come out with a 1-point win in the game's final seconds. Utah’s athletic director Mark Harlan was not pleased about the call and harshly criticized the officials in a post-game press conference, but that’s another story. BYU now has a clear path to the Big 12 title game and the CFP. All it has to do is beat its remaining opponents in Kansas, Arizona State and Houston, and then win the conference championship to clinch a spot in the 12-team field.
Kansas hopes to foil those plans and is capable of doing so. The Jayhawks may be 3-6, but five of those losses were by six points or fewer. They should be coming into this conference matchup feeling confident after a 45-36 win over then-No. 17 Iowa State last weekend. QB Jalon Daniels went 12 of 24 for 295 yards with two touchdowns, and he added 68 rushing yards and another score. RB Devin Neal ran for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Kansas has to win its last three games to become bowl eligible, and anything seems possible in this wacky conference.
Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman.
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