Week 12 is upon us and probably won’t be a memorable one as several boring conference matchups await and a handful of teams gear down with creampuffs before readying for the end of the regular season. Maybe a big upset out of nowhere is lurking, though? I wouldn’t bet against it!

2024 Betting Record

ATS: 41-47-1
SU: 58-31-0

A positive week for the picks. Only the controversial ending in the Holy War prevented a clean 5-0 week in straight up picks. Against the spread, I got the Ole Miss upset outright, Alabama’s win in Death Valley, and Utah not covering as favorites.

Week 12 Games to Watch

All times are Eastern. Rankings are from the CFP Committee.

Saturday Games

#20 Clemson [+10] at Pittsburgh
12:00 PM, ESPN

I’m not going over the ACC tie-breakers for each team but I *think* Clemson has pretty good odds of making it to the league title game with a win here at Pittsburgh this weekend. They’d finish at 7-1 in the ACC with Citadel and South Carolina still on tap. The Panthers should get quarterback Eli Holstein back after a concussion suffered last weekend. I am certain we’ll look back on this season when Pitt finishes 9-4 and unranked remembering when they were once 7-0. Good times.

Clemson 37
Pittsburgh 23

Tulane [-6.5] at Navy
12:00 PM, ESPN2

A nice little American Noon action to pay attention to for those so inclined. Tulane remains unbeaten in the AAC along with Army and would clinch a league championship game appearance with a win on Saturday. Conversely, a win for Navy and we are back on schedule for the Army-Navy AAC championship game coming the week prior to their regular season finale against each other. I don’t believe Navy is very good though, and their early season success was largely a mirage.

Everyone loves these uniforms. 

Tulane 48
Navy 31

Boston College [+17] at #14 SMU
3:30 PM, ESPN

According to FEI, the most challenging remaining game for SMU is their home finale against California (43rd ranked* despite a loss to this Florida State team). I added this game for the picks this weekend because Boston College has been quite feisty at times this year and I really think there is trip-up potential for the undefeated Ponies. Best be careful!

*Cal does have 4 losses by a combined 9 points, to be fair.

SMU 41
Boston College 38

Arizona State [+9] at #16 Kansas State
7:00 PM, ESPN

Whoa, sneaky good Arizona State at 7-2 is a major 2024 surprise. We have 34-year old head coach Kenny Dillingham on the Doing Good Things™ list. Right now, the Sun Devils are 49 spots higher than rivals Arizona in the FEI rankings. Arizona State is higher than Wisconsin, Nebraska, Missouri, and Michigan. I don’t think they are quite there yet but a win in Little Manhattan would put the country on notice.

ASU has escaped the Drew Pyne era. 

Kansas State 44
Arizona State 30

#7 Tennessee [+10] at #12 Georgia
7:30 PM, ABC

This isn’t a protected rivalry in the SEC but the teams are scheduled to play through 2025 which would make it a meeting every season since 1992 for the old SEC East rivals. For all of the talk about Georgia’s offense slowing down, that’s really happening for Tennessee (24.5 points per game in SEC play) and quarterback Nico Iamaleava is also coming out of concussion protocol. What’s more, Kirby Smart hasn’t lost back-to-back regular season games since his debut 2016 campaign in Athens. I can’t see the Dawgs dropping this one.

Georgia 24
Tennessee 17

Kansas [+3] at #6 BYU
10:15 PM, ESPN

Kansas has to be among the top 3 most disappointing teams (3-6 my goodness!) this season but finally looked like their pre-season hype last week in a solid win over Iowa State. That first loss was damn close for BYU last week. I think the Jayhawks continue their course correction and get this victory.

Kansas 32
BYU 27