College Football Predictions Results - Week 12

A .500 record for last week is good seeing that I was counting on Oregon and Oklahoma to have big victories.  Even though I am going to finish the year over .500, I am disappointed over the past month in my picking games.

LOSS  1) No. 18 USC at No. 4 Oregon (-14.5) - USC 38, Oregon 35.  The Trojans showed up and physically beat the Ducks.  The Trojans aren't going to the PAC-12 Title game due to NCAA sanctions, but they are the best team in the PAC-12 South.  The Ducks will still play in the title game if they can continue to own Oregon State.  However, there place in the BCS Championship game went out the window.

LOSS   2) No. 5 Oklahoma (-13.5) at No. 25 Baylor - Oklahoma 38, Baylor 45.  Ugh.  Oklahoma based on their results this year, was overrated throughout this year.  Baylor is good, but not Top 25 good.  Especially beating Top 10 teams good.  The Sooners let their possibility at the BCS Title game slip through their fingers again.  A possible BCS birth for Oklahoma or a date in the Cotton Bowl.

WIN  3) No. 17 Nebraska at No. 20 Michigan (-2.5) - Nebraska 17, Michigan 45.  Michigan came out and got that ground game rolling.  Nebraska completed 9 passes the entire game.  That is not the recipe to win in the Big House.  Ever think that possibly the SEC and Big 12 are a little overrated?  Because there was talk that Nebraska could roll to an undefeated Big 10 title at the beginning of the season.  Well, where has that gotten them?  Multiple losses in the Big 10 and a couple of them not even close.  They might be second in their division, based upon the game vs. Iowa. 

WIN  4) No. 1 LSU (-28.5) at Mississippi - LSU 52, Mississippi 3.  Les miles is cruising towards an undefeated season.  Ole Miss is cruising towards a new start for the program.  And the new start isn't going to help them much unless they get somebody that relishes the thought of a 5 to 10 year rebuilding process.

LOSS  5) No. 21 Penn State at Ohio State (-7) - Penn State 20, Ohio State 14.  The Nittany Lions learn their fate in regards to the Big 10 title game next week when they play Wisconsin.  Ohio State, while they will be playing in a bowl game, will be under new management next year.  There are way too many reports of Urban Meyer coming to Columbus to discount it.  It will be interesting to see what he does there.

WIN  6) SMU at No. 11 Houston (-20) - SMU 7, Houston 37.  Houston is the team this year that gets the raw deal because of the polls early in the season.  If the polls started in Week 3 or 4, they might have more love.  They weren't taken seriously in the beginning, not being put in the Top 25.  And so while they have went undefeated, they might not be able to bust the BCS formula this year.  And if that is the case, then there are further tweaks to the BCS formula that need to happen.

LOSS  7) Kentucky at No. 13 Georgia (-27.5) - Kentucky 10, Georgia 19.  Mark Richt might have saved his job after an 0-2 start by getting to the SEC Title game, but the SEC East is by far the weaker division of the conference.  They do have the chance of upsetting the BCS by winning the SEC.  That would cause one of the SEC West teams of Arkansas, Alabama, or LSU to be ineligible for the BCS.  And I can hear the screaming all the way up here in North Dakota.

LOSS  8) Vanderbilt (-1.5) at Tennessee - Vanderbilt 21, Tennessee 27 (OT).  In the SEC, 2 wrongs make a right allowing the Vols to win without getting the ball in OT.  An official blew the Vol DB down by contact.  And then in an violation of replay protocol, the replay booth said that the runner wasn't down and the score is allowed to stand.  Both of these teams aren't good, but allowing the rules to be broken to decide the fates of these two teams in regard to post-season possibilities is wrong.

LOSS  9) California at No. 8 Stanford (-20) - California 28, Stanford 31.  Stanford is griping about the BCS standings that Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State are ranked above them.  Well, they had the chance to be #2 in the poll, but got destroyed by Oregon.  This game didn't convince anybody that they are one of the two best teams in the country. 

WIN  10) Harvard (-8) at Yale - Harvard 45, Yale 7.  Neither of these two teams matter in major college football.  While they have a storied rivalry, they perform way better in the classroom.

Additional Two

WIN  11) Mississippi State at No. 6 Arkansas (-12) - Mississippi State 17, Arkansas 44.  Arkansas has the chance to take LSU out this coming week.  Both teams have a shot at the BCS title game, and both teams have the possibility of not making it to the SEC title game.  Crazy, isn't it.  A season of expectations fell flat for the Bulldogs.  Time to regroup and try to close the gap between themselves and the cream of the SEC West.

WIN  12) No. 10 Boise State (-16) at San Diego State - Boise State 52, San Diego State 35.  Boise is relegated to a lower tier bowl due to a 1-point loss to TCU earlier this year.  And they are one of the top 10 teams in the country.  Another flaw in the BCS system.  However, the Broncos should be proud of the way they played this year and the amount of games that they called off the dogs against teams that weren't as good as they were.

Week 12 Results:  6-6 Record.  0-0 Picking Underdogs.  6-6 Picking Favorites.  0-0 Road Underdog.  0-0 Home Underdog.  3-3 Road Favorites.  3-3 Home Favorites.

Season Results:  88-54-3 Record.  61.7 Win Percentage.  21-19 Picking Underdogs. 67-35-3 Picking Favorites. 16-10 Road Underdog.  5-9 Home Underdog.  27-16-1 Road Favorites.  40-19-2 Home Favorites.