2023 College Football Watch Guide - Week 12

I don’t know what it is but lately I cannot stop listening to The Planets by Gustav Holst.

Each of the suite’s seven movements are all so different and yet they all capture me in so many different ways. I get swept away by the majesty of Jupiter and lulled into serenity with Venus. I love the famous martial anger of Mars whose ending I swear John Williams took inspiration from when he scored the famous Star Destroyer flyover in A New Hope and Saturn’s opening with its repeating flute always puts me in mind of the vast eerie emptiness of the Nostromo’s hallways at the beginning of Alien. Even the mysterious Neptune and energetic Mercury movements keep me coming back.

I say all this because I listened to the suite in its entirety while writing this column and I needed something to open with. Listen to more classical music, y’all.

Thursday and Friday have some intriguing games, which is not often the case. Boston College @ Pittsburgh doesn’t exactly pit (no pun intended) two of the ACC’s best against each other, but it should at least be a somewhat even match. Colorado @ Washington State might be be even more interesting. Both the Buffaloes and Cougars have fallen awfully far from where they started the season, and it’ll also be Wazzou’s opportunity to stick it to the team who started the Pac-12’s downfall earlier this year.

SMU @ Memphis - 11:00 AM - ESPN 2

I’ll be honest, this slate of morning games is awfully “Meh”. This is the SEC’s annual cupcake week and elsewhere there just is not a whole lot that moves the needle. SMU and Memphis are both 8-2 and only one loss apart in the American. The quarterbacks in this game have thrown for a combined 5,453 yards and 55 touchdowns against 14 interceptions.

Rutgers @ #12 Penn State - 11:00 AM - FS1

Oh, Penn State, you really thought you’d put it together this year didn’t you. For the umpteenth time we hard all about how this was finally the team James Franklin needed to break into the playoff, only for them to go 0-2 against Ohio State and Michigan. I don’t harbor any illusions of a Scarlet Knights upset, but will the Nittany Lions’ balloon be deflated enough for it to be a possibility?

#22 Utah @ #17 Arizona - 1:30 PM - Pac-12 Network

I don’t get the Pac-12 Network and I’m guessing neither do you, but I kinda wish I did for this game. Arizona is in the running for surprise team of the season, while Utah has been solid but not of the same caliber we’ve come to expect these last couple of years. Arizona is looking up at Oregon and Oregon State in the conference standings, but those two have yet to play each other, and the Beavers play Washington this weekend. With a little luck Arizona could have a chance at a title game appearance.

#1 Georgia @ #18 Tennessee - 2:30 PM - CBS

The CFP committee finally came to their senses and put Georgia atop the playoff rankings. I get their reasoning that at the time of the earliest rankings Ohio State just had more quality wins. But Georgia has been playing like a team possessed lately and it was only a matter of time before they hit #1. Now they have to defend it.

Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Illinois @ #16 Iowa - 2:30 PM - FS1

This game got a whole lot more interesting as of yesterday afternoon when word came of Cooper DeJean’s injury that will sideline him for the remainder of the season. Coop is one of the best defenders and most electrifying players to play on Duke Slater Field and it is awful to think that we probably will not see him take another snap at Iowa. Deshaun Lee will now be pressed into action against one of the Big Ten’s top receivers in Isaiah Williams, though thankfully he has some game experience under his belt.

UCLA @ USC - 2:30 PM - ABC

One of the best “uniform games” in the sport. That’s pretty much my only reason for listing it here.

#20 North Carolina @ Clemson - 2:30 PM - ESPN

North Carolina sits at third in the ACC but is only a game behind Louisville. They need the Cardinal to lose this weekend to Miami to give them an opening for second place, but they’ll also need to win out. That starts against a Clemson team that has come back from the dead and is still a threat.

#21 Kansas State @ #25 Kansas - 6:00 PM - FS1

After stumbling earlier in the year, Kansas State has clawed its way back into the top 25 and now has an outside shot of making it to the Big 12 championship game. This is a game Kansas has not won since 2008, but this is one of their best chances in recent memory.

#5 Washington @ #11 Oregon State - 6:30 PM - ABC

If the Huskies can make it past the Beavers they close with Washington State which should feel like a vacation. But Oregon State will be the Huskies’ toughest test since Oregon in week six, and if Washington wants any shot at the playoff they’ll need to stay focused.