Week 12 Saturday College Football Open Thread & Viewing Guide

It has been a while since we’ve needed to use this space as a rooting guide but there’s still a chance that the Huskies can make the Pac-12 championship game. If that’s the outcome you want then you will be rooting for all of the following outcomes:

Washington over Colorado

Oregon State over Arizona State

USC over UCLA

Oregon over Utah

The good news is that the last game of those 4 is the Oregon/Utah game. If any of those first 3 games don’t go the way that UW needs then you can go ahead and switch to rooting for Utah to win since the Pac-12 championship dreams have eroded.

(Yes, there’s an Oregon symbol on the tweet below but I think this is the cleanest, most accurate summary view I’ve seen. There’s another path if Utah loses to Colorado but agree that’s so unlikely as to not really be worth considering until after it happens.)

SUGGESTED VIEWING GUIDE (all times PT)

9:00 AM: #4 TCU (10-0) at Baylor (6-4), FOX

DraftKings Betting Line: TCU -2.5, O/U 58

Every game is of critical importance for the Horned Frogs as there’s no guarantee they could get into the College Football Playoff with a loss but are secure of a spot if they win out. Considering that Baylor is only 6-4 it’s a bit of a surprise the spread is this close but the Bears were thought as a contender for the Big 12 championship in the preseason.

1:00 PM: Iowa (6-4) at Minnesota (7-3), FOX

DraftKings Betting Line: Minnesota -2.5, O/U 32.5

This is a pretty dreadful 12:30/1p slate and it’s a crime that one of the big Pac-12 games isn’t allowed to be in this time slot. Watching an Iowa game is only for Sickos but this game has a chance to help decide the Big 10 West division title. An over/under of 32 with a high of 16 degrees. Fun.

5:00 PM: #7 USC (9-1) at #16 UCLA (8-2), FOX

DraftKings Betting Line: UCLA -2, O/U 76

If USC wins this game they clinch a spot in the Pac-12 title game. If UCLA wins this game they keep alive their hopes of making it instead. An over/under of 76 means they should put some type of warning for anyone who just finished watching Iowa/Minnesota on the same channel right before this. People might go into seizures from the contrast with two of the most explosive dual threat quarterbacks in the country in DTR vs. Caleb Williams.

6:00 PM: Colorado (1-9) at #17 Washington (8-2), Pac-12 Network

DraftKings Betting Line: Washington -30.5, O/U 64

Duh.

7:30 PM: #10 Utah (8-2) at #12 Oregon (8-2), ESPN

DraftKings Betting Line: Utah -1, O/U 61.5

Once again you get to potentially experience the cognitive dissonance of having to root for Oregon for UW to stay alive in the Pac-12 title hunt. Of course if by the time you flip this game on, UCLA already beat USC then ignore that and let your rivalry vitriol take over. Given that the Husky game is happening at the same time you’re probably not tuning in until at least after halftime anyways. Really the only lose-lose scenario is if both Oregon and UCLA win because then we’re still eliminated from Pac-12 contention and Oregon won. The key here will be if Bo Nix actually plays (and is healthy) which sounds increasingly unlikely.

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If you missed any of our preview coverage this week you can find it all here:

Opponent Offense Preview

Opponent Defense Preview

Prediction

How to Watch

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