College Football 2016 Week 12 running thread

[Steak Snabler]

It’s that week again.

It’s glorified scrimmage week in the SEC, and there aren’t many potentially close games in the Big Ten or ACC. There one huge game in the Pac-12 and another in the Big 12, and one Thursday night game that looked gigantic at one time, but might not be (the Thursday night Sun Belt game actually is pretty big).

As always, all point spreads from Vegas Insider and all times Eastern.

Tuesday

Kent State (-2.5) at Bowling Green, 7 p.m., ESPNU

Ohio (-1) at Central Michigan, 7 p.m., ESPN2

Wednesday

Ball State (+20.5) at Toledo, 7 p.m., ESPN2

Northern Illinois (-3) at Eastern Michigan, 8 p.m., ESPNU

Thursday

Louisville at Houston, 8 p.m., ESPN — no line yet due to Greg Ward injury

Arkansas State (+9) at Troy, 9:30 p.m., ESPNU

Friday

Memphis (-7) at Cincinnati, 8 p.m., CBS Sports Network

UNLV (+27) at Boise State, 9 p.m., ESPN2

Saturday

Ohio State (-21.5) at Michigan State, noon, ESPN

Oklahoma State (+4.5) at TCU, noon, Fox Sports 1

Florida (+14) at LSU, 1 p.m., SEC Network

Oregon (+12) at Utah, 2 p.m., Pac-12 Network

Texas (-22.5) at Kansas, 3:30 p.m., ABC

Missouri (+14.5) at Tennessee, 3:30 p.m., CBS

Washington State (+3.5) at Colorado, 3:30 p.m., Fox

Virginia Tech (+1) at Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m., NBC

Indiana (+26) at Michigan, 3:30 p.m., ESPN

San Diego State (-7.5) at Wyoming, 3:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network

Stanford (-10.5) at California, 5:30 p.m., Pac-12 Network

Clemson (-12.5) at Wake Forest, 7 p.m., ESPN

Arkansas (-1) at Mississippi State, 7 p.m., ESPNU

Arizona State (+26) at Washington, 7:30 p.m., Fox

Oklahoma (-3) at West Virginia, 8 p.m., ABC

USC (-10.5) at UCLA, 10:30 p.m., ESPN

 

[TigerVols]

Florida (+14) at LSU, 1 p.m., SEC Network

The only game that matters; Ogre finds a way to win, and the Vols can claim the East.

 

[Chef2]

Wazzu @ Ralphie will be fun. Take the Cougs and 3.5
Texas @ Kansas is the best the WWL could do for 2:30?......ye Gods.
Oklahoma @ West By God should be good.

 

[Batman]

If LSU wins out and finishes 9-3, does it get into a New Year's Six bowl?
Two of the three losses would have been to potential playoff teams, and the other to what's become a good Auburn team. All three were close games, and they've obviously played as well as anyone in the country since Coach Caveman took over.

 

[dixiehack]

Texas @ Kansas is the best the WWL could do for 2:30?......ye Gods.

Alabama-Chattanooga is a prime-time game on ESPN2. The SEC-SoCon Challenge mentality has ruined the Saturday before Thanksgiving nationwide.

 

[Cosmo]

Troy is in the AP Top 25.

 

[Steak Snabler]

If LSU wins out and finishes 9-3, does it get into a New Year's Six bowl?
Two of the three losses would have been to potential playoff teams, and the other to what's become a good Auburn team. All three were close games, and they've obviously played as well as anyone in the country since Coach Caveman took over.

Yes, the Sugar Bowl (which gets first choice of the SEC remainders after Alabama) would fall all over itself to pick 8-3 LSU over 8-4 Auburn or Texas A&M (or Florida or Tennessee).

 

[BTExpress]

Yes, the Sugar Bowl (which gets first choice of the SEC remainders after Alabama) would fall all over itself to pick LSU.

In theory, SEC title game loser should get the Sugar. But they always come out of that game looking like damaged goods (and recently can't even begin to make a case that they are the second-best team in the conference).

 

[Steak Snabler]

In theory, SEC title game loser should get the Sugar. But they always come out of that game looking like damaged goods (and recently can't even begin to make a case that they are the second-best team in the conference).

LSU and Tennessee didn't play this year, so the only thing that would leave people to believe Tennessee is a better choice than LSU is the accident that it is farther east.

 

[dixiehack]

The SEC East has turned into the dented can store. If somebody else wants to open one up and see if those prunes are still good eating, that's their choice, but leave me out.

 

[dixiehack]

 

[I Should Coco]

Too lazy to look it up: Did both Florida and LSU give up a patsy to squeeze in their makeup game?

Also, agree with Chef2: Texas at Kansas as the national 12:30 game??? Must be really slim pickins

 

[dixiehack]

Yes. Said patsies (South Alabama and Presbyterian) are now playing each other Saturday in Mobile.

 

[swingline]

Too lazy to look it up: Did both Florida and LSU give up a patsy to squeeze in their makeup game?

Also, agree with Chef2: Texas at Kansas as the national 12:30 game??? Must be really slim pickins

Hell, Mizzou on CBS must be some kind of contact-mandated thing with the SEC and its TV partners. No way in hell would the Tiggers get a CBS game based on this year and last year.

 

[HanSenSE]

I think I've asked this before, but can't remember the answer: Why all the creampuffs for the SEC this time of year?

 

[dixiehack]

Several teams used to play their big rivals this weekend then take Thanksgiving weekend off before the SEC championship. The conference passed a rule a few years back nixing that, so now most everybody tries to have a glide path into their big game. Where it gets really ridiculous is with teams that play an ACC rival over Thanksgiving and then schedule a cream puff before that because their conference schedule is already over just when the excitement should be building to a peak. I don't think any of the other Power 5 conferences have teams finishing this early, and so they aren't available for games this weekend.

 

[ChrisLong]

A rare correct decision by the TV people. Fox had the first choice for Pac-12 games and took the best game, Wazzu at Colorado. Important game, both leading their divisions, both good stories. But USC at UCLA will draw more viewers because it's USC-UCLA. ESPN had the second choice and took this one, but its broadcast window is 7:30 PST. Late-night in Pasadena. It'll be a good game to watch on TV.

 

[HanSenSE]

Several teams used to play their big rivals this weekend then take Thanksgiving weekend off before the SEC championship. The conference passed a rule a few years back nixing that, so now most everybody tries to have a glide path into their big game. Where it gets really ridiculous is with teams that play an ACC rival over Thanksgiving and then schedule a cream puff before that because their conference schedule is already over just when the excitement should be building to a peak. I don't think any of the other Power 5 conferences have teams finishing this early, and so they aren't available for games this weekend.

Thus, the paydays for the South Alabamas and Presbyterians of the world. I notice the Pac-12 is spreading out its rivalry games (yes, even Utah-Colorado!) over the next two weeks. Stanford and Cal like to play before Thanksgiving because there are so many events for students and alums the week before the game. The league also has to accommodate whoever hosts Notre Dame (Stanford or USC) Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Hell, Mizzou on CBS must be some kind of contact-mandated thing with the SEC and its TV partners. No way in hell would the Tiggers get a CBS game based on this year and last year.

There's really no other choice.

Florida-LSU was an ESPN game originally, so it gets put on the SEC Network this week. The only other SEC vs. SEC games were Arkansas-Mississippi State and Vandy-Ole Miss, so CBS chose Tennessee so they can hype the SEC championship game assuming the Vols win.

 

[dixiehack]

I fully recognize I'm a biased Bama homer, but if J.K. Scott (third in the nation in punting average and has hit one for 60-plus yards for five consecutive games) isn't even a Ray Guy Award semifinalist, they shouldn't bother.

Ray Guy Award