There might not be those top-10 games on the Week 12 schedule that we saw in Week 11, but there are still plenty of potential roadblocks in Week 12 standing in the way of the teams that are in the thick of the fight in the College Football Playoff.
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The Numbers
1: The number of games Wisconsin has lost in November over the course of the last four seasons. The Badgers are 13-1 in that stretch, losing only to Northwestern at home in 2015. The only team with a perfect record in the nation in November over the course of the last three and a half seasons is Alabama. The Crimson Tide will extend to 15-0 in November since 2014 this week against Mercer.
13: The number of games in a row that South Florida is favored by double-digits. USF is set to be the only team in the nation to say that it has been favored by double-digits in all of its games this season. Wisconsin can currently boast that, but though it opened as a 10-point favorite against Michigan, it quickly descended to a single-digit chalk. The Bulls, of course, are going to see their streak stop at 13 after this week no matter how badly they beat up Tulsa, as they’ll be underdogs at UCF in Orlando on Black Friday in what might be the biggest Group of Five game in the brief history of the College Football Playoff.
16: The number of consecutive regular season games against Group of Five teams in which Florida has been favored by at least 20.5-points. Of course, the Gators haven’t won all those games, and they’ve had plenty of close calls in recent years, but this game against UAB might mark their toughest non-conference test against a team not named Florida State in years. Florida is notorious for weak scheduling outside of the nine mandatory games a year on its schedule, though this year was a bit of an exception with the game against Michigan in Arlington. The Gators could really be up against it here on Saturday against a UAB team that didn’t even have a football program a year ago at this time. The Blazers would love nothing more than to punctuate their bowl-bound season with an upset in the Swamp, and they aren’t tremendous underdogs to do so at +10.5.
35: The number of points Oklahoma is favored by over Kansas. The poor Jayhawks are the only team over the course of the last three seasons to be 30+ point home underdogs, and this is the fourth time it’s happening. Fortunately, this spread is nowhere near the 46-point spread KU faced when Baylor came to town in 2015, but it may as well be. The Sooners are rolling at the moment, and they’re deserving of laying such a ridiculously big number against the worst team in Power Five football.
38.5: The number of points Ohio State is favored by over Illinois, making it the biggest favorite of Week 12. Of course, we’re going to see bigger spreads than this when push comes to shove in some of the FCS vs. FBS games that are slotted onto the schedule as mere de facto bye weeks for rivalry week coming up over Thanksgiving, but for now, this game is as big as it gets. The Buckeyes are fresh off of a romp of Michigan State, and outside of their two losses, they’ve easily looked like one of the best teams in the nation. Illinois shouldn’t put up much of a fight, especially if freshman Cam Thomas is out of the fold for this one. Jeff George Jr. and Chayce Crouch don’t inspire much confidence at the Horseshoe, even with five and a half touchdowns on the Illini’s side.
Opening Week 12 College Football Odds
Ohio at Akron (OFF)
Central Michigan at Kent State (+17)
Toledo at Bowling Green (+17)
Eastern Michigan at Miami-OH (-2.5)
Western Michigan at Northern Illinois (-10)
Buffalo at Ball State (+17.5)
Tulsa at South Florida (-23)
Middle Tennessee at Western Kentucky (+2)
UNLV at New Mexico (-2)
Rutgers at Indiana (-11)
Kentucky at Georgia (-22)
Cincinnati at East Carolina (+3)
Georgia Tech at Duke (+5.5)
Pittsburgh at Virginia Tech (-17)
UCF at Temple (+14)
N.C. State at Wake Forest (PK)
Syracuse at Louisville (OFF)
Minnesota at Northwestern (-6.5)
Maryland at Michigan State (OFF)
Texas at West Virginia (-3)
Oklahoma at Kansas (+35)
Fresno State at Wyoming (OFF)
Air Force at Boise State (-17.5)
Hawaii at Utah State (-10)
Rice at Old Dominion (-9)
Charlotte at Southern Miss (-17.5)
Massachusetts at BYU (-3.5)
Louisiana Tech at UTEP (+15.5)
South Alabama at Georgia Southern (+6)
TCU at Texas Tech (+6)
Purdue at Iowa (-8.5)
Arizona at Oregon (OFF)
Illinois at Ohio State (-38.5)
UAB at Florida (-10.5)
Arizona State at Oregon State (+6.5)
SMU at Memphis (-11.5)
Virginia at Miami (-17)
Iowa State at Baylor (+10)
Mississippi State at Arkansas (+11.5)
Missouri at Vanderbilt (+7.5)
Utah at Washington (-17.5)
UL Monroe at Auburn (-37)
Kansas State at Oklahoma State (OFF)
San Jose State at Colorado State (-32)
Nebraska at Penn State (-23)
LSU at Tennessee (+14)
Navy at Notre Dame (OFF)
Houston at Tulane (+9)
New Mexico State at UL Lafayette (+4)
Coastal Carolina at Idaho (OFF)
Army at North Texas (-2.5)
Texas State at Arkansas State (-24.5)
Florida International at Florida Atlantic (-14)
Connecticut at Boston College (OFF)
Marshall at UTSA (+1.5)
Texas A&M at Ole Miss (-2.5)
Michigan at Wisconsin (-10)
UCLA at USC (-15)
California at Stanford (-17.5)
Nevada at San Diego State (-15)
Delaware State at Florida State (OFF)
The Citadel at Clemson (OFF)
Western Carolina at North Carolina (OFF)
Wofford at South Carolina (OFF)
(Odds Courtesy of BookMaker.eu)
