Week 12 of the 2024 College Football season is here and we are quickly running out of regular season EWP contests. Looking at this week’s schedule, we have only 2 ranked vs ranked games, #23 Missouri vs #21 South Carolina and #7 Tennessee vs #12 Georgia.
We will look at both of those games and a pair of key week 12 matchups in this article. We nailed the Ole Miss upset last week but narrowly missed in the Michigan vs Indiana game. Here are our week 12 insights.
#7 Tennessee vs #12 Georgia
The Georgia Bulldogs find themselves in our game of the week for the second straight week. While Georgia is the lower-ranked of these two teams, it would be an absolute shocker to see them drop this game at home. The Bulldogs have won 20 straight games at home and have won 7 of their last 8 at home against Tennessee.
The Volunteers have won 8-of-9 games this season, but it has been anything but smooth sailing. They have a loss and 4 wins of 10 points or less in their last 6 games. That stretch includes a 7-point win at home against Alabama.
The biggest question heading into Saturday’s matchup is Nico Iamaleava’s injury status. The freshman QB is currently in concussion protocol and we don’t expect Tennessee to give us an update prior to game day. This matchup will come down to Carson Beck’s ability to limit turnovers. He has 14 turnovers this season, including 6 turnovers in Georgia’s 2 losses. We think he protects the ball this week, the Georgia defense plays better at home, and the Bulldogs get back on track.
Our pick: Georgia (+3 Points)
#24 Missouri vs #23 South Carolina
These are two programs heading in completely different directions at this point in the season. After getting blown out by Alabama, Missouri stole a win over Oklahoma last week to avoid dropping 3 games in 5 weeks. South Carolina currently sits at 6-3 overall but has won 3 straight SEC games by a combined score of 107-36.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, they will likely be without QB Brady Cook again this week. This will make things extremely difficult for the Tigers, who will have their hands full with a SC defense that may have the best defensive line in the country.
I’d love to take the upset in this one, but don’t see a path for Mizzou to score enough points to win in Columbia.
Our pick: South Carolina (+1 Points)
Boston College vs #14 SMU
This looks like a matchup that many will circle as a potential upset this week. Boston College started the season hot, winning games against Florida State and Michigan State while going to Missouri and giving them all they could handle. Since, the Eagles have taken a massive step backward, dropping 3 of their last 4 games.
BC poses a unique challenge to opponents as Bill O’Brien’s team has one of the best rushing attacks in the country, but is limited in the passing game. Unfortunately for the Eagles, they’ll face an SMU rush defense that ranks #6 in the country.
To make matters worse, SMU has been great at home while BC is just 1-3 on the road this season. Boston College has won just 2 of their last 8 ACC games, while SMU has won 5-straight games against ACC opponents. All signs point to a massive SMU win here.
Our pick: SMU (+2 Points)
Will Oregon Beat Wisconsin by 21+ Points?
The undefeated Oregon Ducks head to Madison to take on the (5-4) Wisconsin Badgers at 7:30 PM on Saturday. While we expect Oregon to win easily in this matchup, a 21+ point win may be asking too much.
Looking at the Big 10 games for the Ducks, they have won by more than 21 points in just 2 of 7 games (Purdue and Illinois). They have won 3 of their last 4 against Wisconsin but by an average winning margin of just 1.75 points.
Wisconsin is coming off an embarrassing 32-point road loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes, which leads us to believe that the Ducks will get a locked-in Wisconsin team. We think Oregon wins but the Badgers keep it close and avoid a home blowout.
Our pick: Oregon wins by less than 21 (+2 Points)
