NCAA Viewing Guide: Week 12

saturday

No. 3 Ohio State at Illinois, 12 p.m., ESPN

Let's see if Ohio State can score more points before the Virginia Tech-Maryland game even starts than the Hokies can score all game. I say no, because that would be straight silly to score 150 points in 30 minutes.

North Carolina at Pittsburgh, 12:30 p.m. ESPN3

I mean, you should be watching the Virginia Tech game, but if you decide "hey, I like watching an awful game!" then this is for you.

Washington State at Arizona, 2 p.m., PAC-12 NETWORK

There is a whole state named after George Washington. Then there is a whole state university named after the state of Washington. Arizona? What does that mean? DRY ZONE?!? WELL IT SHOULD. Washington State is playing for their bowl lives.

Syracuse at No. 2 Florida State, 3:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN2

Will this week's off-field drama involving Jameis Winston affect his play on the field? Even if it does, FSU should bowl over the Cuse. I'm guessing FSU's football team might be able to score more against Syracuse than their basketball team could against Jim Boeheimianrhapsody's team.

No. 25 Georgia at No. 7 Auburn, 3:30 p.m., CBS

Finally we get to the ranked teams. Auburn has just one loss on the year (LSU) and a win today could make their final game of the year against Alabama a game of top-5 teams, possibly playing for a spot in the BCS title game. Georgia, however, has lost three games. Wait? Really? They lost to VANDERBILT? Yes, they did. But the fact that Georgia is in a meaningful game this late in the year is pretty crazy considering the injuries they've had.

No. 12 Oklahoma State at No. 24 Texas, 3:30 p.m., FOX

Serious question: has anything else happened with that whole pay-to-play thing at Oklahoma State? It kind of just died down. Texas, despite all the talk of Mack Brown getting the boot, has a perfect 6-0 conference record and puts that on the line this afternoon against the visiting Pokes. OkState has a pretty good offense and defense while Texas is kind of pedestrian in every category, but is able to pick up wins. Will Texas continue to surprise with another win?

No. 16 Michigan State at Nebraska, 3:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN2

Good chance to see the top defense in the nation--outside of Blacksburg AMIRIGHT?--against Nebraxkuh. Is Taylor Martinez still a thing??

No. 23 Miami at Duke, 3:30 p.m., ESPNU

This has huge, huge, huge ACC Coastal implications and should be of interest to Tech fans. A Miami win would pave the way for the Hokies, who would just need to win their final two games to get into the ACC Coastal title game. As for Duke, this is by far their toughest remaining challenge of the season in terms of trying to get into the ACC title game.

Utah at No. 6 Oregon, 4 p.m., FOX Sports 1

How will Oregon respond to their first loss of the season? Probably by scoring a billion points before the first quarter is over. Mark that down, one billion points.

Texas Tech vs. No. 5 Baylor, 7 p.m., FOX

After absolutely rolling over Oklahoma on a big Thursday night game, the Bears play the Red Raiders in Arlington. Texas Tech started out a perfect 7-0, but has dropped three straight games, including a 49-26 loss to a not-very-good Kansas State team. On paper, Baylor's offense and defense are both way too good to let this one slip, but that's why they play the games right?

Florida at No. 10 South Carolina, 7 p.m., ESPN2

Ol' Ball Coach going against his former team, who is now awful. I have a dilemma in this one: 1.) I like Florida losing, 2.) I like Steve Spurrier losing, 3.) I really don't give a crap. On the reals, this is South Carolina's last SEC game of the year and needs a win to keep its SEC Title game hopes alive (they would need Missouri to lose to TAMU, which is entirely possible).

No. 4 Stanford at USC, 8 p.m., ABC

Somehow, I originally left this one out. You know, the game that College Gameday is at today. Yeah, my bad. Stanford is coming off that enormous win over Oregon on Nov. 7 and travels to Los Angeles and can basically lock up the PAC-12 North with hapless California as their final PAC-12 game after tonight. I think those giant trees have the advantage in this one.

Oregon State at No. 19 Arizona State, 9:30 p.m., PAC-12

I think this one actually might shape up to be a pretty good game. What do I base that on? My horoscope says this for today:

Your amazing personal energy is better used for fun stuff than for anything practical -- but that might not stop you! Given your nature, you may clear off your to-do list before running off to play.

Clearly, that's the universe telling me that "hey, you do you. Or whatever, I don't care. I've existed for billions of years without you."

Wyoming at Boise State, 10:15 p.m., ESPN2

Your late game actually has some Mountain West title implications! WOWZERS. Boise controls its own destiny from here out in terms of being able to play in the Mountain West title game so they get to face the pee-poo colors of Wyoming tonight.