Week 12 Viewing Guide: The Battle of Los Angeles, a Mountain West Divisional Decider and Final Scouting Ahead of The Game

Nooners

Illinois vs. No. 3 Michigan, 12 p.m. on ABC

Between yet another weak noon window for college football and with The Game looming only a week away, Ohio State fans would be smart to utilize this time before the Maryland game conducting surveillance on their arch-enemy one last time. At the beginning of the month, Michigan's showdown with Illinois was well within range of serving as a showdown between top-25 teams. However, late stumbles from the Fighting Illini have since evaporated the potential for such a meeting to take place.

Instead, Illinois will head to Ann Arbor harboring a two-game losing streak and crossing fingers that star running back Chase Brown has recovered successfully from a leg injury he suffered in the final minute of the team's 31-24 loss to Purdue last week. The defeat marked Brown's first game this season in which he failed to rush for at least 100 yards, falling short by just two in wake of getting helped back to the bench.

Of course, the Wolverines likely won't feel any intimidation whatsoever regardless of who the Illini find themselves feeding the ball to out of the backfield. For the Buckeye faithful that have successfully abstained from any observance of TTUN activity thus far, Michigan has a solid all-around team but much more noticeably so on defense. The Wolverines have limited opponents to bottom-10 success rates on both rushing and passing plays this season, and Nebraska receiver Alante Brown can confirm they level hits with malicious intent.

RG3 and Mark Jones did well talking about a helmet to the nuts without actually specifying that it was indeed a helmet to the aforementioned nuts pic.twitter.com/IC4NST9yli

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 12, 2022

The Illini have their work cut out for them if they want to pull off the upset and avoid conceding any ground in the race for the Big Ten West. Bret Bielema will need to do so with a heavy heart, as the Illini head coach lost his mother on Thursday. Thoughts and prayers go out to Bielema, regardless of whether or not the enemy of our enemy is our friend.

Afternooners

No. 1 Georgia vs. Kentucky, 3:30 p.m. on CBS

☣ H A Z A R D  ☣  W A R N I N G ☣

The whole Southeastern Conference deserves a hazard warning this week. The noon slate features Alabama against Austin Peay, Mississippi State versus East Tennessee State and Texas A&M facing off with a UMass team that has yet to defeat any FBS schools this season. Tennessee draws a South Carolina team that saw its punter throw more touchdown passes than Spencer Rattler last week. Ole Miss takes on an Arkansas squad that found it necessary to serve coffee, hot chocolate and broth out of Gatorade coolers on its sideline in 53-degree weather only a week ago.

In the best game of a lousy bunch, Georgia gets a Kentucky team that found itself clinging to a top-25 ranking last weekend before dropping a game to 4-6 Vanderbilt at home. The Wildcats do own wins over two previously-ranked opponents this year, and they could do a real solid for Ohio State and Michigan by pulling off an upset that bumps The Game to a No. 1/No. 2 matchup next week. However, it seems hard to imagine a squad that just got pantsed by the Commodores and dog-walked by Tennessee a few weeks earlier securing their best win of the season over a Georgia team scoring 70-yard touchdowns on reverse sweeps to guys with names such as Ladd McConkey.

.@laddmcconkey02 out the gate

: Watch live on ESPN pic.twitter.com/bxo6Vwa8QK

— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) November 13, 2022

The Bulldogs travel to Lexington as more than three-touchdown favorites, and that seems appropriate given the recent trends from both sides. Flip to this game if necessary during the commercials of the Buckeyes/Terrapins broadcast, but otherwise avert gaze entirely from the SEC this week.

Primetime

Boise State vs. Wyoming, 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network

W I L D C A R D of the W E E K

At the beginning of the 2022 campaign, Boise State's streak of 25 years without a losing season appeared to be in serious jeopardy. A disappointing opener that saw the Broncos fall behind 24-0 at the half to Oregon State preceded underwhelming efforts against New Mexico and UT Martin. After falling to 2-2 in the wake of a 17-point loss to UTEP, Boise State found itself in need of a change if the team wanted to maintain its standard of consistent success it established over the previous quarter-century.

The Broncos committed to freshman quarterback Taylen Green over longtime starter Hank Bachmeier, and the kings of blue turf have not looked back since. The Broncos have since rallied to a 7-3 record with only a loss to BYU since the end of September, and Green has accounted for seven touchdowns against zero turnovers across Boise State's last three games.

QB sneaky @taylengreen17 with the touchdown for @BroncoSportsFB pic.twitter.com/IxAgQXjtLj

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 30, 2022

Wyoming will have the benefit of home-field advantage as they look to wrestle away first place in the division from the Broncos, but could have trouble throwing back into a lead if the team goes down early. The Cowboys have finished only one game with more than 200 passing yards this season, while Boise State's defense allows the second-lowest success rate against opponent passing plays at just under 29% through 10 contests.

However, given the implications this matchup has for placement in the Mountain West Championship, this grueling grinder of a football game makes for an interesting watch prior to the options later on in the evening.

No. 7 USC vs. No. 16 UCLA, 8 p.m. on FOX

Hard as it may be to believe, Chip Kelly will be searching for his third Victory Bell trophy in five years on Saturday night when UCLA and USC meet in Pasadena for their annual rivalry game. The Trojans will be eager for revenge after returning Bruins starter Dorian Thompson-Robinson dominated their meeting a year ago with just under 400 total yards of offense and six touchdowns. The 62-33 win featured easily the most points any UCLA team has ever scored against its crosstown rival.

However, this season's USC squad looks remarkably different both on the field and sideline from the floundering transitional team of a year ago. Lincoln Riley, Caleb Williams and a bevy of other transfer portal additions have turned the Trojans into the Pac-12's team to beat at the moment.

This was too smooth

Caleb Williams flips it to Austin Jones for another @uscfb TD pic.twitter.com/pXzibzHytf

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 12, 2022

Williams could quietly threaten C.J. Stroud's Heisman Trophy campaign down the stretch, given he currently owns more passing yards and touchdowns on the season with only half as many interceptions. What has likely held back Williams from running neck-and-neck has been the lack of competition on USC's schedule to this point, as a win this evening would mark the Trojans' first over an opponent ranked at time of meeting.

Given the lone blemish on USC's schedule remains a one-point loss on the road to a Utah team that has since worked to regain its preseason ranking, the Trojans are still in the hunt for a College Football Playoff spot if they can win out. As Notre Dame looms next weekend along with a potential rematch against the Utes in the Pac-12 Championship, Williams will have every opportunity to put himself and the rest of his team in contention for the sport's top prizes.

Saturday Night Fever

No. 10 Utah vs. No. 12 Oregon, 10:30 p.m. on ESPN

Brew some coffee and make sure to stay awake for what promises to serve as the #Pac12AfterDark game of the year. Oregon had feverishly bounced back from a season-opening domination at the hands of Georgia to put itself back into competition for a CFP bid, but fell short at home last week after allowing Washington to stage a fourth-quarter comeback in a 37-34 defeat. No longer in control of their own destiny on a national scale, the Ducks will need to win today if Dan Lanning wants to secure a trip to the Pac-12 title game likely against one of the Los Angeles schools playing in the primetime window.

But the Utes have plenty of their own dreams they wish to make a reality. Despite losses on the road earlier this season to Florida and UCLA, Utah's signature victory this season over USC sparked new hope for the team on its way to a four-game winning streak. Now, running back Tavion Thomas — a Dayton, Ohio native — heads to Eugene on the heels of a season-best performance against Stanford last week that included 180 rushing yards and two touchdowns for the Utes.

Ute fans giving @Utah_Football another W.

Tavion Thomas 36-YD rush TD is this weeks @76 #FanFueledMoment! pic.twitter.com/EmaujqbLHa

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) November 18, 2022

While Oregon will no doubt need to contain Utah’s ground-focused attack, the key to this game will likely come down to whether or not quarterback Cameron Rising can take advantage of the Ducks’ porous pass defense. Michael Penix Jr. and the Huskies went for over 400 yards through the air last week to pull off the upset. Though Rising has only one game with more than 300 yards passing this season, he has proven he can rise to the occasion given the 465 total yards and five touchdowns he generated against the Trojans back in October.

On the Radar for Next Week

• The Game: #2 Ohio State vs. #3 Michigan, 12 p.m. on FOX
• Civil War: #12 Oregon vs. #23 Oregon State, TBD on TBD
• Jeweled Shillelagh: #18 Notre Dame vs. #7 USC, 7:30 p.m. on ABC