Week 12 Staff Picks and Games to Watch

Just two weeks left in the 2022 College Football regular season. Gamecocks Scoop beat writer Alan Cole still maintains a narrow lead over his co-workers.

This week on the calendar feels like the Power 5 commissioners all had weddings to attend. There just aren't a lot of good games on the TV outside of the Pac-12. Instead of analyzing each game, we thought we'd use our space in this column to discuss each conference's playoff contenders and the Gamecocks' possible bowl scenarios. We will of course still provide our weekly picks below.

There is a reason that college football's most popular and longest-running pregame show is headed to Montana this week, partly due to the Yellowstone premiere, but primarily because there just aren't a lot of great games this weekend prior to rivalry week.

Note: We lock the lines in on Sunday night so they will likely be different on the publishing date.

Illinois had a chance to lock up the Big Ten West with a win over Michigan State or Purdue but managed to drop both games in disappointing fashion. Chase Brown is being mentioned as a possible Heisman candidate, but if he is limited, Illinois will count on talented sophomore Josh McCray to fill in. This game does not look promising for the Illini after the past few weeks, but coach Bielema has been known to scheme up game plans to catch premier opponents off guard. Look no further than the multiple overtime victory at Penn State in 2021 as an example.

Michigan may have its best team in years. They are top 5 in both points scored and points allowed. If Michigan is locked in, this game may be over by halftime. On the other hand, if Michigan is caught looking ahead to Ohio State next week, this could be a trap game and be more competitive than most expect. Both teams’ defenses are excellent so this may turn out to be an old-school Big Ten brawl.

The Big 12's playoff hopes rest solely on the shoulders of Sonny Dykes and TCU. The Big 12 was a strong league this year and teams not named TCU cannibalized themselves. No one in this league has less than three losses other than the Horned Frogs. It's TCU or bust for the Big 12's playoff hopes. Their likely opponent in the Big 12 title game will be Kansas State. TCU beat the Wildcats by 10 in Fort Worth earlier this season.

If TCU wins out, they are in the playoff. If they lose one of their final three games, I don't like their chances up against potential 1-loss Michigan/Ohio St, Southern Cal, or Tennessee.

The SEC still has three schools alive for the playoff. Georgia is in the driver's seat. They just need to beat Kentucky and Georgia Tech and they are in regardless of what happens in the SEC Championship Game with LSU.

If Tennessee beats South Carolina and Vanderbilt they are going to be sitting at 11-1. How much can the committee really hold a loss in Athens against the Vols? Their resume would include a road win over LSU and a home win over Alabama. Michigan, Ohio State, Southern Cal, Clemson, TCU, none of them would have a pair of wins that impactful.

The most chaotic scenario would be if UGA, LSU, and Tennessee all win out and then LSU beat Georgia in the SEC Championship game. Would a 2-loss LSU leapfrog a 1-loss Michigan/Ohio State? Could LSU play for a national title while Tennessee heads to the Sugar Bowl despite the Vols wiping Baton Rouge with the Tigers? Would Georgia get in over LSU despite the hypothetical head-to-head win? C'mon admit it, this is the scenario you want to play out. (Unless South Carolina can pull the big upset this weekend of course).

The Big Ten is going to have at least one representative in the playoff unless Michigan and Ohio State both lose this week. Which they shouldn't. The winner of "The Game" is likely going to be a 2+ score favorite over their Big Ten Championship game foe. The most probable scenario is that the winner of OSU/UM wins the Big Ten and goes into the playoff as a top 2 seed. The conundrum will be for the loser. The loser of that game and Tennessee would get nitpicked apart for the fourth and final slot. As stated above, Tennessee would have a better resume, but ESPN would salivate over having both Michigan and Ohio State in the playoff.

The ACC probably has the slimmest window of hope for one of its members reaching the playoff of any of the Power 5 leagues. They are down to two schools with any hope, Clemson and North Carolina. North Carolina would have to win and then hope for chaos in front of them, we're talking 5-6 major upsets. Drake Maye should get an invite to the Heisman ceremony because he is absolutely carrying this team. Maye is going to top a lot of teams' draft boards in 2025.

Clemson also would need to win out to have a shot at making the playoff. We still don't think that would be enough though. Clemson's resume won't stack up well to a 1-loss Tennessee, Ohio State/Michigan, or Southern Cal. Odds are more likely Clemson and Alabama meet in a New Year Six Bowl.

The “Which Way Is Up?” Game of the Week

Louisiana Tech decided to move on from Skip Holtz after he had his first year with a subpar .500 record, discounting 2013 when he initially took over the program. His predecessor Sonny Cumbie has not found the road any easier in 2022. Tech is bottom five in points allowed but has found some success on offense scoring slightly over 30 points per game. Sophomore wide receiver Tre Harris is one to watch as he has 54 catches for 852 yards and 9 touchdowns.

Carolina fans are familiar with Charlotte and the 49ers have similar issues as earlier in the season, minus the same head coach. Charlotte has been one of the worst teams in college football but somehow managed to pull out wins over Georgia State and Rice. Charlotte also has the second-worst defense in the FBS when it comes to points allowed, which probably means this game will turn into a shootout.

We are pretty certain that are no Gamecock Scoop readers that log onto this site to read about Minnesota and Iowa. We are going to use this space to discuss Carolina's potential bowl destinations.

The SEC's bowl selection process is the Citrus Bowl has the first selection of available SEC teams after any conference schools have qualified for the College Football Playoff, the Sugar Bowl, or the Orange Bowl, after which the SEC assigns teams to a Pool of Six bowls. (South Carolina has no shot at an NY6 Bowl or the Citrus Bowl)

The SEC Pool of Six consists of the ReliaQuest Bowl (formerly the Outback Bowl), Gator Bowl, Music City Bowl, Texas Bowl, and Liberty Bowl, as well as the Las Vegas Bowl in 2022. In consultation with SEC member institutions, as well as these six bowls, the conference will make assignments for the bowl games in the pool system. ESPN Events selects teams to participate in the Birmingham Bowl and Gasparilla Bowls after the Pool of Six has been assigned.

Between Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, and Alabama, the playoff/NY6 Bowls/Citrus Bowls will get filled. If South Carolina finishes 8-4, (this would mean back-to-back wins over the top 10 teams), the Gamecocks are headed to the ReliaQuest Bowl or Music City. At 7-5, Carolina could fall anywhere from the Gator Bowl, Music City Bowl, or Las Vegas Bowl. I wouldn't see Carolina getting past Vegas (as the entire fan base crosses their fingers). At 6-6, we would project the Cocks' most likely destinations as Memphis for the Liberty Bowl with Vegas also being a possibility against the Pac 12. The Liberty Bowl pairs the SEC with the Big 12. We currently project 10 SEC teams to be bowl eligible. A&M, (this feels so good to write), is already eliminated, and so is Vanderbilt. Auburn and Missouri would need to win out and Arkansas would need to beat either Missouri or Ole Miss to qualify for the postseason. There is a good shot that Arkansas and Missouri will play for bowl eligibility.

The Group of 5 schools are down to three members of the American Conference for their spot in an NY6 game. They each control their own destiny. UCF has already beaten Cincinnati and Tulane. Assuming they beat Navy and USF, they are in the American title game against either Tulane or Cincinnati. Tulane has the most difficult road. They would need to beat SMU this week, win at Cincinnati next week, and then beat UCF in a rematch in the American Conference title game. Cincinnati needs to beat Temple this week, (they will), and Tulane next week. That would set them up with UCF in the American title game with a New Year's Bowl at stake. The Sugar Bowl against an SEC team or Orange Bowl against UNC/Clemson is most likely.

Stay with us at Gamecock Scoop for all the Carolina vs Tennessee coverage you will care to read. Also, we encourage all readers to pop over to the Insiders Forum to discuss all things related to this game and South Carolina Athletics.

The Battle for the Victory Bell. Chip Kelly is 2-2 in this game after taking over at UCLA prior to the 2018 season. He's 1-1 against the Trojans in the Rose Bowl. So Cal leads the all-time series 49-33-7 but in the last ten meetings, both schools have won five games. This game features the best quarterback matchup of the week. Dorian Thompson-Robinson is 14th nationally in passing efficiency and Caleb Williams is 8th. The pair combined to throw for 51 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions. To raise the stakes even higher, the winner of this case will have an inside shot at the Pac-12 Championship game. The Trojans still have a path to the College Football Playoff, as discussed below.

The Pac-12 is likely joining the ACC in playoff hopes. There is zero percent chance of a 2-loss Pac-12 school getting into the playoff. Despite the fact they aren't like one of the four best teams in the country, ESPN would love to have the Trojans in the playoff if possible. The Trojans have some great opportunities to bolster their resumé over the next three weeks. They play at UCLA, host Notre Dame, and are likely the winner of Utah/Oregon in the Pac-12 title game. If Southern Cal wins out and TCU loses somewhere along the way, the Trojans are headed to the playoff. They possibly get in over Michigan as well if the Wolverines lose decisively in Columbus.