College Football Week 12 Expert Picks + Week 11 NFL Picks

Is it possible to actually feel good about your team’s loss?

OK now wait a second…hear me out!

In a sick way, that’s how I’ve been for the last several days with the 34-30 USC win over my alma mater, Arizona.

Don’t get me wrong, losing with less than 30 seconds left against a ranked team is disgusting and nauseating and sickening and awful.

But it’s 2020. This team hasn’t won a game since October 5th, 2019. Their season was scheduled to start on August 29th, then September 24th, then not at all, and finally on November 7th. And yet it was the 14th of November and the first time I could see my team play since last November.

I hated that this was the first Arizona game in Tucson that I have missed since 2006. But any game is better than no game at all. As evidenced by my pick last week, I expected a blowout…and that couldn’t have been further than the truth.

Arizona displayed heart and toughness despite being outmanned. QB Grant Gunnell has a bright future and for the first time in a while, I’ve seen a level of optimism from the fanbase.

Now they may get their butts kicked in Seattle this weekend and if so, that’ll suck. But in the days of COVID, I’ll take any college football over none at all.

When it comes to my picks, however, in both college and the pros, fading me against the spread seems like the right move. What an embarrassment in the year of COVID!

Week 12 CFB BOLD Predictions:

EC: Separation Saturday in the Big 10 reveals that only two teams matter the rest of the way, Ohio State and Wisconsin. The Buckeyes remain, in my eyes, the best team in America and will score until their heart’s content against Indiana. Wisconsin is a heck of a lot better this year than I expected…or maybe Michigan is just that bad. Either way, they’ll stifle Northwestern in a fairly ugly, yet convincing win.

AL: After a COVID week off, OSU takes the field in a battle with a top-10 Indiana team (yes, I said a top-10 Indiana team). Justin Fields picks back up where he left off, accounting for 6 total TDs and putting his name back on top of the Heisman race (Kyle Trask took it over for one week). Indiana stays close to Ohio State in the first quarter, but OSU’s kill shot 2nd quarter happens and OSU wins going away.

JB: The Badgers have been on the wrong side of enough nightmares at Ryan Field that I would generally pick the Wildcats here, but I’ll take the Badgers D eek-ing out their second win over the ‘Cats in Evanston since 1999. The lack of a strong run game nearly dooms Wisconsin, who barely hold on thanks to two field goals after Northwestern’s stingy defense keeps them out of the end zone twice on first and goal inside the 5.

SM: After a humiliating loss to Rutgers, the pressure is just too high in Ann Arbor and Jim Harbaugh is relieved of his duties. The plan was always for Michigan to help Harbaugh go back to the NFL next year but after all these poor performances and Harbaugh embarrassing leadership at Michigan it just became too much. Jim Harbaugh lands on his feet though and becomes head coach of the Chicago Bears in the offseason.

(NFL picks, Best Bets, & my Pick 5 selections on the next page)