Coming off of a season-changing 27-14 loss to Baylor on Saturday, Oklahoma returns to Norman in hopes of a bounce-back performance. After the loss, Oklahoma dropped to 12th in the AP poll, while Baylor moved ahead of them and into the 11th spot. Meanwhile, Iowa State (6-4) is currently unranked in college football. Despite having an advantage in skill-position talent, the Baylor/Oklahoma game was decided by a smothering effort from the Baylor defense. Baylor outgained Oklahoma by a margin of 413 total yards to 260.
Freshman quarterback Caleb Williams looked like a Freshman for the first time in Week 11. He completed 10 of 18 passes for 146 yards and zero touchdowns (with two interceptions). The running game fared little better, rushing for 78 yards on 28 attempts (2.8 yards per carry). RB Kennedy Brooks provided a small spark, rushing 13 times for 51 yards and a touchdown.
collAs disappointing as Saturday’s game was for Oklahoma, Iowa State has underperformed all season. They were 7th ranked team by the AP this preseason. They’ve now fallen completely out of the polls. Their four losses include:
QB Brock Purdy has completed 218 of 297 pass attempts for 2441 yards and 15 TDs (with six interceptions) this college football season. Meanwhile, RB Breece Hall has amassed 1172 yards and 16 touchdowns on 216 carries. Hall has also added 31 catches for 246 yards and two touchdowns. In addition to Hall’s work in the passing game, WR Xavier Hutchinson (68 catches for 798 yards and six touchdowns) and TE Charlie Kolar (41 catches for 506 yards and four touchdowns) lead the way.
Oklahoma -7.5
This is a strange thing to see; in this matchup Clemson is the favorite to win, but is not the top-10 team in college football. Wake Forest only has one loss to North Carolina. With the way scheduling is, that did not count as a conference loss. Clemson has slim chances to still win the Atlantic and that starts with a must-win against the Demon Deacons on Saturday.
Wake Forest is a heavy passing team. They are 18th in college football with over 36 pass attempts per game. Quarterback Sam Hartman leads the offense. They run a unique scheme where there is a lot of RPO, and Hartman plays out the run fake until the very end, only to pull and throw downfield.
The offense has to carry the team as their defense is very poor. Their defense is giving up over 40 points in three of the last four and over 30 points per game for the season. The last couple games, the Wake Forest offense has had some costly turnovers. They will need to avoid that against a very good Clemson Defense.
Clemson on the other hand is the opposite. Their defense is top-8 in college football, only giving up 17 points per game. Clemon’s offense is 104th, only scoring 21 points per game. This is a different Clemson team we are seeing from the past few years with Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. DJ Uiagalelei has been playing better the past few games, but the passing offense is still underwhelming.
This game will be a true test of how broken the Clemson offense is, because Wake Forest has given up points to everyone. The key to this game will be how the Clemson defense slows down Wake Forest’s offense, as I do not think Clemson can win in a track meet.
Clemson -3
9-1 Michigan State travels to 9-1 Ohio State this week with the upper hand of the Big Ten East on the line. A win for either team gets them closer to the Big 10 Championship game as well as staying in the hunt for a Collge Football Playoff birth.
The Spartans are led on offense by quarterback Payton Thorne. Thorne has been solid for Mel Tucker’s unit this year, totaling 24 touchdowns to 8 interceptions while completing 63 percent of his passes. Jayden Reed is Thorne’s top target on the season. The exciting speedster has hauled in 45 receptions for 829 yards and seven touchdowns. The Spartans offense runs through running back Kenneth Walker, pacing as a Heisman Trophy frontrunner. Walker leads the nation in rushing yards (1483), accounting for 18 total touchdowns.
Everything is clicking for Ohio State on offense, and at the right time. CJ Stroud is making his own Heisman Trophy push. Stroud has thrown for over 3,000 yards in ten games for 30 touchdowns. He has a trio of fantastic receivers to lean on in Garrett Wilson (53/813/9), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (59/1027/5), and Chris Olave (51/708/11).
The Buckeyes boast one of the best young running backs in college football with TreyVeon Henderson. Henderson has rushed for over 1,000 yards on the season, averaging 7.3 yards per carry. Michigan State strolls into the “Shoe” as 19 point underdogs, which speaks to just how good Ohio State has looked lately. All eyes will be on the running back matchup and who can find the early edge, but the quarterbacks will define the outcome. Payton Thorne will have to play the game of his life for Sparty to pull off the upset in Columbus.
Ohio State -17.5
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