Week 12 College Football Picks

Last season on the Nothin’ Finer Podcast, I was well above .500 on my picks against the spread. This year I missed a chunk of the season due to real life getting in the way, but I’m ready to start making you money again!

All Spreads and Over/Unders are courtesy of ESPN Bet.

7 Tennessee @ 12 Georgia (-9.5) O/U 47.5

Georgia is coming off their first non-Alabama loss since November 7, 2020 against Florida, so the Dawgs are in unfamiliar territory in the middle of November. Since 2021, at this point in the season Georgia has either locked up the SEC East or is on the cusp of clinching a trip to Atlanta to play in the SECCG. Not this year. The Dawgs have two losses and will need to win every remaining regular season game to make the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.

Tennessee has one loss in conference play, but have not looked the same since SEC play has started. Nico Iamaleava appears to be hurt, but seems likely to play Saturday. Tennessee has only two SEC games over 200 yards passing, but Dylan Sampson is one of the best running backs in the country. The Vols have perhaps the 2nd best defense Georgia will play this season.

There shouldn’t be any precipitation, so neither team can use that as an excuse. I believe Georgia plays their best game since Texas and beats the Vols big in the first night game in Athens in over a year.

Pick: Georgia -9.5

2 Ohio State (-29) @ Northwestern (Wrigley Field) O/U 44.5

Ohio State has already begun to complain about having to play at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Buckeyes blew out Purdue last week 45-0, but haven’t looked as dominate as they were advertised to be in the preseason.

Northwestern has been mostly awful against B1G teams, but they did manage to beat Purdue in West Layfette  26-20 in OT two weeks ago.

With all of that said, 29 points is huge number for a team that hasn’t blown out a ton of teams this year, and the Buckeyes are likely looking forward to a top-5 matchup next week against Indiana.

Pick: Northwestern (+29)

3 Texas (-12.5) @ Arkansas O/U 57.5

Arkansas has the best offense Texas has faced this year, and it’s not particularly close. But unfortunately for the Hogs, their defense had an awful showing prior to their bye week against Ole Miss, giving up 63 points.

While on paper this game shouldn’t be close, Arkansas views this as a rivalry. The Razorbacks won their last matchup against Texas 40-21 in Fayetteville back in 2021. I don’t feel confident picking the spread of this game, but I feel great about it being a high scoring affair.

Pick: OVER 57.5

Other Picks (pick in bold)

Utah @ 17 Colorado (-13)

22 LSU (-3.5) @ Florida

20 Clemson (-11) @ Pittsburgh