College Football: Top 5 Games to Watch in Week 13
The 2014 college football season is just a few weeks away from conference championship weekend, as well as finding out which teams will play in the inaugural College Football Playoff.
The wildest division race remaining is the Pac-12 South Division, where five of six teams in the division are still in contention to play in the Pac-12 title game in Santa Clara, California. The most hyped game of the day will be No. 19 USC traveling to the Rose Bowl to clash with rival No. 9 UCLA in what will be an intense contest with division title hopes at stake.
The other matchup taking place in the South Division will be No. 15 Arizona traveling north to Salt Lake City to face a dangerous No. 17 Utah team.
The Big Ten West Division race is still up for grabs, despite Wisconsin being the favorite at the moment to represent the division in the Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis. The 16th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers will look to take down Iowa on the road with their lethal rushing attack led by Melvin Gordon, while No. 25 Minnesota hopes to upset No. 23 Nebraska on the road for the first time since 1960.
Depending on the outcomes on Saturday, Wisconsin and Minnesota could face off in a heated rivalry game for the West Division title next week.
No. 8 Ole Miss continues to stay up in the rankings and keep itself in position for the College Football Playoff, even though it lost two of its last three games. A road trip at Arkansas should present a challenge for the Rebels Saturday afternoon.
In what will be another critical week of division matchups, here are the top five games to watch.
No. 25 Minnesota at No. 23 Nebraska
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No. 25 Minnesota at No. 23 Nebraska, Noon ET, ESPN
The Golden Gophers upset the Huskers in Minneapolis last year 34-23 and will look to do it again, despite losing in their last seven trips in Lincoln. Both Minnesota and Nebraska are currently in a three-way tie for second place with Iowa in the Big Ten West Division.
Jerry Kill’s squad must win on the road at Nebraska and at Wisconsin to advance to the conference title game. The offense needs a big game from senior running back David Cobb, who is currently eighth in the country with 1,350 yards and 11 touchdowns, against a Husker defense that gave up an awful 581 yards to Wisconsin last week.
While Cobb rushed for 145 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-24 loss to Ohio State last week, quarterback Mitch Leidner struggled by throwing for just 85 yards and two interceptions. Leidner will need to manage the game and avoid turnovers if he’s going to help his team knock off Nebraska.
The Huskers head into Saturday’s game after an embarrassing 59-24 loss at Wisconsin. They’ll need to win against Minnesota and Iowa, as well as have Wisconsin lose its final two games, if there is any chance of advancing to a second conference title game in three years.
Running back Ameer Abdullah was averaging an impressive 138.9 rushing yards heading into Madison before a disappointing 69-yards-on-18-carries outing against the Badgers defense. He’ll need to have a better performance, along with quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr., against a Golden Gopher defense averaging 152.7 rushing yards per game. Armstrong struggled against Wisconsin, as he rushed for 17 yards and passed for 62 yards.
The team that is able to control the line of scrimmage and have more success with its ground attack will come away with a win in a do-or-die situation. Nebraska was embarrassed after last week's performance and has been successful in Big Ten play by recording a combined 12-3 home record since joining the conference in 2011.
A defense led by defensive end Randy Gregory should be better against Minnesota’s ground attack and cause Leidner to make mistakes when he’s back in the pocket. The Huskers bounce back and take down the Golden Gophers.
Prediction: Nebraska 35, Minnesota 24
No. 8 Ole Miss at Arkansas
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No. 8 Ole Miss at Arkansas, 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS
Eighth-ranked Ole Miss is still in the playoff conversation and moved up in the rankings, despite being on a bye week. The Rebels' next two matchups against Arkansas and in-state rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl will be no easy task. The Razorbacks are coming off their first conference win in the Bret Bielema era, as they blanked then-No. 17 LSU 17-0 last Saturday.
The Rebels have been affected by injuries but should benefit with left tackle Laremy Tunsil and star safety Cody Prewitt, who are both expected to play Saturday, according to Hugh Kellenberger of The Clarion-Ledger.
Quarterback Bo Wallace, who has 2,554 passing yards and 22 touchdowns this season, will have the task of getting the ball into the hands of wide receivers Vince Sanders and Cody Core.
Wallace will be up against an Arkansas defense that held Alabama and Mississippi State to a combined average of 15.5 points in outcomes decided by seven points or less. The Razorbacks defense is also holding opponents to 126.7 rushing yards per game (23rd in the country).
Wallace and the offense will play a major role in this SEC West battle, but it will be the 10th-ranked Rebels defense that will be in charge of shutting down a dangerous Arkansas backfield consisting of Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins. Both running backs have combined for 1,818 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns this season.
The Rebels defense, led by defensive end Robert Nkemdiche, will face a big Arkansas offensive line and look to control the line of scrimmage. Ole Miss is currently ranked in the first in the country, as its surrendered 11.9 points per game.
Hugh Freeze’s team will be in a tough defensive struggle for most of the game, but Wallace will come up with clutch plays and help the Rebels defeat the Razorbacks for a third straight year to stay in the hunt for an SEC West Division title.
Prediction: Ole Miss 31, Arkansas 17
No. 15 Arizona at No. 17 Utah
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No. 15 Arizona at No. 17 Utah, 3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
Arizona and Utah both managed to escape last week with close wins. Now they’ll face off in an important Pac-12 contest with South Division title implications on the line. Whoever loses in Salt Lake City Saturday afternoon will be eliminated from facing Oregon in the conference championship at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Kicker Casey Skowron came up clutch against Washington with a game-winning 47-yard field goal as time expired to give the Wildcats a 27-26 home win last Saturday. It will likely turn into a defensive ballgame, something Utah has been accustomed to this season. This means quarterback Anu Solomon will need all of his weapons on offense to step up and challenge a Ute defense that's been holding opponents to 23.8 points per game this season.
Solomon will look to running back Nick Wilson, who rushed for 104 yards and two touchdowns against Washington, as well as wide receivers Cayleb Jones and Austin Hill.
Meanwhile, Utah squeaked out a 20-17 double-overtime road win over Stanford to keep its division title hopes intact. The Utes continue to play close ballgames in conference play, as last week’s outcome was their fifth Pac-12 game to be decided by three points or less.
The offense again will rely heavily on its run game led by running back Devontae Booker, who has averaged only 61.5 rushing yards in the last two games. The 1,000-yard rusher will face an Arizona defense surrendering 158.8 rushing yards per game and 26.1 points per game.
In what will potentially be a low-scoring affair, there will be a lot of focus on two of the top three sack leaders in the nation. Utah defensive end Nate Orchard has recorded 16.5 sacks, while Wildcats linebacker Scooby Wright has 13.
The Wildcats have won the last two meetings by an average of 10.5 points and will score late to stay in the South Division race.
Prediction: Arizona 27, Utah 24
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No. 16 Wisconsin at Iowa
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No. 16 Wisconsin at Iowa, 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN2
Wisconsin is currently in the driver’s seat of the Big Ten West Division after it ran all over Nebraska last Saturday in a blowout 59-24 win. Now it will go on the road to face an inconsistent Iowa team for a second consecutive season and put itself in position to play for a conference title.
Melvin Gordon, who leads the nation with 1,909 rushing yards and broke an FBS record with 408 yards in a single game against Nebraska, will be the headline going into this divisional contest. Gordon will face an Iowa defense that is giving up 147.8 rushing yards per game and is coming off a solid defensive performance against Illinois, where it allowed just 88 rushing yards.
While Gordon will give Iowa all it can handle as part of an offense averaging 351.2 rushing yards and 39 points per game, he should have Corey Clement to help in the backfield, according to WTAQ.com, after suffering a stinger an injuring an AC join in his right shoulder on a 17-yard touchdown run last Saturday.
Much like the team in itself, the Hawkeyes have been hit or miss on the offensive side of the ball. After blowing out Northwestern 48-7 and racking up 483 total yards on Nov. 1, Iowa followed its win up at Minnesota with a disappointing 51-14 loss on Nov. 8, where it recorded just 205 total yards.
Quarterback Jake Rudock will have his hands full against a stout Wisconsin defense that's leading the nation in surrendering only 244 total yards per game, meaning he’ll need physical running back Mark Weisman to be a threat on the ground. Weisman currently has 676 yards and has accounted for 14 of Iowa’s 19 rushing touchdowns.
Wisconsin should have success shutting down the Hawkeyes offense and be able to run through their defensive line led by Drew Ott, but it will be a closer game than many may anticipate, with the Badgers pulling away in the fourth quarter.
Prediction: Wisconsin 31, Iowa 13
No. 19 USC at No. 9 UCLA
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No. 19 USC at No. 9 UCLA, 8 p.m. ET, ABC
This crosstown rivalry between the 19th-ranked Trojans and the ninth-ranked Bruins will be the game of the day on Saturday, as both look to battle it out for a shot at the Pac-12 Championship Game.
UCLA continues to make its way up in the rankings and has done so by bouncing back from its two losses to Utah and Oregon with four straight wins. A win over USC and Stanford these next two weeks will guarantee it its third division title in four years.
After a less-than-impressive start to the season, quarterback Brett Hundley has 2,547 yards and 17 touchdowns this season. Hundley, who leads a balanced offensive attack, will have the obstacle of dealing with defensive end Leonard Williams (62 tackles, six sacks) and moving the ball down the field with help from running back Paul Perkins and wide receiver Jordan Payton.
Perkins has rushed for 1,169 yards and six touchdowns, while Payton has 839 receiving yards and seven touchdowns.
USC has lost its last two meetings to UCLA and can’t afford to make it three years in a row if it expects to win the South Division title. A passing attack led by quarterback Cody Kessler, as well as a Trojan defense holding opponents to 23.3 points per game, will look to silence the crowd in what should be a loud Rose Bowl atmosphere.
Kessler has been impressive this season by accounting for 2,919 passing yards and 29 touchdowns. A lot of his success has come from getting the ball into the hands of explosive playmaker Nelson Agholor, who has racked up 1,079 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. The run game will also be key in this matchup, with Buck Allen (1,184 yards, eight TDs) needing to wear down a Bruins defense by pounding it out on the ground.
USC has struggled against the pass, as it currently ranks 105th in the country by giving up 261.7 yards per game, but it will get cornerback Josh Shaw back after a 10-game suspension.
In what should be a back-and-forth battle the entire game, the Trojans fail to hold on for a third time this season because of their inability to hold on late against a Hundley-led offense.
Prediction: UCLA 35, USC 31
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