Games to Watch: Week 12

We're getting close to the end, folks.  There's actually a few teams that end their conference schedule this week.

Thursday
7:30 PM
Georgia Tech at Clemson, ESPN.  This cross-divisional game has been fierce several times, and even found itself in a rematch in an ACC championship game once.  This year, no team in the Coastal division controls their destiny, but GT could change that.  Ironically, they would not gain control of their destiny, but win or lose, they would help other teams.  Instead, GT will be a lame duck after this game, as it is their last conference game of the season.

Saturday
12:30 PM
Maryland at Virginia Tech, ACC Network.  Nothing overly spectacular here, but VT needs to win to stay alive in their division.  Hopefully, the Hokies can find more of that offense that they found in Miami.  Meanwhile, Maryland continues their farewell tour of the ACC.  It's been going well for them.

3:30 PM
Georgia at Auburn, CBS.  If Auburn wins, they guarantee a winner take all game against Alabama.  Georgia looked like a contender 12 weeks ago, but they're beat up.  They might be wishing for a mercy killing.

Oklahoma State at Texas, FOX.  Both teams still control their destiny in the Big 12.  But a loss for OK State would drop them way back.

Miami at Duke, ESPNU.  Who would have thought that this game would be the biggest ACC Coastal game of the week?  The loser could be out of contention.  If GT wins on Thursday, the loser definitely is out of contention.

4 PM
Utah at Oregon, FS1.  This is an interesting Pac-12 matchup.  Utah beat Stanford, the current North division leader.  They also played Arizona State (the current South leader) extremely close, only losing by one.  So they seem to step it up against the "big" teams in the conference.  Even though Oregon isn't a leader in the conference at the moment, they are still a high profile team.

7 PM
Texas Tech vs. Baylor, FS1.  A more intriguing matchup a few weeks ago, where it looked like it could be a battle of unbeatens.  Instead, a Baylor win would most likely eliminate TTU from anything.

Florida at South Carolina, ESPN2.  This will have some implications in the next couple of weeks in determining the SEC East winner.  Basically, it will determine how soon anybody can clinch the division.