College Football Week 12 Schedule: Will upsets arrive on penultimate Saturday?

The second-to-last Saturday of college football’s regular season is often a dud. With some of the country’s biggest rivalries taking place next Saturday, the week before has ended up with quite the yawn-inspiring slate of games this year.

The SEC often gives top teams the second-to-last weekend off from conference play, and this year is no exception. The conference’s three top-ten teams — Alabama, LSU, and Georgia — all have off from conference play and are suiting up against cupcakes. All the ranked teams in the Big Ten still have intra-conference games, but most have non-threatening opponents.

All told, there are just three games between ranked teams. One comes in the American Athletic Conference, of all places, where Cincinnati and UCF square off for the top spot in the East division. We also get a ranked Big XII game, with Texas hosting Iowa State, and a surprising 3-vs-12 contest on a neutral field as Notre Dame takes on Syracuse.

Here’s the full schedule for today’s notable games.

Early Games

Citadel Bulldogs at #1 Alabama Crimson Tide

11:00 AM CT (12 Noon ET)
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Tuscaloosa, AL
SEC Network

#10 Ohio State Buckeyes at Maryland Terrapins

12:00 Noon ET
Maryland Stadium, College Park, MD
ABC

Idaho Vandals at #13 Florida Gators

12:00 Noon ET
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville, FL
ESPNU

#14 Penn State Nittany Lions at Rutgers Scarlet Knights

12:00 Noon ET
High Point Solutions Stadium, Piscataway, NJ
BTN

Arkansas Razorbacks at #21 Mississippi State Bulldogs

11:00 AM CT (12 Noon ET)
Davis Wade Stadium, Starkville, MS
ESPN

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at #17 Kentucky Wildcats

12:00 Noon ET
Kroger Field, Lexington, KY
SEC Network

#22 Northwestern Wildcats at Minnesota Golden Gophers

11:00 AM CT (12 Noon ET)
TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, MN
BTN

Michigan State Spartans at Nebraska Cornhuskers

11:00 AM CT (12 Noon ET)
Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, NE
FOX

TCU Horned Frogs at Baylor Bears

11:00 AM CT (12 Noon ET)
McLane Stadium, Waco, TX
Fox Sports 1

#19 Utah Utes at Colorado Buffaloes

11:30 AM MT (1:30 PM ET)
Folsom Field, Boulder, CO
Pac-12 Network

#23 Utah State Aggies at Colorado State Rams

12:00 Noon MT (2:00 PM ET)
Canvas Stadium, Fort Collins, CO
AT&T Sports

Afternoon Games

#3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. #12 Syracuse Orange

2:30 PM ET
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
NBC

#9 West Virginia Mountaineers at Oklahoma State Cowboys

2:30 PM CT (3:30 ET)
Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, OK
ABC

#20 Boston College Eagles at Florida State Seminoles

3:30 PM ET
Doak Campbell Stadium, Tallahassee, FL
ESPN2

Wisconsin Badgers at Purdue Boilermakers

3:30 PM ET
Ross-Ade Stadium, West Lafayette, IN
BTN

USC Trojans at UCLA Bruins

12:30 PM PT (3:30 ET)
Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
FOX

Missouri Tigers at Tennessee Volunteers

3:30 PM ET
Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, TN
CBS

Indiana Hoosiers at #4 Michigan Wolverines

4:00 PM ET
Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, MI
Fox Sports 1

Massachusetts Minutemen at #5 Georgia Bulldogs

4:00 PM ET
Sanford Stadium, Athens, GA
SEC Network

Oregon State Beavers at #18 Washington Huskies

1:30 PM PT (4:30 ET)
Husky Stadium, Seattle, WA
Pac-12 Network

Prime Time

Duke Blue Devils at #2 Clemson Tigers

7:00 PM ET
Memorial Stadium, Clemson, SC
ESPN

Kansas Jayhawks at #6 Oklahoma Sooners

6:30 PM CT (7:30 ET)
Memorial Stadium, Norman, OK
FOX

Rice Owls at #7 LSU Tigers

6:30 PM CT (7:30 ET)
Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, LA
ESPNU

#24 Cincinnati Bearcats at #11 UCF Black Knights

8:00 PM ET
Camping World Stadium, Orlando, FL
ABC

#16 Iowa State Cyclones at #15 Texas Longhorns

7:00 PM CT (8:00 ET)
Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin, TX
Longhorn Network

Arizona Wildcats at #8 Washington State Cougars

7:30 PM PT (10:30 ET)
Martin Stadium, Pullman, WA
ESPN