Real Kato Blog: College Football Week 12 Games to Watch

#2 Oklahoma State already lost to Iowa State on Friday night. What other upsets are in store?

Games to Watch this Saturday

#18 Michigan plays #16 Nebraska at noon on ESPN. Though Michigan State still controls its own destiny in the Legends division, this game is still important in determining bowl placement for both teams. #17 Wisconsin plays slumping but still dangerous Illinois on ESPN2. BTN2 has Iowa vs. Purdue.

At 3:30, N.C. State plays Clemson on ABC/ESPN. State will need a huge upset to keep its bowl hopes alive. Meanwhile #21 Penn State plays Ohio State on ESPN/ABC in the Scandal Bowl. At 4:00 Notre Dame plays Boston College on NBC in the old rivalry game.

At 7:30 Virginia plays #25 Florida State on ESPN2. Virginia still has a shot of making it to the ACC title game and Florida State does not; but Florida State will be a stiff test for the Cavaliers. At 8:00, ABC is showing either #5 Oklahoma vs. #22 Baylor, or this week's Game of the Week, USC vs #4 Oregon. Oregon is back in the championship hunt after Oklahoma State's loss, and a win over USC would go a long way towards convincing people they're deserving of a rematch against LSU. Meanwhile USC, though ineligible for post-season play due to NCAA sanctions, is quietly having a pretty good year.

Your nightcap game is Cal vs. #9 Stanford on ESPN, and you can expect many replays of that game where Cal scored the winning touchdown as the Stanford marching band was on the field.

Michigan game prediction: Michigan 35, Nebraska 24. Can Michigan put together back-to-back solid games on both sides of the ball? My hope is that Al Borges is done tweaking and has found what works with Michigan's offense. On defense I'm not as concerned, as there has been steady improvement under Greg Mattison. I still think we'll see a few ARGH TACKLE HIM moments and Nebraska will find ways to score, but the Illinois game has given me renewed faith.

N.C. State game prediction: N.C. State 17, Clemson 42. I'm just not seeing a lot to be hopeful about in this game. Clemson's high-powered passing attack will be too much for the Wolfpack defense.

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