Week 12 of the college football season is here.
As always, this piece will seek to predict 5 underdogs who will cover the spread this coming week. Let’s dive in.
Predicting 5 against-the-spread underdogs
Here are 5 picks for Week 12:
South Carolina +19.5 over Texas A&M
Texas A&M is coming off of a dominant road win over Mizzou this past weekend. I certainly expect the Aggies to win this game rather handily, but I do think South Carolina is more than capable of keeping this within the current number. I’m intrigued by what South Carolina’s offense will look like this week now that Mike Shula is no longer calling the plays. That should be a big morale boost for everyone on South Carolina’s offense. The fact that South Carolina is coming off an idle week is nice, too, because it gives the new offensive staff more time to come up with wrinkles that Texas A&M won’t necessarily be expecting.
Pick: South Carolina +19.5 (-115 on BetMGM)
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Minnesota +25.5 over Oregon
Minnesota has had its struggles this season, but I don’t see a reason for this number to be north of 3 scores. Oregon has consistently shown it doesn’t have an elite offense against even semi-quality opposition. The Ducks have been dominant against the likes of Oklahoma State, Oregon State and Rutgers, but that’s it. The Golden Gophers have a top-30 defense this season, per SP+’s updated ratings. Minnesota may only need to score 10 points or so to keep this within the number. I’ll back Minnesota to get it done, especially since Oregon has a top-25 matchup with USC on deck.
Pick: Minnesota +25.5 (-109 on Caesars)
Navy +10.5 over South Florida
Notre Dame stuffed Navy in a locker last week, beating the Midshipmen 49-10. I like backing Navy coming off of a performance like that because I expect a much better effort this week against South Florida. Navy might also be due for some third-down regression on both sides of the ball — it went 3-of-11 last week while Notre Dame was 7-of-10. I don’t think USF’s defense will provide nearly as much resistance as Notre Dame’s did. I wouldn’t play this under 10, but I think Navy will be able to move the ball enough to keep the final score within the number.
Pick: Navy +10.5 (-115 on Fanatics)
Iowa +7 over USC
I think this is too many points for the Hawkeyes. They’re coming off of a narrow loss to Oregon under brutal conditions at Kinnick last week. Now Iowa will head west to take on a USC team that can’t stop the run in sunny Southern California. The Trojans are 126th nationally in rushing success rate this season. Iowa is 8th in rushing offense success rate. I like the Hawkeyes to keep this close.
Pick: Iowa +7 (-112 on DraftKings)
Tulsa +3 over Oregon State
Tulsa is bad, but not “lose to Sam Houston State at home” bad. That’s what Oregon State did last week. The Beavers were probably unlucky to lose based on the final box score, but they still found a way to lose to the Bearkats in Corvallis. That was Sam Houston’s first win of the season. Tulsa has been fighting hard under first year head coach Tre Lamb and has an offense that has consistently averaged around 5 yards per play this season. I think we’re on quit watch with an Oregon State team that has been playing under an interim coaching staff for more than a month now.
Pick: Tulsa +3 (-115 on Fanatics)
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
