College Football: Week 13 Preview

Friday, 11AM: Illinois at #5 Cincinnati
A much better matchup since Illinois woke up long enough to save Ron Zook's job. Also, Tony Pike returns as the Bearcats starter, which should settle down their offense a little. The key is the defense, which will need to stop the run to give the offense as many possessions as possible.
Prediction: Cincy by 2 scores - bring on the Panthers!

Friday, 6PM: #9 Pittsburgh at West Virginia
The Backyard Brawl! One more tuneup for Pitt before the matchup with Cincinnati. The Mountaineers aren't great, but Noel Devine always gives them a chance. Pitt's defense will be tested in the run game.
Prediction: Pitt! Their LeSean McCoy replacement should be able to keep up.

Friday, 9PM: Nevada at #6 Boise State
Hard to see Boise State tripping here, but it's always fun to watch Wolfpack QB Colin Kaepernick. Blue turf is a minus though.
Prediction: Boise State passing attack will be way too much for Nevada to handle.

Saturday, 11AM: #18 Clemson at South Carolina
I actually haven't seen Clemson this year, so I'd like to see if they deserve their ranking and get a look at Heisman candidate C.J. Spiller. South Carolina can be good but is fantastically inconsistent - it's always interesting to see which Gamecocks team shows up.
Prediction: Clemson, I suppose.

Saturday, 2:30PM: #17 Miami at South Florida
Haven't checked in on Miami since I jumped off the bandwagon several weeks ago. A game at the always dangerous Bulls is a good chance.
Prediction: This is a hard one, since I'm not certain how good Miami has turned out to be. That sad, Florida teams always have a speedy defense, so I'm counting on the Hurricanes to contain B.J. Daniels. Miami in a closer game than it should be.

Saturday, 6PM: Arkansas at #15 LSU
Back to my old buddy Ryan Mallett, who's having a pretty fantastic year. Meanwhile, LSU is coming off a terrible loss at Ole Miss and probably needs this one to stay ranked.
Prediction: Even though I once swore I would never pick against LSU in a night game at Tiger Stadium, I'm going to pick the upset. Arkansas has gotten better with every game while LSU seems to be on its way down.

Saturday, 7PM: Notre Dame at Stanford
Charlie Weis' job is probably a foregone conclusion at this point, but it's still a big game for Jim Harbaugh and the Cardinal. A lot of eyes will be on this one, which means that Toby Gerhart has a good chance to add to his Heisman resume.
Prediction: Stanford. Notre Dame will put up a good fight on offense, but there's no way they have an answer for Gerhart.