Crunch time has hit the college football season, but it might not feel like that this coming Saturday. The national schedule is noticeably bereft of big games, with Notre Dame vs. Syracuse (at Yankee Stadium) and Cincinnati at UCF really the only matchups that move the needle.
Even gamblers will have to take it somewhat easy, as some teams (ahem, No. 1 Alabama) have scheduled FCS teams to give themselves a breather before big rivalry games to finish. Many books don’t carry lines for FBS vs. FCS games, and none of them will post a line until late in the week.
Keep that in mind as we delve into this week’s version of the NCAA Power Rankings.
NCAA Power Rankings
- Alabama (10-0, 7-3 ATS, last week: 1)
Big spreads just aren’t a problem for the Crimson Tide. Twenty-two points against a ranked Mississippi State team with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa banged up? No problem for Alabama, whose defense notched its second straight shutout in a 24-0 win.
Related: NCAA Football Betting Guide | Week 12 Odds
- Clemson (10-0, 6-4 ATS, last week: 2)
The Tigers got an assist when Boston College lost its starting quarterback to injury early in Saturday night’s big game on Chestnut Hill, but still, Clemson took care of business in a hostile environment. This appears to be the only team capable of playing Alabama at the moment, but things change in a hurry. Clemson hosts Duke (+27.5) this week.
- Notre Dame (10-0, 5-3-2 ATS, last week: 3)
This week’s 42-13 victory over Florida State was impressive not because of the opponent — the Seminoles are having their worst season in recent history — it was impressive because the Irish took care of business with Brandon Wimbush at quarterback, something they struggled to do early in the season before Ian Book took over. Now comes something of a 1930s special: Notre Dame vs. Syracuse at Yankee Stadium. Where’s Jim Brown or the Four Horsemen?
- Michigan (9-1, 6-4 ATS, last week: 4)
Amazingly enough, the Wolverines’ 42-7 victory at Rutgers wasn’t enough to cover the whopping 36.5-point spread, but it still qualifies as taking care of business. Also amazing: Michigan was the only team in the top six of these rankings not to cover this week.
- Georgia (9-1, 6-4 ATS, last week: 5)
The Bulldogs trailed Auburn early on but took the lead and slowly rocked the Tigers to sleep, taking a 27-10 victory as 13-point favorites. They kept alive their College Football Playoff hopes and don’t figure to be tripped up this week as 43.5-point chalk against UMass.
- West Virginia (8-1, 6-2-1 ATS, last week: 6)
The wicked November schedule we’ve been talking about with the Mountaineers hasn’t been a problem thus far, with West Virginia following up its thrilling victory at Texas with an impressive thumping of TCU. Now comes another tricky road trip, to Oklahoma State as a 4.5-point favorite.
- Central Florida (9-0, 6-3 ATS, last week: 7)
An uncharacteristically slow second half cost the Knights their seventh cover of the year against Navy, but UCF does what it does best: Just keep winning. Now we’ll see how they handle the spotlight in a matchup with 9-1 Cincinnati. The Knights are laying 7.5 points.
- Oklahoma (9-1, 4-6 ATS, last week: 8)
Just like co-Big 12 leader West Virginia last week, the Sooners had a late 2-point conversion go their way, forcing an incomplete pass on Oklahoma State’s possible go-ahead two-point conversion attempt to preserve a wild 48-47 victory in the latest installment of the Bedlam rivalry. Now a breather against Kansas (+36.5) before the all-important regular-season finale at West Virginia.
- Ohio State (9-1, 4-6 ATS, last week: 10)
The defense and special teams carried Ohio State to a clutch win at Michigan State. There still seems to be something off with this team, which has been much less dominant than other top 10 teams, but the Buckeyes still have everything to play for.
- LSU (8-2, 5-5 ATS, last week: 9)
In one of the stranger gambling finishes you’ll see all year, Tigers running back Nick Brossette twice intentionally slid down inside the five-yard line even as coach Ed Orgeron eschewed kneeling out the clock — then tried to score on the following play and was stuffed as time expired. It all meant a 24-17 victory for LSU but a loss to Arkansas on the 13.5-point spread … when LSU would have covered if Brossette had punched it in.
- Washington State (9-1, 9-1 ATS, last week: 11)
The amazing Coverin’ Cougars got back on track last week with a 31-7 victory at Colorado as 5.5-point chalk. Washington State is favored by 10 against Arizona this week and then has the Apple Cup to finish up what could be a magical season both for the Cougars and for anyone who has bet on them.
- Utah State (9-1, 9-1 ATS, last week: 18)
The covers keep on coming in Logan, Utah, too. The Aggies rolled up 62 more points in beating San Jose State 62-24 as 31-point favorites, managing to cover a huge number yet again. Two road games finish out the regular season, with Utah State laying 27 points at Colorado State this weekend.
- Penn State (7-3, 6-4 ATS, last week: 17)
A solid win and cover against Wisconsin got the Nittany Lions back on track. Penn State will be big-time favorites in its final two games, at Rutgers (+27) and home against Maryland, and should find itself at 9-3 and somewhere nice for New Year’s Day.
- Florida (7-3, 6-4 ATS, last week: 16)
A rally from 17 points down to beat South Carolina 35-31 saved the Gators’ season after they were blown out by Georgia and Missouri. Florida still owns a great win against LSU and has only quality losses (Kentucky is the third).
- Syracuse (8-2, 7-2-1 ATS, last week: NR)
An overdue welcome to the rankings to the Orange, who probably should have been here sooner. This is a dynamite offensive team that took Clemson to the brink and could give Notre Dame big problems. The only other loss came to resurgent Pittsburgh.
- Texas (7-3, 4-5-1 ATS, last week: 19)
After back-to-back close losses took the Longhorns out of CFP contention, they bounced back with a quality win at Texas Tech and inched closer to the .500 mark against the spread. They have a big game this week with Iowa State (+3), with only the winner holding onto some Big 12 title aspirations.
- Fresno State (8-2, 8-2 ATS, last week: 13)
A second-half dud left the Bulldogs winless all-time on the blue turf in Boise and likely eliminated Fresno State from contention for the Group of Five’s spot in the New Year’s Six bowls. That’s probably down to the UCF-Cincinnati winner and Utah State, assuming one of those teams also wins its conference championship.
- Cincinnati (9-1, 6-4 ATS, last week: 20)
Speaking of the Bearcats, their 35-23 victory against South Florida wasn’t enough to cover the -15 only because they took a knee inside the 10-yard line to run the clock out. Cincinnati hasn’t covered in three of the past four weeks but has only an overtime loss to Temple as a straight-up blemish. Its biggest game of the year comes at UCF as 7.5-point underdogs this week.
- Texas A&M (6-4, 7-3 ATS, last week: NR)
The Aggies have mostly taken care of business against the lesser teams on their schedule, both for themselves and their backers. That continued with a 42-28 win against Ole Miss on Saturday. You wouldn’t have guessed it in September, but the schedule actually affords two more opportunities for big wins, both at home: against 9-1 UAB (+14.5) and 8-2 LSU.
- Kentucky (7-3, 4-6 ATS, last week: 14)
The gas has run out on the Kentucky bus, it would seem, with a bad loss to Tennessee after they dropped their big game with Georgia (and also probably should have lost at Missouri). Still, the Wildcats remain on pace for a 9-3 season with Middle Tennessee (+14) and Louisville left. A couple of covers would be nice, too.
Also considered (alphabetical order): Appalachian State, Auburn, Boise State, Boston College, Buffalo, California, Iowa State, Michigan State, Missouri, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Troy, UAB, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin
