Guest Post: College Football Marquee Matchups Week 12

The week 12 slate of college football games features some of the best matchups of the year as teams try to climb up the BCS standings. With only two weeks left in the season, several matchups will have major conference championship implications this week. Let’s take a closer look at some of the marquee college football matchups for week 12. No. 18 USC Trojans at No. 17 UCLA Bruins – The USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins will play for the right to represent the Pac 12 South in the conference championship game this Saturday afternoon. UCLA will be looking to avenge last season’s 50-0 loss to their cross town rival USC by defeating them this season. In last year’s game, USC quarterback Matt Barkley had one of his best games of his career throwing for 423 yards and six touchdowns. If the Bruins are going to win this week, they will need to find a way to limit the damage caused by Barkley and his quality wide receivers. Both teams are coming off of a victory last week, and will have momentum heading into their showdown. UCLA managed to hold off the Washington State Cougars last Saturday by a final score of 44-36. Quarterback Brett Hundley had a good game, throwing for 261 yards, three touchdowns and just one interception. Running back Johnathan Franklin added 66 yards on the ground. While the UCLA offense was having a good game, their defense was struggling for much of the second half against the Cougars. By the end of the day, UCLA had surrendered 457 passing yards and five touchdowns through the air. This is something the Bruins will need to correct when facing the Trojans this Saturday afternoon. No. 23 Texas Tech Red Raiders at No. 24 Oklahoma State Cowboys – The Texas Tech Red Raiders will hit the road and travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to face the Oklahoma State Cowboys this Saturday. Texas Tech was able to rebound last week after two consecutive losses by beating the Kansas Jayhawks in double overtime by a final score of 41-34. Quarterback Seth Doege had a huge game for the Red Raiders as he completed 45 of 59 passes for 476 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Wide receiver Eric Ward was the big recipient of Doege’s monster game as the receiver hauled in 12 catches for 180 yards. Oklahoma State got back on the winning track last week as well with a convincing 55-34 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers. Quarterback Clint Chelf threw for 292 yards, four touchdowns and one interception in the victory while the team racked up 151 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. The defense for the Oklahoma State Cowboys has not been as good as head coach Mike Gundy would like all season long, and will need to improve greatly this week if the team hopes to knock off the Red Raiders at home. Seth Doege and the Texas Tech offense should have another field day in what promises to be a classic Big 12 shootout. While neither of these teams is competing for a conference title this season, this does not mean this game does not have serious implications for each school. A victory for either Texas Tech or Oklahoma State will play a huge role in which bowl game each school gets invited to, which could have huge impacts on either program. No. 13 Stanford Cardinal at No. 2 Oregon Ducks – The Stanford Cardinal will travel to Eugene, Oregon to do battle with the Oregon Ducks on Saturday night. The winner of this game will represent the Pac 12 North in the conference championship game. With the Oregon Ducks blasting the California Golden Bears last week by a final score of 59-17 and the Alabama Crimson Tide losing to Texas A&M, Oregon moved up to No. 2 in the BCS polls. By winning their next two games and the conference title, Oregon will secure its place in the national championship game, placing even more importance on this conference game. Anyone who watched last week’s performance against the California Golden Bears has to believe Oregon has a great shot at winning the national title. Quarterback Marcus Mariota may have had his best game of the season as he completed 27 of 34 passes for 377 yards and six touchdowns while wide receiver Josh Huff had 109 receiving yards and three touchdowns during the route. The Oregon Ducks got off to a bit of a slow start in the first half but seemingly turned things on at will in the second half while routing the Golden Bears. While the Stanford Cardinal may not be as talented as the past couple of years after the departure of Andrew Luck to the NFL, Stanford is still a good football team as evidence by their win over Oregon State last week. Stanford had to win that game to keep their conference title hopes alive and managed to do so by scoring a go ahead touchdown with 5:07 left. Newly appointed starting quarterback Kevin Hogan had a decent game against the Beavers, throwing for 254 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. However, Hogan will have to eliminate the turnovers this week if Stanford is going to have any shot of upsetting the Oregon Ducks as the Ducks will certainly score their fair share of points in this game. By Don Phan - Just another sports enthusiast.