House Money: Irish and Orange Meet at Yankee Stadium While the Annual Cupcake Festival Hits SEC Country

By 11W Staff on November 15, 2018 at 3:15 pm
Notre Dame and Syracuse square off at Yankee Stadium this weekend.
Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports
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Week 12 of the college football season can only mean one thing: the SEC gets its annual cupcake slate while the rest of the country continues squaring off against opponents who at least have some semblance of a pulse.

The biggest issue for me is deciding which game to be the most excited about. Alabama takes on a hot Citadel program that's coming off back-to-back wins against Western Carolina and Samford. Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs will be hosting UMass in Athens. Auburn is taking on Liberty while LSU is set to square off with an underrated 1-10 Rice Owls squad.

Pick your poison, folks.

Our picks were pretty dang good last week. Just about everyone finished at or above the .500 mark (sorry, Chris) with Kevin and David leading the charge at 8-2. We've got 11 participants and so far on the season four of them are over 50 percent accuracy with their picks.

So what went right last week? Northwestern was a 10-point underdog against Iowa and nearly everyone was riding with the Wildcats who won the game outright. Notre Dame stomping an awful Florida State team was another one that we all pretty much nailed.

  • Reminder: All of our submissions are against the spread. The odds will certainly fluctuate a bit throughout each week, but we'll be using sportsbook.ag for all betting lines.

We've got a couple of big ones coming our way in week 12, but overall it's probably one of the weaker lineups of the season. But hey, don't forget about the Idaho Vandals heading to Gainesville to duke it out with the 13th-ranked Gators.

11W Staff Picks: Week 12
  CHRIS RAMZY HOPE HARRISH JONES WEBB ELLIS  WERTHEIM REGIMBAL ANDERSON VANCE
LAST WEEK: 3-7 6-4 6-4 8-2 8-2 5-5 5-5 6-4 8-2 7-3 5-5
OVERALL: 52-57 49-60 58-51 53-56 52-57 49-60 60-49 53-56 52-57 56-53 57-52
ACCURACY: 48% 45% 53% 49% 48% 45% 55% 49% 48% 51% 52%
#10 Ohio State (-16.5) @ Maryland OSU OSU OSU OSU OSU OSU OSU MARY OSU OSU OSU
Nebraska (-1.5) vs. Michigan State MICHST MICHST MICHST NEB MICHST MICHST NEB MICHST MICHST MICHST MICHST
#22 Northwestern (-2.5) @ Minnesota NW MINNY NW NW MINNY NW NW NW NW NW MINNY
#3 Notre Dame (-9) vs. #12 Syracuse CUSE CUSE CUSE CUSE CUSE ND ND ND CUSE ND ND
#4 Michigan (-27.5) vs. Indiana MICH INDY INDY INDY INDY INDY MICH INDY INDY INDY MICH
Purdue (-5) vs. Wisconsin WISC WISC WISC PURD WISC WISC WISC WISC WISC PURD WISC
#9 West Virginia (-5) @ Oklahoma State WVU OKST OKST OKST WVU WVU OKST WVU WVU OKST WVU
#15 Texas (-3) vs. #16 Iowa State ISU TEXAS ISU TEXAS TEXAS TEXAS TEXAS TEXAS ISU ISU ISU
#11 UCF (-7) vs. Cincinnati CINCY UCF CINCY CINCY CINCY CINCY UCF UCF UCF UCF UCF
#8 Washington State (-10) vs. Arizona WAZZU ZONA WAZZU WAZZU WAZZU WAZZU WAZZU WAZZU WAZZU ZONA WAZZU

Ohio State heads to Maryland as Dwayne Haskins looks to lead the Buckeyes past the team he nearly played for. The Buckeyes' defense has looked better with Brendon White at safety and they're a 16.5-point road favorite on our card. Most like Ohio State to cover and I suppose it's worth nothing that the line has moved down to 14.5 in some places.

Pat Fitzgerald has Northwestern headed to Indy to square off against either Ohio State or Michigan, but the Wildcats are only a 2.5-point favorite at Minnesota this weekend. The Gophs annihilated Purdue last weekend but that line does seem a bit questionable. A few staff members do like P.J. Fleck at home, however.

Michigan is a heavy favorite at home, but several are taking the Hoosiers and the points. Oklahoma State is a dangerous team, especially when the opposition heads to Stillwater. We'll see if the Mountaineers meet a similar fate as the Longhorns did a few weeks back. Purdue is favored by five against the Badgers, but who the heck knows which Boilermaker team shows up this weekend.

The Irish and Syracuse kick off at 2:30 p.m. from Yankee Stadium and this is the stiffest remaining test for Brian Kelly and Co. The Orange have only lost twice on the season by a combined total of 11 points. They kept it close at Clemson and are riding a four-game winning streak. We're liking the Irish to cover the nine-point spread – while sporting some horrendous alternates – but this could be one of the week's few exciting contests.

Who do you got this weekend? Do the Irish remain unblemished? Can Alabama survive against The Citadel? #GetRich

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