NCAA Week Twelve Picks

Three weeks left. Thats all that stands between us and figuring out who the final four will be. This week didn't shake up the playoff picture as much as last week, but a couple major developments did occur. Another undefeated went down in Baylor, they are a team that needed an undefeated season to get in so they have now bowed out. Stanford and Utah also both lost leaving every single Pac-12 team with at least two losses and virtually putting them out of the playoff picture. The much anticipated Baylor-TCU matchup now will mean very little while the Oklahoma-Oklahoma St rivalry game may mean more than ever. LSU also suffered a second straight loss and are now done as well. One more thing I have to say is that I have been watching College Football religiously for 11 years now and never has the SEC been as unimpressive as this year. With LSU now having back to back losses they will fall out of the top 12 and Mississippi States loss should drop them out of the top 25, leaving the SEC with only 3 teams in the top 25 (The Big Ten has 6.) People whine and moan about how terrible Iowa's offense is (when it really isn't, they just put up 33 points on Minnesota) but somehow Florida gets off the hook for having an equally as bad offense against lesser defenses. Iowa has received a lot of slack for their easy schedule but Iowa has two wins against teams currently ranked in the top 25, Florida has 0. SEC bias at its finest. They scored 9 points against Vanderbilt and nobody batted an eyelash. It seems I was exactly right when I said that College Football switching from the BCS format to a playoff format would hurt the SEC and bring them to the level of the other conferences. The fact is the BCS system was an unfair system that heavily benefited the SEC, but the playoff system benefits no conference over the other and the SEC is starting to reap the consequences of that. Anyyyyyway, I went 6-0 in picking Big Ten games last week and 2-1 outside the Big Ten, putting me 34-9 and 20-13 respectively.

Big Ten
Northwestern @ Wisconsin: Pick: Wisconsin
Indiana @ Maryland: Pick: Maryland
Michigan @ Penn St: Pick: Michigan
Illinois @ Minnesota: Pick: Minnesota
Rutgers @ Army: Pick: Rutgers
Purdue @ Iowa: Pick: Iowa
Michigan St @ Ohio St: Pick: Ohio St

Outside the Big Ten
Baylor @ Oklahoma St: Pick: Baylor
TCU @ Oklahoma: Pick: Oklahoma
UCLA @ Utah: Pick: Utah

Big Ten Standings
Iowa looks to lock up a division title with a win over Purdue this week. Meanwhile in the other division, this is what we've been waiting for, Michigan St/Ohio St. An Ohio St win paired with a Michigan win over Penn St means the game between Ohio St and Michigan next week is a division title game. An Ohio St win paired with a Michigan loss to Penn St earns Ohio St a division title. A Michigan St win means they would control their destiny with one game left to play. All four teams still have playoff hopes. Buckle Up.

West
1. Iowa: 6-0
2. Wisconsin: 5-1
3. Northwestern: 4-2
4. Nebraska: 3-4
5. Illinois: 2-4
6. Minnesota: 1-5
7. Purdue: 1-5

East
1. Ohio St: 6-0
2. Michigan St: 5-1
3. Michigan: 5-1
4. Penn St: 4-2
5. Rutgers: 1-6
6. Indiana: 0-6
7. Maryland: 0-6