Welcome to The Funvee Tailgate! CHAOS ensued last week. Will it continue into Week 12? Let’s fire it up!

Third CFP Poll:

For those who haven’t checked it out yet, I wrote an entire post on my reactions to the second CFP poll. I’ve gotten some good responses for this week’s reaction so definitely take a look.

Weeknight Recap:

Weeknight MACTION didn’t give us Western Michigan but Toledo did win moving up to 9-2 and setting the stage for next Friday’s showdown with WMU. Last night helped make the CFP picture a tad bit more clear as Houston blew out #5 Louisville 36-10. The Houston defense shut down Heisman hopeful Lamar Jackson while their QB Greg Ward Jr tossed for two touchdowns. This effectively ends Louisville’s run at the playoff, making Clemson and Washington fans rejoice.

Big Games This Week:

Friday Night:

#20 Boise State hosts UNLV tonight at 9pm on ESPN2. This one won’t be close. Broncos win.

More Chaos?:

I’ve noticed my “should” winners in this intro tend to be at least one of the big upsets of the week, last week had two. I had been thinking of including them on the full pick’em breakdown but kept running out of time and was convinced those teams would at least pull the game out. So this week, all the big games are included. Let’s take a look:

• #11 Oklahoma State at TCU at noon on FS1 — The Cowboys are hanging around hoping that they can take down Oklahoma next weekend for the Big XII Title. TCU is a home favorite mainly due to their big wins earlier on. While the Horned Frogs are a talented squad, the Mason Rudolph/James Washington connection gets the job done. OK State wins.
• #2 Ohio State at Michigan State at noon on ESPN — OSU is a three touchdown favorite and looking for revenge after MSU stunned the Buckeyes on this very weekend a year ago. Urban Meyer holds grudges. OSU wins.
• UTSA at #25 Texas A&M at noon on ESPNU — Trevor Knight will be missing again which will make this a tough 27.5-point spread to cover but the Aggies win.
• Maryland at #18 Nebraska at noon on ESPNews — Nebraska is only a 13-point home favorite against the Terps. Their last three games have been two bad losses and a seven-point win over a solid Minnesota squad. Maryland isn’t Minnesota. Nebraska wins and covers.
• #7 Wisconsin at Purdue at noon on ABC — The Badgers are a team on a mission. In their minds, they’re getting shafted on polls when they almost took down OSU and barely lost on the road to Michigan. Wisconsin will be an unstoppable freight train right into the Big Ten Championship. Badgers win.
• #23 Florida at #16 LSU at 1:00 on SEC Network — A makeup game from October 8th that is now a matchup of ranked opponents. Florida makes the SEC Championship game regardless of the outcome. The game was originally supposed to be in Florida but due to scheduling mishaps with being able to reschedule this, it’s now in Baton Rouge. That’s a game changer. Both are almost unstoppable at home, which makes this pick a bit easier: LSU wins.
• Oregon at #12 Utah at 2:00 — Oregon was supposed to be good this year, but it has been a ROUGH ride for the Ducks. They could play spoiler as Utah may be looking ahead to the inevitable showdown with Colorado last week. The Utes dodge the trap game however and cover, Utah wins.
• Missouri at #16 Tennessee at 3:30 on CBS — Tennessee really choked away the SEC East. Sure, losses to both A&M and Bama may have been tough to avoid–although that Tennessee/A&M game may be one of 2016’s best–but the South Carolina loss is the most painful. Don’t sleep on Missouri to make this game interesting. If it was in Columbia, I may have considered actually picking the Tigers outright. Vols win but struggle to cover.
• #22 Washington State at #10 Colorado at 3:30 on FOX — One of the two MASSIVELY important games for the college football landscape this week. Colorado needs this for the Pac 12 South crown while Washington State wants to stay a game up on Washington going into next week’s Apple Cup. The Buffs’ D will give WSU’s Luke Falk a tough time, just tough enough to squeak out the win. Colorado wins.
• Indiana at #3 Michigan at 3:30 on ESPN — I’ll say it week after week: Indiana is tough out. Not as tough of an out on the road, especially when Harbaugh is pissed about that loss. Michigan wins.
• Buffalo at #21 Western Michigan at 3:30 on ESPNU — WMU is hosting GameDay this week and the area is going crazy.

Yup. They love their Broncos. Western Michigan wins.

• #17 Florida State at Syracuse at 3:30 on ABC — FSU is probably thinking: “Oh Syracuse? Easy win.” That’s what Virginia Tech thought. Syracuse probably won’t catch lightning in a bottle twice, but FSU won’t cover. Noles win.
• #24 Stanford at Cal at 5:30 on Pac 12 Network — Cal has had an up-and-down season as they sit at 4-6 meanwhile Stanford recovered themselves a bit to a 7-3 record. A big part of that is Christian McCaffrey re-emerging into a power running back. He’ll put the Cardinal on his back and steamroll the Golden Bears. Stanford wins.
• Chattanooga at #1 Alabama at 7:00 on ESPN2 and Alabama A&M at #15 Auburn at 7:30 on SEC Network– Bama and Auburn win. Don’t need analysis for this game. It’s a little ridiculous that SEC schools can still schedule FCS opponents in mid-November. What does this win do? Set single-game records? I bet the players just wants it to be next week and the Iron Bowl. Sidenote: why is ESPN putting these games on and not finding more competitive games? I guess they have the ABC game at 8 but you want to give people options.
• #4 Clemson at Wake Forest at 7:00 on ESPN — Don’t sleep on Wake here. The Demon Deacons could hang for a half, but Clemson will need to make sure they put Wake away quickly in the second half. Clemson wins.
• Arizona State at #6 Washington at 7:30 on FOX — The Huskies are out for revenge. Arizona State won’t stand a chance. Jake Browning and John Ross connect for at least two TDs. Washington wins.
• #9 Oklahoma at #14 West Virginia at 8:00 on ABC — The other MASSIVELY impactful game. The winner has a straight-shot at the Big XII title and keeps a small glimmer of hope at the playoff. Baker Mayfield has been great this season, especially since conference play began. If West Virginia can run it up their gut, they’ll keep themselves in this game. The Mountaineers’ D can hold off Baker Mayfield and Joe Mixon juust enough. West Virginia wins.
• #8 Penn State at Rutgers at 8:00 on Big Ten Newtork — Rutgers is bad, plain and simple. Penn State wins.
• #13 USC at UCLA at 10:30 on ESPN — USC is riding high after their road upset at Washington last weekend. The Trojan rush attack will cause the Bruins trouble that will open the airways for QB Sam Darnold. USC wins.

We’ve finally made it. Lehigh-Lafayette 2016. Game 152. This year may be not as competitive as previous years considering Lafayette is 2-8 overall and 1-4 in Patriot League–their one win in PL play was a 17-3 win at home against Georgetown (Lehigh won 35-3 at GTown). The Leopards not only have the five conference opponents in common with Lehigh, Lafayette has also lost to Villanova (31-14 at home vs. Lehigh’s 26-21 loss at Nova) and the ‘Pards lost in a close one at Princeton 35-31, whom Lehigh defeated 42-28 at home. The only concern for the Mountian Hawks coming into tomorrow is their most previous game against Bucknell. I had dubbed it a trap game mainly because of the bye last week and the possibility of the team looking ahead to today. While the Mountain Hawks avoided the trap and ultimately won, they were sluggish in the first half. In a rivalry game on the road like tomorrow, Lehigh will need to make a statement on the opening drive. Nick Shafnisky will cap off his career in “The Rivalry” on top with a 2-2 record over his four year. Matty D and myself will be in attendance at Fisher Field as the ball gets kicked off at 12:30 tomorrow afternoon. LET’S GO LEHIGH!!!

Disagree with my picks? Did I miss a matchup you wanted me to talk about? Let me know in the comments!