clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Week 12 College Football TV Schedule and Big Orange Rooting Guide

Go Vols and Geaux Tigahs.

NCAA Football: Kentucky at Tennessee Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

With two weeks to go, the Vols' hopes for Atlanta are still intact. Before we get to the TV schedule and rooting guide for this week, let's take a quick look at the SEC East standings and the College Football Playoff rankings.

CONF OVERALL HOME ROAD NEUTRAL
Florida 5-2 7-2 5-0 1-2 1-0
Tennessee 3-3 7-3 5-1 1-2 1-0
Georgia 4-4 6-4 2-2 3-1 1-1
Kentucky 4-4 5-5 4-2 1-3 0-0
South Carolina 3-5 5-5 4-2 1-3 0-0
Missouri 1-5 3-7 3-3 0-4 0-0
Vanderbilt 1-5 4-6 2-2 2-4 0-0

To keep the dream alive for another week, Tennessee needs to beat Missouri and hope that Florida falls to LSU.

The Vols positioning for bowl games may have recently improved with all of the upsets last weekend. Another week or two of that and things could get really interesting in a hurry. So for reference, here is the current Top 25.

College Football Playoff Rankings

RK TEAM REC TREND LAST WEEK NEXT WEEK
1 Alabama 10-0 vs Mississippi State W 51-3 11/19 vs Chattanooga
2 Ohio State 9-1 3 @ Maryland W 62-3 11/19 @ Michigan State
3 Michigan 9-1 @ Iowa L 14-13 11/19 vs Indiana
4 Clemson 9-1 2 vs Pittsburgh L 43-42 11/19 @ Wake Forest
5 Louisville 9-1 1 vs Wake Forest W 44-12 11/17 @ Houston
6 Washington 9-1 2 vs #20 USC L 26-13 11/19 vs Arizona State
7 Wisconsin 8-2 vs Illinois W 48-3 11/19 @ Purdue
8 Penn State 8-2 2 @ Indiana W 45-31 11/19 @ Rutgers
9 Oklahoma 8-2 2 vs Baylor W 45-24 11/19 @ #14 West Virginia
10 Colorado 8-2 2 @ Arizona W 49-24 11/19 vs #22 Washington State
11 Oklahoma State 8-2 2 vs Texas Tech W 45-44 11/19 @ TCU
12 Utah 8-2 3 @ Arizona State W 49-26 11/19 vs Oregon
13 USC 7-3 7 @ #4 Washington W 26-13 11/19 @ UCLA
14 West Virginia 8-1 2 @ Texas W 24-20 11/19 vs #9 Oklahoma
15 Auburn 7-3 6 @ Georgia L 13-7 11/19 vs Alabama A&M
16 LSU 6-3 8 @ #25 Arkansas W 38-10 11/19 vs #23 Florida
17 Florida State 7-3 1 vs Boston College W 45-7 11/19 @ Syracuse
18 Nebraska 8-2 1 vs Minnesota W 24-17 11/19 vs Maryland
19 Tennessee 7-3 NR vs Kentucky W 49-36 11/19 vs Missouri
20 Boise State 9-1 2 @ Hawai'i W 52-16 11/18 vs UNLV
21 Western Michigan 10-0 @ Kent State W 37-21 11/19 vs Buffalo
22 Washington State 8-2 1 vs California W 56-21 11/19 @ #10 Colorado
23 Florida 7-2 NR vs South Carolina W 20-7 11/19 @ #16 LSU
24 Stanford 7-3 NR @ Oregon W 52-27 11/19 @ California
25 Texas A&M 7-3 17 vs Ole Miss L 29-28 11/19 vs Texas San Antonio

Alright. So let me see if I have this right. Clemson loses by one point to unranked Pitt and falls only from #2 to #4, and Michigan loses by one point to unranked Iowa and stays right where they are at #3. Okay, then. I guess the point is that the distance between those two teams and the rest of the pack last week must have been greater than we thought, and after all, they do only have one loss now, so maybe they still test out higher than the competition but just less so this week. I don't know.

But whatever gets Tennessee in at #19 after not being ranked the past two weeks, I'll take it. Fourth-best three-loss team? Okay. The takeaway? Top Four teams losing to unranked opponents means the committee has to look differently at Tennessee's loss to unranked South Carolina. I guess.

And with that, here is this week's TV schedule, curated for Vols fans:

Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016

MATCHUP TIME (ET) TV/ONLINE CHANCE OF LOWER-RANKED TEAM WINNING
(5) Louisville at Houston 8:00 pm ESPN / ESPN3 ~15%

Root for Houston here, obviously.

Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016

The Noon Slate

MATCHUP TIME (ET) TV/ONLINE CHANCE OF LOWER-RANKED TEAM WINNING
Maryland at (18) Nebraska Noon ESPNews / WatchESPN ~16%
(2) Ohio State at Michigan State Noon ESPN / WatchESPN ~7%
(11) Oklahoma State at TCU Noon FS1 / FSGo ~55%
(7) Wisconsin at Purdue Noon ABC / WatchESPN ~5%
(23) Florida at (16) LSU 1:00 pm SECN / WatchESPN ~18%
Oregon at (12) Utah 2:00 pm Pac-12N / Stream ~22%

The one that matters most here, of course, is the Florida-LSU game. According to ESPN's FPI, LSU has an 82% chance of winning. S&P+ puts it at 73%. So have your radios on in the car on the way to the game, and warm up your best "GEAUX TIGAHS!"

The Afternoon Slate

MATCHUP TIME (ET) TV/ONLINE CHANCE OF LOWER-RANKED TEAM WINNING
(17) Florida State at Syracuse 3:30 pm ABC/ESPN2 (RM) / WatchESPN ~8%
Missouri at (19) Tennessee 3:30 pm CBS / Stream ~13%
(22) Washington State at (10) Colorado 3:30 pm FOX / FSGo ~41%

Tennessee taking care of business against Missouri is first-things-first.

Root for Washington State against Colorado, I guess, but we don't want them passing us in the rankings. Probably doesn't matter much, anyway.

And root for Syracuse against Florida State.

The Evening Slate

MATCHUP TIME (ET) TV/ONLINE CHANCE OF LOWER-RANKED TEAM WINNING
(4) Clemson at Wake Forest 7:00 pm ESPN / WatchESPN ~8%
Arizona State at (6) Washington 7:30 pm FOX / FSGo ~6%
(9) Oklahoma at (14) West Virginia 8:00 pm ABC / WatchESPN ~46%
(13) USC at UCLA 10:30 pm ESPN / WatchESPN ~37%

Root for:

  • Wake Forest over Clemson, to throw more suspicion on the ACC;
  • Arizona State over Washington, for the same reason but in the Pac-12;
  • West Virginia over Oklahoma, because chaos; and
  • UCLA over USC, to make room for the Vols.