We’ve reached the penultimate weekend of the college football regular season with everything on the line for teams that have spent months working toward.
Whether it is a place in the College Football Playoff or a berth in conference championship games, there is pressure to perform. That pressure can bring some unlikely results.
Some of the candidates for upsets are Ohio State, Arizona State, Texas and Notre Dame. Will those be the surprises that happen or will they happen somewhere else across the country on Saturday?
That’s why the USA TODAY Sports college football staff is here. Scooby Axson, Jordan Mendoza, Paul Myerberg, Erick Smith, Eddie Timanus and Dan Wolken weigh in with their bold predictions for Week 14 of the college football season:
Alabama finds offense, beats Auburn again
Last season, Alabama needed Jalen Milroe’s touchdown pass to Isaiah Bond on fourth-and-31 with less than a minute left against Auburn to pull off an improbable win and their fourth straight in the series. Speaking of improbable, those are Alabama’s chances at making the playoff after last week’s pathetic showing against Oklahoma, and they found out quickly that Milroe running the ball on quarterback keepers and throwing the ball exclusively to Ryan Williams as an entire offensive scheme isn’t going to cut it.
Auburn has its own pride they are playing for, as well as bowl eligibility, and are riding high after its four-overtime home victory over Texas A&M last week. The trash talk from the Tigers has been more profound and bold, especially after watching the Sooners dismantle their hated rivals, but in this case, Alabama will do what it always does: find a way to win and keep the Auburn fans’ toilet paper where it belongs (in the bathroom) and have them sitting at home during the postseason. — Scooby Axson
WEEKEND FORECAST: Experts picks for every Top 25 game in Week 14
Colorado somehow advances to Big 12 title game
Pretty much anyone can win the Big 12 heading into the regular season finale, but which two teams will make the conference title game? One of them will be Coach Prime.
Despite the tough loss to Kansas, Colorado still has a chance to make the Big 12 championship game, although it needs some help. All the Buffaloes can do is watch on Saturday after their defeat of Oklahoma State on Friday. They’re in with a two of either Arizona State, Brigham Young and Iowa State losing, or a chaos scenario involving a BYU loss and Texas Tech beating West Virginia. It’s a lot of math, but Saturday works in favor of Colorado to solidify it being one of the teams playing for the conference crown – and a playoff spot – next Saturday in AT&T Stadium. — Jordan Mendoza
Arizona spoils Arizona State’s chance at Big 12 title
Arizona upsets Arizona State to end the year on a high note while likely knocking the Sun Devils out of the mix for the Big 12 title game and a playoff berth. The Wildcats have won two in a row in the series, including a 59-23 blowout a year ago. But this would qualify as a huge upset: While Arizona State has been on a roll to rise up the playoff rankings, the Wildcats have dropped six of seven with the lone win coming against Houston. — Paul Myerberg
Texas A&M trips up Texas to reach SEC title game
You take one of the hottest rivalries in college football and let it go dormant for 13 years because one school decided it didn’t want to part of the same league as the other. Then that other school joins the same the league and their first meeting takes place with berth in the conference championship on the line. Such is the script for Texas A&M hosting Texas after the Aggies ditched the Longhorns and the Big 12 in favor of the SEC. The atmosphere in College Station should be electric. Texas looked vulnerable on the road in its two conference road games. The Aggies use the home crowd to boost themselves to a memorable win that give them bragging rights for at least one year. — Erick Smith
Rough day for Clemson with South Carolina loss and Miami win
It’s going to be a rough Saturday for Clemson fans. The day will get off to a bad start when the Tigers lose to archrival South Carolina.
But then it’s going to get even worse. Regardless of how the Palmetto Showdown turns out, the Tigers could still play for the ACC title should Miami stumble at Syracuse later in the afternoon. But Clemson faithful will be disappointed again, and it will happen in the most excruciating fashion as the Hurricanes pull out a mistake-filled affair in the Dome in the closing minutes when Cam Ward leads a game-winning drive. — Eddie Timanus
Notre Dame lays egg against Southern California
It’s wild that Southern California is just 6-5 despite holding every team they’ve played under 30 points in regulation this season. But it also tells me that they may be due for some karma to come their way – and it’s going to happen this weekend at the expense of Notre Dame. More than a few Notre Dame seasons have hit the skids in Los Angeles, and this is a setup for it to happen again. All the pressure is on the Irish to win this game and secure their place in the College Football Playoff. That’s dangerous especially because there is no conference championship game to backstop Notre Dame. It’s all on this game, and I suspect they’ll lay an egg to put their playoff hopes in jeopardy. — Dan Wolken