Week 12 preview: Sam Hartman-Wake Forest, Washington-Oregon State and other

Notre Dame’s Sam Hartman has actually had two weeks to surpass his two-interception efficiency in a loss at Clemson and the greater part of a year to prepare to face the team he invested 4 years leading.Hartman and the Fighting Irish will play host Saturday to Wake Forest– for which the quarterback set school and ACC records before moving to Notre Dame in January– as part of a Week 12 lineup featuring familiar challengers, in-state rivals and a little bad blood.Oregon State would like nothing more than to upset unbeaten Washington, which the Beavers already defeated in court this week. And Oregon State has the running back to do it, quietly starring in a conference known this season for its Heisman Prize competitors at quarterback.Our authors sneak peek those games and more, while likewise concentrating on other running backs you might not have become aware of(however need to have by now), notable quotes from the week and championship game scenarios in Week 12. Week 12: Frenemies, rivals and somewhere in

in between

(3:30 p.m. ET, NBC)

This one was circled right away after Sam Hartman, possibly the most decorated quarterback in Wake Forest history, decided in January to leave Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and play his 6th and last season in South Bend, Indiana. Hartman, second perpetuity in the ACC in passing yards (12,967) after starting 4 years for the Devil Deacons, gets to face his previous colleagues while also needing to return on track. After going through Notre Dame’s very first 6 games without an interception, he has actually tossed seven choices in the previous four games– 2 of them ending in losses, to Louisville and Clemson. A bye week after tossing two picks during the 31-23 defeat in Death Valley may be the very best medicine for putting his worst passing day of the campaign (43.3% completion rate) in the rearview mirror. Hartman (2,272 passing backyards and 18 TDs in 2023) started the season with four multiple-touchdown passing games. And with the ACC’s 10th-ranked pass defense (224.9 lawns per game) concerning town, Saturday might be as great a time as any for Wake Forest’s all-time leader in passing yards and passing goals to reestablish the rhythm that made Hartman a captivating early-season story.– Blake Baumgartner

(3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)Considering these teams played in the ACC national championship last season, there might have been way more on the line in this match. But now, it feels as if they are playing for pride, not prize, as the old saying goes. The Tigers are on a two-game winning streak after a disappointing start to their season (and a popular radio call from one Tyler from Spartanburg); North Carolina is 8-2 after fourth-quarter collapses against Virginia and Georgia Tech. While the Tigers are completely removed from ACC championship game contention, North Carolina still has some measure of hope, think it or not. However that hope will start in Miami earlier Saturday. If Louisville loses to the Hurricanes, the door opens a fracture for North Carolina to possibly enter into the ACC title game. The Tar Heels require to triumph against Clemson and NC State, hope Virginia Tech loses one more game and get more assistance from teams it has actually beaten on its schedule. It is a complicated tiebreak without departments that could possibly get to tiebreaker No. 3 if North Carolina and Louisville end up with the exact same conference record. Because the Tar Heels lost two games to groups they should have beaten, they now discover themselves in a situation where they need massive help. A defense that was a problem last season unexpectedly can not keep fourth-quarter leads, and that could be a problem as soon as again on Saturday versus a Clemson group playing with far more confidence on offense after successive victories.– Andrea Adelson

(7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) On Tuesday, lawyers representing Oregon State University and the University of Washington squared off in court, making last arguments to settle who should be in control of the Pac-12: Oregon State and Washington State or the 10 schools that are leaving the conference. The Beavers’ legal team dominated the Huskies’ agents, setting up the capacity for another face-off in Washington Supreme Court. However before that, the Beavers and Huskies will play each other on the stadium for what will likely be the last time for a very long time. It will be the 108th meeting all time and couple of, if any, have had these stakes, with both groups ranked in the top 10. For UW, an undefeated record and prospective College Football Playoff journey is on the line. For Oregon State, there still is a path to the Pac-12 title. Nothing would be sweeter for the Beavers than to beat Washington and Oregon in back-to-back games to destroy both challengers’ playoff possibilities and protect a place in the championship game game.– Kyle Bonagura

(7 p.m. ET, Fox Sports1 )Editor’s Picks 2 Associated The last time Kansas and Kansas State both won at least 7 games in the exact same season was 1995. Glen Mason was leading the Jayhawks to their very first top-10 surface considering that 1968, Bill Snyder was crafting his very first of 9 seasons with double-digit wins for the Wildcats and Kansas State stomped Kansas 41-7 in Manhattan. Twenty-eight years later, both teams are 7-3, and both are ranked in this week’s CFP top 25. These are the greatest stakes this game has actually had for quite a while, but if history is any sign, K-State has the edge when again: The Wildcats have actually won 14 in a row in the series and 26 of the previous 30. This would be a great time for the Jayhawks to turn the tables, however. With an upset, Kansas would end Kansas State’s hopes of protecting its Big 12 title. Kansas may need a quarterback for that. Jalon Daniels is still out, and super-backup Jason Bean suffered a head injury against Texas Tech. Jayhawks coach Lance Leipold revealed optimism that Bean will have the ability to play this weekend, and that’s probably vital for keeping up with an increasingly disastrous K-State offense that has actually balanced 42 points per game because the Wildcats were distressed by Oklahoma State.– Costs Connelly

(3:30 p.m. ET, CBS )What’s at stake for Georgia? What’s not at stake? The Bulldogs have actually won 27 successive games and can connect the SEC record of 28 set by Alabama (1978 to 1980 and 1991 to 1993) with a win over the Volunteers in Knoxville. But the conference win streak is way down the list for Georgia, which already has actually clinched an area in the SEC national championship. The Bulldogs are trying to become the first team because Minnesota from 1934 to 1936 to win three straight championship games. A loss to Tennessee, even ought to Georgia beat Alabama in the SEC championship game, would leave the Bulldogs on the outside searching in when it comes to making the College Football Playoff, particularly with 4 other Power 5 groups unbeaten at this moment. Georgia played its most complete game of the season recently in a 52-17 pummeling of No. 9 Ole Miss. Star tight end Brock Bowers went back to the lineup after having ankle surgical treatment, and the Bulldogs have scored 30 or more points in their past 5 games. Defense has actually long been a staple for Georgia under Kirby Smart, however the Bulldogs are ranked sixth nationally in scoring offense (40.6 points per game) and 5th in overall offense (504.8 YPG). Tennessee (7-3, 3-3 in the SEC) is coming off its worst whipping of Josh Heupel’s tenure, a 36-7 loss at Missouri. The Vols have actually won 14 in a row at Neyland Arena; their last home loss was to Georgia in 2021. Tennessee has given up a total of 99 points in its three losses this season. The Vols won two of the “Big 3” last season versus Alabama, Florida and Georgia, and they are attempting to avoid going 0-for-3 this time around. They’ve lost six straight to Georgia and 11 of the previous 13 in the series.– Chris Low

RBs you may have missed out on

play 0:26 Oklahoma State ratings initially on 20-yard rushing TD

Ollie Gordon II hurries it in from 20 backyards out to open the scoring versus Oklahoma.Ollie Gordon II,

Oklahoma State: Gordon may warrant some Heisman factor to consider, even after the Cowboys mistook terribly versus Central Florida in Orlando last week. Prior to that, the country’s leading rush( 1,250 yards)had eclipsed the 100-yard mark in six straight games– highlighted by 282 lawns at West Virginia and 271 yards against Cincinnati in the 2 weeks preceding the dramatic success over Oklahoma in the Bedlam ending. A trip to Houston to deal with the Huge 12’s 10th-best rushing defense (164.7 YPG)on Saturday supplies a golden chance for Gordon to move previous his 25-yard effort in the 45-3 loss to the Golden Knights.– Baumgartner Omarion Hampton, North Carolina: It is simple for people to neglect

what Hampton has finished with Drake Maye as the UNC quarterback. But those who have actually viewed the Tar Heels and the ACC understand how dominant Hampton has actually been. North Carolina entered the season wishing to run the ball better than it performed in 2022, and Hampton has actually delivered. He ranks second nationally in rushing yards per game(123.6)and is the only running back in the country who has actually hurried for over 1,200 yards and scored 13 goals. His 206 rushing attempts without a fumble is tops this season.– Adelson Cody Schrader, Missouri: Mizzou started the season 5-0 thanks primarily to the Brady Cook-to-Luther Problem III connection. The Tigers are 8-2 and on the verge of their very first New Year’s 6 bowl bid of the CFP age thanks to a different method. The defense has taken a leap forward given that the 49-39 loss to LSU, and the boulder called Cody Schrader has actually ended up being more and more of a penalizing weapon. In his previous three games– consisting of at Georgia– the former Division II All-American has rushed 83 times for 476 backyards; that provides him 1,124 lawns for the season, seventh nationally and initially in the SEC. He had 205 hurrying lawns and five catches for 116 lawns in the Tigers ’36-7 blowout of Tennessee, and if they reach the NY6 assured land, he’ll likely be a primary reason for it.– Connelly Damien Martinez, Oregon State: At the end of last season and the beginning of this one, Martinez had 9 straight 100-yard games. He

is coming off a 146-yard, four-touchdown trip recently against Stanford. He has actually hurried for more than 1,000 backyards this season in spite of reaching the 20-carry mark in a game simply once. Of the 17 FBS running backs with 1,000-plus hurrying lawns, none has fewer brings than Martinez, who is averaging 6.6 backyards per carry. Martinez leads the Pac-12 in rushing this season however ranks 4th in hurrying yards in conference play.– Bonagura Quotes of the week”It may be the one-year anniversary for some people, however it’s much like the other day for a great deal of us.”– Virginia athletic director Carla Williams, a

year after the deaths of Cavaliers football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry, who were shot and eliminated on a bus after going back to school from a field trip.”We have a very distaste in our mouth for them. We definitely wish to send them off to the SEC with a loss on our end.”– Iowa State left guard Jarrod Hufford on the Cyclones ‘matchup with Texas. “Here’s the offer.

You’re either progressing or you’re stuck. We were stuck. … You know how you’re driving down the highway, it’s a four-lane roadway– and I drive quick, OK? I like 75 to 80, and someone’s in the left lane, and they’re going 55 and they will not move over. We were that cars and truck going 55. Something had to offer. They had to get out of the way.”– Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork on why he fired coach Jimbo Fisher.”It’s 45 minutes away. It’s not close. They don’t say, ‘Orlando, we’ve got an issue. ‘”– Houston coach Dana Holgorsen on his upcoming challenger UCF, which used its Area Video game uniforms last weekend due to the distance to Cape Canaveral

.”I believed we were Space City,”he included.” That’s not my dance flooring. I’m not an attorney. Constantly wanted to be. I enjoyed a lot of programs–‘Judge Judy, ‘a lot. Constantly type of felt like it would be cool to get up there and thunder away at a jury like Tom Cruise in

‘A Few Great Guys’or be a judge like Judge Judy. Unfortunately, I did not go to law school. This will be the first time I have actually ever truly been in this scenario.”– Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, on whether he’ll speak at a court hearing on Friday in assistance of a possible injunction against his Huge Ten suspension. “I tell them what I told them when they came: I’m here. I tell them my mom’s here, my sibling’s here, my dog is here, my daughter’s here, 3 of my children are here, my other daughter pertains to darn near every home game. We’re here. I get mail here. I pay taxes here. I do not hear that. Maybe our recruiting staff hears it, however I do not hear it. I’m too sincere with moms and dads. I’m going to inform them the reality.”– Colorado coach Deion Sanders on speculation that he might be a prospect for other jobs like Texas A&M’s opening.Conference-clinching scenarios ACC – Florida State has actually clinched an area in the national championship. – Louisville will secure a location in the title game with a win OR a North Carolina loss OR a Virginia Tech loss and Georgia Tech win( to clinch a tiebreaker vs. UNC

). Big Ten – The Ohio State-Michigan winner in Week 13 will record the Big 10 East crown. – Iowa will clinch the Big 10 West with a
victory against Illinois.Big 12 – Texas will clinch a spot in the national championship with a win and losses by a minimum of 2 of Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.Pac-12 – Washington will clinch a spot

in the championship game with a win OR an Arizona loss. – Oregon will secure a spot in the
title game with a win AND losses by Arizona and Oregon State.SEC – Georgia and Alabama have actually clinched spots in

the championship game; the Crimson Tide will be the designated home team as the SEC West champion.American – SMU will clinch a spot in the national championship with a win AND losses by Tulane and UTSA.Conference USA – New Mexico State and Liberty have actually made spots in the title game; the Flames will host as the regular-season champion.MAC – Toledo and Miami have actually captured spots in the championship game.Mountain West – Flying force will clinch a spot in the national championship with a win AND losses by Boise State and Fresno State. – UNLV will secure a location in the title game with a win AND losses by Boise State, Fresno State and San

Jose State.Sun Belt – Troy has actually clinched the Sun Belt West. – Coastal Carolina will claim the East with losses by Appalachian

State and Georgia Southern.