Below is the Week 12 Bruin Rooting Guide. We will rank the games in order of importance for Bruin fans – from least important to most important to the game of the week. Off our bye, we head into SLC to take on the Utes for a chilly kickoff. Win this one and we leap the Utes for the South. In addition, there’s key results we are hoping for that helps us remain in the Pac-12 race.
Byes: Colorado, Washington
San Diego St vs Fresno St
As we said last week, the Aztecs were a bit overrated and they didn’t prove us wrong. So the loss to Nevada doesn’t make us feel better about our early season loss. SDSU still have a two game lead in their division, but they can’t lose both of the next two games if they want to go to the MWC championship. Let’s hope they finish out strong starting with beating the defending MWC champions. UPDATE: SDSU won 17-7 last night.
#20 Cincinnati @ USF
Cincinnati has become a CBSSN staple as they head to Tampa to take on the forgotten Charlie Strong USF coached team. After only giving up a FG to UConn, we expect the Bearcats to continue their dominance clinching the division staying on a collision course to face the team right behind them, #18 Memphis.
#10 Oklahoma @ #13 Baylor
We told you that Iowa State team was feisty! The Sooners escaped, but it doesn’t get much easier for them. Although, we don’t believe an undefeated Big 12 Champ Baylor can make the playoff leaping a one-loss P12 Champ, we still don’t want to hear the conversation about it. For that reason, we are rooting for Oklahoma to end the Bears’ CFP hopes.
Washington St vs Stanford
What a strange season in Pullman. Aside from staying in the hunt for a bowl game, there’s a lot more to us wanting Stanford to beat Wazzu tomorrow. If Wazzu crashes, there’s a great chance Mike Leach is plucked away to coach a team in the South. This helps us next season when we play a 1st-year coached Cougar team in the Rose Bowl.
Oregon St vs Arizona St
The Beavers need 2 more wins to be bowl eligible. The Sun Devils only need 1. The Beavers play Washington St and Oregon after this game. The Sun Devils play Oregon and Arizona. Assuming Oregon is a loss, both teams can make a bowl if Oregon State beats ASU and Wazzu while ASU just beats Zona. In that case, we are rooting for the Beavers this week as two bowl teams boost our schedule.
#6 Oregon vs Arizona
This will be a win for Oregon. Not much to say here other than we are rooting for Oregon to win for the conference interests to stay in contention for the playoff. If they did lose, it would make things interesting in the North and line up a Civil War game that would matter for the first time in a while.
GOTW: Cal vs USC
Game Of The Week includes our rival once for the 3rd time this year. USC escaped in Clay Helton fashion and we love to see it. They’re heading to Strawberry Canyon to face the QB who probably had the best non-UCLA picture of 2018. Chase Garbers returns against a Trojan team seeking revenge. Let’s hope Cal knocks off USC giving us a chance to jump to 1st in the South. This game is right after ours, so it lines up well pending on our result.
Order of the games (PST) | Rooting Interest
Our game: UCLA @ #7 Utah – 5 PM on FOX
- Cal vs USC – 8:00 PM on FS1 | Cal W
- #6 Oregon vs Arizona – 7:30 PM on ESPN | Oregon W
- Oregon St vs Arizona St – 4:30 PM on FS1 | OSU W
- Washington St vs Stanford – 1:30 PM on P12N | Stanford W
- #10 Oklahoma @ #13 Baylor – 4:30 PM on ABC | OU W
- #17 Cincinnati vs USF – 4 PM on CBSSN | Cincy W
- San Diego St vs Fresno St – Friday 6:30 PM on ESPN2 | SDSU W
Byes: Colorado, Washington
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