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It’s the penultimate week of college football’s regular season and the Pac-12 takes center stage.
The Battle for L.A. between USC and UCLA has been anticipated all season. If the conference wants to have any College Football Playoff hope, the Trojans will have to beat the Bruins on Saturday, then defeat Notre Dame and win the conference title game. Despite a UCLA loss to Arizona last week, the Bruins would love nothing more than keeping their crosstown rival out of the playoff this season.
Oregon and Utah will also meet with Pac-12 championship game hopes on the line. After the Ducks and Utes played in last season’s conference title game, a loss for either team will eliminate them from this year’s championship.
Elsewhere, three of the top four teams in the CFP rankings have tests that could shake up the playoff picture ahead of the last week of the regular season. Georgia heads to Kentucky looking to defend its No. 1 ranking while TCU travels to Baylor in one of the Big 12’s fiercest rivalries. And Michigan hosts upstart Illinois, which despite a loss last week is experiencing one of its best seasons in recent memory.
These are the top storylines head into Week 12 action.
No. 7 USC (9-1) at No. 16 UCLA (8-2) (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, Fox)
What could have been the first top-10 matchup between USC and UCLA since Troy Aikman and Rodney Peete were under center in 1988 will now have to settle for something a little less flashy: a battle between the No. 7 Trojans and No. 16 Bruins after Arizona upset UCLA last week.
With two of the top offenses in the country getting to tee off against two defenses that have been inconsistent, at best, there will be plenty of points and plenty still on the line for both teams. A win gets USC into the Pac-12 championship and keeps the Trojans’ College Football Playoff hopes alive; a win for UCLA means it still has a shot at the Pac-12 title themselves.
“When both teams are good and there are a lot of opportunities ahead for both…
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