Pac-12 Week 12 Best Bets, Odds, Predictions

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Last week's plays swept the board to make it a 3-0 start to Pac-12 play this year, and hopefully this type of run can continue on all the way through their shortened campaign.

Utah still hasn't played a game yet this year and they'll get their crack at the undefeated USC Trojans, a team that's not that far away from being 0-2 instead.

PAC-12 SCHEDULE - WEEK 12

Saturday, Nov. 21

  • UCLA at Oregon (ESPN2, 3:30 p.m.)
  • California at Oregon State (FS1, 3:30 p.m.)
  • Arizona at Washington (FOX, 8:00 p.m.)
  • USC at Utah (ESPN, 10:30 p.m.)
  • Washington State at Stanford (Canceled)
  • Arizona State at Colorado (Canceled)

The other four games that are currently still scheduled to happen all have interesting betting opportunities as well, as this conference still is likely holding onto the hope they can get a team all the way through the campaign undefeated.

That's going to be tough with all the different rest scenarios these teams are on each week, and those are always something to at least acknowledge when breaking down these games.

PAC-12 ODDS - WEEK 12 (AS OF THURSDAY)

  • UCLA at Oregon (-13.5, 66.5)
  • California (-3.5, 49) at Oregon State
  • Arizona at Washington (-11.5, 53)
  • USC (-3, 58) at Utah

Let's handicap the slate!

Pac-12 Best Bets - Week 12

California -3.5

Cal was getting talked up quite a bit before the season began, were dealt an impossible way to start the season.

A postponement, followed by their 2nd game getting postponed, then changed to facing a different opponent in a different city on Sunday morning – and a bad performance in that opener has many wanting to deny they were every a part of that California hype train.

It's been nothing but Beavers money so far, pushing the home dog down nearly a FG since opening, and that's after seeing Oregon State play, and lose twice.

I'm still not sure what those are seeing in Oregon State here, as they were gifted that first TD vs Washington last week, and were lucky to hang around with Washington State in the opener.

It's a short week for Cal sure, but not enough to warrant this big of a move. The Golden Bears are probably happy just to have a week that feels mostly normal again.

There still was something there with Cal for so many to see something with them being a potential darkhorse in this conference, and some normalcy to their schedule should help coerce the best out of this team.

USC-Utah Over 58

It's been two tight wins, and two 'unders' that have just barely connected in USC games so far, as they've gone 'under' the total by a combined six points in those two games.

The Trojans offense has put up at least 500 yards of offense in both of those outings, and it's only a matter of time before one of these 'overs' in USC games connects.

The “due” theory is never a good one, but in a unique scenario like this were we've seen one team play twice, and the other not at all, how accurate can the weighting from the Utah perspective be? And the 'unders' getting there in USC games are just coming in by the skin of their teeth as it is. If a USC 'over' is somewhere in the pipeline, why wait for a matchup against a team that's got concrete data to use as well.

The numbers on USC's defense have them ranked 77th out of 130 teams in opponent 3rd down conversion percentage (41.4%), and with the Trojans allowing 5.9 yards per play to begin with, a lot of the time their opponents don't even need a 3rd down to move the sticks.

Considering the Trojans gave up those yards per play numbers to Arizona State and Arizona, two teams that trailed Utah in the preseason odds to win the conference, I'll take my chances that Utah's defense may not be as good as expected and/or has no solid answers for this USC offense and take the high side of this total.

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