ITB's Slate of Eight: Week Twelve

We're at Week Twelve on the Slate of Eight folks and we decided to go back to the College Football News well to get a writer that's always dropping interesting talking points and observations; Matt Zemek. Zemek's been covering college football for some time now and you should know him from his Weekly Affirmations and the Monday Morning Quarterback over at CFN. Buckle up folks because Matt waxes philosophically on the Slate of Eight and this is another edition that we're proud to drop this morning just for you all.

This is an interesting week as the Slate takes an entire week off from the SEC folks, that's right, not a single SEC game on the Slate and another first occurs as the ACC somehow finds a way to cap off the action this week. The storylines are solid, the games are going to be fun to watch and yes, we even give Boise State some shine y'all. Here's the Slate for Week Twelve:

Fresno State - Boise State
Army - Notre Dame
Ohio State - Iowa
Nebraska - Texas A&M
Stanford - Cal
Oklahoma - Baylor
Wisconsin - Michigan
Virginia Tech - Miami

The Broncos are taking on the Fresno State Bulldogs who are fresh off a disappointing loss to Nevada in a game that Pat Hill's squad controlled for the bulk of the action. This is one of two games Boise State has left that has any cache and for them to leap frog the Horned Frogs an impressive win here would be nice. Army and Notre Dame enter this game with eleven combined wins but this game holds a lot of weight because of the long time rivalry and the new location; Yankees Stadium. Matt fills us in on some of the history behind this match up as well as talks about these current teams and why he believes Notre Dame will FINALLY find success in stopping the option. With Iowa's loss to Northwestern this Buckeyes-Hawkeyes match up has lost a bit of its luster but Ohio State is still clinging to a sliver of hope for winning the Big Ten and that BCS at-large bid is clearly within reach.

Early in the season the Pelini-Sherman match up was red flagged as one to watch, however, as the Aggies floundered behind underachieving quarterback Jerrod Johnson they fell off our radar. With Ryan Tannehill piloting the ship this game has bounced back into the spotlight as the last true barrier the Cornhuskers have to a one-loss season. Stanford looks to avenge their loss to Cal from a season ago, a Cal team that played Oregon tight and for all their road woes has been quite stellar at home.

Baylor has a shot at pulling off the Texas-Oklahoma sweep for the first time in like a bagillion years but with Robert Griffin battling a leg injury it will be an up hill battle. The Sooners must win to keep their Big XII South aspirations alive. Up in Big Ten country the Badgers face their last legitimate test of the season in a Michigan offense that doesn't mind playing games above that 40 point watermark. I expect to see a lot of scoring here and if the Wolverines are close late they may knock off the one-loss Bielema Bullies.

In the ACC we highlight an old Big East match up as the Canes try to knock of the Hokies, a team that's now won eight games in the row after stumbling out of the gate. After the UNC win Beamer's squad has largely wrapped up the Coastal barring a disaster against the Wahoos over Thanksgiving so this game is to help them get to Charlotte at 10-2 instead of a less impressive 9-3. For Miami this is more about pride and Randy Shannon than their ACC Title hopes. Lose this game and Shannon could be gone. Matt Zemek points out that the 3:30et kickoff doesn't bode well as Canes fans are notorious "no-shows" and without an ACC Title in reach they may skip this show down.

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