College Football Week 12 Upset Picks: Iowa State, SMU, Wake Forest Among Top Predictions

Who’s is going to pull off an upset in Week 12 of the college football season?

The BetSided team went 2-2 on upset picks last week, moving our record to 27-21 on the year, and we’re looking to keep the over .500 record going this week.

Here are our best upset picks in college football with all odds via WynnBET Sportsbook:

SMU (+350) Upsets Cincinnati

The Mustangs have one of the most explosive offenses in the country and that will put the Bearcats in a bad position in this game. Cincinnati hasn’t covered in a month and if SMU has a chance to win the game late, it’ll take it. 

The Bearcats have had a halftime lead of three points or less in three of their last four games. Meanwhile, SMU has put up 55 points in two of its last four games. Unless the Bearcats jump out to a massive lead, SMU is going to take advantage of a Cincinnati team that hasn’t been able to put teams away all year. -- Donnavan Smoot

Wake Forest (+180) Upsets Clemson

While this line is telling me that Clemson wins this one with ease, I see way too much value on Wake not to pull the trigger. Clemson is a far cry from their preseason standing amongst the nation's elite, and I believe that the Tigers’ failing offense will cost them again on Saturday.

Sam Hartman has the Wake Forest offense humming, scoring over 45 points per game and fresh off of a 45 point performance against an elite NC State defense. While Clemson's D is another stiff test, Hartman's ability to run the RPO offense and find threats down field will do enough to cash this ticket.

The Tigers will be without star receiver Justyn Ross for this one, and quarterback D.J. Uiagaleleli has been benched multiple times during the season as confidence in him continues to disappear. The Tigers have struggled to score against almost every team this year, so I'm not passing up another opportunity to fade them as a favorite again. -- Reed Wallach

I'm not sold on this Clemson team, especially because Dabo Swinney doesn't even seem sold on his quarterback, D.J. Uiagaleleli.

Wake Forest is scoring the second most points per game in the nation this season, and Clemson's offense has lagged considerably behind, scoring just 21.7 point per game (104th in the country).

Sure, Clemson has a strong defense, but I don't think that completely stops the Demon Deacons from moving the ball enough to force Uiagaleleli and the Clemson offense have to catch up. I'll fade the overrated Tigers this week. -- Peter Dewey

Iowa State +160 Upsets Oklahoma

The Sooners are about to lose their second straight game. Both offenses are comparable in this matchup, as they rank fifth and eighth in offensive yards per play, but the defensive advantage clearly sways in Iowa State's favor. The Cyclones rank 27th in opponent yards per play, while the Sooners defense ranks 99th.

Furthermore, both teams favor throwing the ball over running it, and Oklahoma ranks 112th in the country in opponent yards per pass attempt. Not good. Iowa State will take down Oklahoma for the second straight season. -- Iain MacMillan

It hasn’t been the year Matt Campbell and the Cyclones had expected with a senior-led squad, but they have a shot to finish their season strong with a big road test at Oklahoma before hosting TCU at home the day after Thanksgiving.

Iowa State’s three conference losses have been by an average of 4 points, so they’ve been competitive in every Big 12 matchup. 

Meanwhile, the Sooners were due to regress after catching plenty of breaks all season. After switching away from Spencer Rattler in the Red River game, Lincoln Riley pulled his star freshman in the Baylor matchup last week, only to come up short. Now he has two starting quarterbacks that could be battling confidence heading into a tough matchup at home.

One team has failed to catch breaks this season. The other has seemingly caught all of them.

I think Iowa State is due and I like them on the road to win outright. -- Ben Heisler