College Football Best Bets: Three Favorite Picks for Week 12 of the 2022 Season

We're 12-6 with our last 18 college football best bets and we're hoping to turn in a winning week in Week 12. This slate features some really exciting matchups and we previewed some of the biggest ones earlier in the week. But the ones below are the moneymakers, as we're trying to find the sharpest picks of the weekend. 

If you haven't already, you should consider signing up for DraftKings ➡️ here ⬅️ as you can turn a $5 pre-game moneyline bet on any game into a free $200 if your team wins. 

RELATED: College Football Bet Hub 

Week 12 College Football Best Bets 

TCU Horned Frogs vs. Baylor Bears - 12:00PM ET

Everybody in the world seems to think that the Horned Frogs are overrated, but they continue to prove that they're one of the best teams in the country. The problem is that they're now going on the road to take on an underrated Bears team. 

Baylor got shellacked by Kansas State last week, losing by 28 as a 2.5-point home favorite. But this is a very well-coached football team and Dave Aranda is going to have his guys ready to go in this one. The Bears had actually won and covered in three games in a row before laying an egg against the Wildcats, and two of those wins were rather impressive. One was at home against Kansas and another was on the road against Oklahoma. 

Before scoring three points against Kansas State, Baylor had also scored at least 35 points in each of its previous four games. With that said, the Bears do have the offense required to hang with the Horned Frogs' explosive attack. But where Baylor really has the edge is with Aranda's defensive mind. He should be able to put a good plan together to slow down TCU's offense at least a little bit. 

You'd have to think that the Bears will have a serious home-field advantage here. These fans should want to show up and see their team end the Horned Frogs' perfect season. Baylor is also 6-0 against the spread in home games when coming off a game in which the team forced one or fewer turnovers since the start of last year. The Bears have won those games by an average of 13.8 points per game. 

BET: Baylor ML at +126 at DraftKings Sportsbook

🏈 TCU vs. Baylor Predictions
📈 Betting preview: TCU vs. Baylor

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Indiana Hoosiers vs. Michigan State Spartans - 12:00PM ET

This second game is admittedly nowhere near as exciting as the first one, but this is one in which we feel we have a great shot at cashing. Indiana might be coming into this game off of some really ugly losses, but the last two games that the team has played have come against Penn State and Ohio State. This Hoosiers squad isn't quite as bad as its record might suggest and it should look a lot better against a mediocre Spartans team. 

The road team has actually covered in four meetings in a row between these two teams, so the Hoosiers likely won't be rattled all that much by the crowd in East Lansing. Also, while the sample size is small, Indiana is 2-0 ATS after having given up at least 50 points in its previous game under head coach Tom Allen. That means that he generally knows how to light a fire underneath his players. At the same time, the Spartans are 0-2 ATS when playing as home favorites of 7.5 to 10 points under Mel Tucker. 

Michigan State also has a very burnable secondary and that should allow Indiana's passing game to look a bit better than it has all season. 

BET: Indiana +10.5 at -110 at DraftKings Sportsbook

🏈 Indiana vs. Michigan State Predictions
📈 Betting preview: Indiana vs. Michigan State

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USC Trojans vs. UCLA Bruins - 8:00PM ET

Our final game of the day is arguably the most exciting one, as the Bruins and Trojans meet in a game with huge Pac-12 implications. While the Trojans have received all the buzz in the world for their 9-1 start, the Bruins being 8-2 has flown under the radar. Let's just call that the Lincoln Riley effect. 

UCLA is coming off an awful home loss as a 20-point favorite against Arizona last week, but that was likely because the Bruins were looking ahead to this one. That doesn't mean it's acceptable, but it should actually mean that UCLA will be playing with even more passion in this heated rivalry. And even with the loss to the Wildcats, the Bruins have a more impressive resume than the Trojans this year. 

USC's only decent win this season was a 17-14 victory over Oregon State in which the Beavers handed the Trojans a game they should have won. But UCLA has already earned wins over Washington and Utah, and the team is going to be playing with a real chip on its shoulder here. All of the talk in the Pac-12 this season has been about Riley and quarterback Caleb Williams. But what about UCLA head coach Chip Kelly and quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson? We'd take the latter over the former any day of the week. And the Bruins also happen to have a bit more of a reliable defense, despite some poor recent results. 

Under Kelly, UCLA happens to be 3-0 both SU and ATS off an upset loss to a conference opponent. With that in mind, we're backing the Bruins to win this one outright. 

BET: UCLA ML at +105 at DraftKings Sportsbook

🏈 USC vs. UCLA Predictions
📈 Betting preview: USC vs. UCLA