ESPN College GameDay 2019: TV Schedule, Predictions and Location for Week 12

A week removed from taking in the slugfest between LSU and Alabama, the ESPN College GameDay crew next hits up the Big 12 for the dance between the No. 12 Baylor Bears and No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners.

The Sooners might take a one-loss record into the fray, but the Bears are flirting with danger too a week removed from needing three overtimes to stay perfect.

Plenty swings in the balance of this clash, though painting in broader strokes, it marks a return to form for one of college football's better rivalries after a few down seasons.

Here's a look at info for the preview show, featuring Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso and Desmond Howard, as well as the game itself.

College GameDay Week 12 Info

Date: Saturday, November 16

Time (ET): 9 a.m. to noon; game is at 7:30 p.m.

Location: McLane Stadium

Watch: ABC

Live Stream: ESPN+          

Preview

This one has a lot of question marks surrounding it because of the close calls both programs have experienced as of late.

For Baylor, an undefeated mark has to feel great, but the flirtation with disaster? Not so much. On Oct. 12, the Bears needed two overtimes to slip past the 4-5 Texas Tech 33-30. Two games later, the Bears only got past the 3-6 West Virginia in 17-14 fashion.

Then the kicker last time out, a three-overtime escape of TCU, yet another team without a winning record.

After steering a formerly 1-11 program to undefeated territory, the last thing head coach Matt Rhule wants is a letdown with the big-time pregame show in town:

Easier said than done. Charlie Brewer will need to step up and limit turnovers; his four on the season have come in the aforementioned overtime games. Otherwise, he's completing 67.3 percent of his passes with 16 touchdowns. The ground game behind him will need to keep chugging along at its average of five yards per carry.

Because the task is fending off a potent Jalen Hurts-led Sooners offense.

Hurts has been electric on a level few can claim to match while completing 73.3 percent of his passes with 24 touchdowns against four picks. He also leads the Sooners in rushing with 869 yards and 15 scores on an average of seven yards per carry. All this while nobody has been able to stop wideout CeeDee Lamb, owner of 983 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Yet fear of a letdown exists on the Sooners' side too.

"We just have to keep our composure and just play the way we know how to play," Sooners safety Delarrin Turner-Yell said, according to the Associated Press (via Yahoo).

But unlike Baylor, the Sooners' flirtation with disaster had consequences in the form of a 48-41 loss to Kansas State two games ago. Clearly still struggling with the downfall, the Sooners hardly slipped by the 5-4 Iowa State last time out, winning 42-41.

Two teams well-versed in close encounters lately and a powerhouse offense averaging nearly 50 points per game against a Baylor defense that has held up surprisingly well defines what could be one of the season's best games.

Prediction

Don't be afraid of Hurts now.

Oklahoma averages 48.4 points per game and has one of the game's best outright playmakers. A few different bounces of the ball, and these Bears have between one and three losses, which changes the whole dynamic of this one.

While Baylor only permits 19.0 points per game, the defense has allowed 27 or more twice over its past four with five overtime periods in there against varying levels of competition.

There isn't a variable here in the form of a visiting Sooners team. Hurts is a great threat, and even if Baylor's offense controls the time of possession, he doesn't need long on the field to break open this one. When he does, those recent mistakes by Brewer might emerge again.

Prediction: Sooners 38, Bears 30