College football odds, picks, predictions for Week 12, 2020: Proven model backing Wisconsin, Mississippi State

Gary Cosby Jr / USA TODAY Sports

Since 1994, the Indiana Hoosiers have only been to four bowl games and the program hasn't won a bowl game since the 1991 Copper Bowl. However, head coach Tom Allen has breathed new life into the Hoosiers after leading them to an 8-5 season in 2019 and then rising to No. 9 in the AP Top 25 with a 4-0 start in 2020. On Saturday, the Hoosiers will play one of the biggest games in program history as they travel to Ohio Stadium for a noon ET kickoff as 20.5-point underdogs in the Week 12 college football odds from William Hill Sportsbook against No. 3 Ohio State.

That's one of two massive Big Ten games between ranked opponents on Saturday as No. 10 Wisconsin travels to suburban Chicago to take on No. 19 Northwestern in a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff. The Week 12 college football lines list the Badgers as 7.5-point favorites in that game, while No. 7 Cincinnati is a 5.5-point road favorite against UCF in another game with potential College Football Playoff implications. Before making any Week 12 college football picks on those games or others, be sure to see the latest college football predictions and betting advice from SportsLine's proven model.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Over the past four-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated a stunning profit of almost $3,900 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It is a sizzling 39-21 on all top-rated picks through 11 weeks of the 2020 college football season, returning over $1,000 in profit already. Anybody who has followed it is way up.

Now, it has turned its attention to the latest college football odds for Week 12 from William Hill and locked in picks for every FBS matchup. Head here to see every pick.

Top Week 12 college football predictions

One of the top Week 12 college football picks the model is recommending: No. 10 Wisconsin (-7.5) covers against No. 19 Northwestern in a 3:30 p.m ET matchup of Big Ten contenders. Both teams are unbeaten both straight up and against the spread. But while Northwestern has won three straight by one score, the Badgers have blown out their two opponents, blasting Illinois 45-7 in their opener, and then returning from a couple weeks off due to COVID-19 last week to destroy Michigan 49-11.

Freshman quarterback Graham Mertz has taken care of the ball this year (7 TDs, 0 INTs), while Wisconsin's rushing attack racked up a whopping 341 yards and five touchdowns against the Wolverines. Tight end Jake Ferguson is also off to a blistering start with four touchdowns in just two games. SportsLine's model sees this as a double-digit win for the Badgers as they pick up the cover in well over 50 percent of simulations.

Another one of the top Week 12 college football predictions from the model: Mississippi State (+24.5) stays within the spread at No. 13 Georgia in a 7:30 p.m. ET SEC matchup on Saturday evening. Mississippi State has had an incredibly up-and-down season in Mike Leach's first year at the helm, setting SEC passing records in a season-opening win against LSU before managing just 30 points over the next four games.

However, as the Mississippi State offense struggles, the defense has played opportunistically and generated five turnovers last week to help earn a 24-17 win over Vanderbilt two weeks ago. Tyrus Wheat had a sack, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in that victory to move Mississippi State to 2-4 on the year and he'll look to create similar issues for a Georgia offense that has turned the ball over 10 times in its last four games and is now turning to its third starting quarterback of the season with JT Daniels in line to start on Saturday night.

The model predicts that Mississippi State forces a couple of turnovers and gets over 200 yards of passing offense, moving the ball just well enough to keep Georgia from dominating all the possession. That's why the model predicts that Mississippi State covers in over 50 percent of simulations, with the under 44.5 also hitting nearly 60 percent of the time.

How to make Week 12 college football picks

The model has also made the call on who wins and covers in the top-10 showdown between Ohio State vs. Indiana and every other Week 12 FBS matchup, and it is also predicting a major upset in the Pac-12. You can only get every pick for every game at SportsLine.

So what college football picks can you make with confidence in Week 12? And which Pac-12 underdog will pull off a shocking upset? Check out the latest Week 12 college football odds for some of the week's most notable games below, then visit SportsLine to see which teams win and cover the spread, all from a proven computer model that has returned almost $3,900 in profit over the past four-plus seasons, and find out.