Tailgate Debate: Breaking down the UCLA-USC battle for Los Angeles

While Week 13 in college football lacks big-time matchups, plenty of games could provide some clarity to the crowded playoff picture. We break down some of the hottest topics heading into Saturday's slate:

Yomtov: Good morning Dan and happy Saturday. As we get ready for the big slate of rivalry games next week, we've got an extremely important matchup today in Pasadena.

Five of the six teams in the Pac-12 South are still contending for the division crown, but UCLA is the only one that controls its own destiny. Wins against USC today and Stanford next week will earn the Bruins a shot at Oregon in Santa Clara on Dec. 5. Meanwhile, the Trojans need to win today and hope Arizona State loses one of its last two.

Brett Hundley has been sacked 29 times this season and a total of seven times in his two career games against USC. That's largely a byproduct of being a mobile quarterback, but UCLA's offensive line has been questionable all season and faces arguably its toughest task in neutralizing USC's Leonard Williams.

You picked UCLA here. How do the Bruins get going against a Trojans defense giving up just 22.9 points per Pac-12 game?

Uthman: UCLA has a lot of players who pose problems for any defense, but I think they can get going by using one of their best and perhaps underutilized weapons, Thomas Duarte. Duarte is 6-3, 225 and fast with great hands and is averaging 17.3 yards per catch. I just thin he is better than his 21 receptions would indicate.

Duarte is a field-stretcher, as is UCLA's leading receiver, Jordan Payton. And Paul Perkins has to be the most overlooked 1,100-yard rusher in the FBS. I cannot wait to see the matchup between him and USC's Buck Allen. In my estimation, Allen joins Wisconsin Melvin Gordon as the best pro running back prospects among college upperclassmen.

The odd thing about USC's losses is the different ways they occurred. Boston College ran for more than 450 yards. Arizona State passed for more than 550 yards. Utah had a balanced ledger. But the one thing you might be able to count on is a close game. USC's average margin of defeat is 4.3 points. And five of UCLA's wins have been by eight points or less.

One more aside: I don't pretend to know how well Josh Shaw kept himself in shape during his suspension from USC's football team, but he is a fantastic addition to the Trojans' defense. If I were Steve Sarkisian, I would not start him, but the roster is shallow enough that Shaw could rotate through the backfield and be a huge asset without taking significant time from the players who have been there all season.

Jesse, there aren't a lot of matchups today that can help a leading College Football Playoff candidate's case, but there are a bunch that could hurt them. What top-15 team in the Playoff rankings has the most to be concerned about today?

There's a case to be made for Baylor, but I'm going to say it's No. 8 Ole Miss. Today's contest is the definition of a trap game. The Rebels are on the road against an Arkansas team that just shut out LSU, with the biggest Egg Bowl ever on tap next week. Basically, the stakes are impossibly high in Fayetteville.

Yomtov: Ole Miss can still take the SEC West – and possibly earn itself a Playoff spot – by winning its next two and Auburn beating Alabama. It's sudden death for senior Bo Wallace the rest of the season and if you look at some of the duds he's dropped in big games it really is cause for concern.

Arkansas is a trendy pick today and for good reason. The 14th time was the charm for Bret Bielema, who finally got his first SEC win after his team lost its previous four (all against ranked teams) by an average of seven points. They'd been knocking on the door all season and with arguably the nation's best one-two running back combination in Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins, come up against an Ole Miss defense that gave up 512 total rushing yards in the losses to LSU and Auburn.

Dan, we do this dance every year but at some point something's got to give. With another humiliating performance against Wisconsin, Bo Pelini is on the proverbial hot seat. The Cornhuskers can notch a nice win against Minnesota this afternoon, but is there any chance the seventh-year coach is not on the sideline come Aug. 2015? And do you think the presence of the Florida (and potentially Michigan) opening might be a factor for Nebraska's brass one way or the other?

Uthman: This is a slightly complicated one. No, Bo Pelini is not on the hot seat. But he will be by, say, 3:30 today if the Cornhuskers lose to Minnesota.

But I still don't think the pressure, or heat, is coming from Nebraska's administration. Shawn Eichorst, the Huskers' A.D., has remained true to Pelini despite the fact he inherited him instead of hiring him. It comes from fans who have been taken on an emotional rollercoaster for almost seven seasons. But even then, there are a couple reasons why it makes no sense to cut Pelini loose. First, the Huskers have never won fewer than nine games under Pelini.

Second, the stadium is full. And in college football and the college sports business today, it's not often you see a coaching change at a place where the seats are still full.

Frankly, despite Pelini's advocacy and loyalty to his players, Nebraska today is recruiting to a 9- or 10-win level, and considering the talent in its geography, that's really good. I'm not saying Nebraska isn't a Big Ten champion-caliber program, but I am saying that I don't see someone else going in there and winning bigger than Pelini right now.

Jesse, this is an odd weekend with a lot of top teams playing also-rans or even FCS opponents. Two weeks from now we're going to have a bunch of conference championship games matching many of the best teams in college football, but Playoff contenders are going to face a weak opponent or might even have the day off. How do you think that might affect the chances of a TCU or Mississippi State making the four-team field?

Yomtov: This is something I've been thinking a lot about the last few weeks. In the BCS era, we saw examples of teams idle the last week of the season managing to hold on to their spot (Alabama in 2011) and some getting leapfrogged (Michigan in 2006).

With the human element of the committee, I'm really having a tough time envisioning an idle team finding its way into the Playoff field. For the sake of this discussion, let's assume the one-loss teams all win out. Alabama wins the SEC West and Mississippi State has the day off on Dec. 6. I know the Bulldogs managed to stay at No. 4 this week, but when push comes to shove, I don't think they're going to finish in the four-team field without winning the division.

TCU plays Iowa State, Ohio State would be in the Big Ten title game and Baylor faces Kansas State. I'm personally confident that Baylor is eventually going to jump TCU once the Big 12 slate is all wrapped up on the basis of the head-to-head victory and the ability to make a statement in the final game.

If Ohio State wins the Big Ten title game (likely against a tough Wisconsin team), the Buckeyes would be 12-1 with an 11-game winning streak. You could consider them the hottest team in the country.

To summarize, I don't think TCU or Mississippi State will end up in the Playoff field when the committee makes its decision on the heels of the final weekend.

PHOTOS: All the action from Week 13