Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman pregame against Miami (OH) in Notre Dame stadium on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (Matt Cashore)

Week 12 will make or break some teams’ seasons. At a time of the year when the best of the best separate themselves, those who have been able to fake it will be exposed.

We have close to a month left until the College Football Playoff starts. That means the margin for error will get thinner and thinner.

This week, we take a look at the No. 21 Tennessee Volunteers welcoming the New Mexico State Aggies.

We will also look to “College GameDay,” where the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish try to keep the momentum going in Pittsburgh and take down the No. 23 Pitt Panthers.

Vols bounce back against the Aggies

After a crushing defeat to the No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners, Tennessee got the chance to sit back and take an extended look at things with a bye week. They also get a lighter opponent than usual with the New Mexico State Aggies.

A break from the trials of the SEC schedule, Tennessee should have no problem with New Mexico State in this one. Expect the offense to return to its early-season form with deep shots to sophomore receiver Mike Matthews and freshman receiver Braylon Staley. Both players have more than 600 yards receiving on the season and have been good young players for Tennessee.

This break, along with the bye week last week, gives Tennessee its best chance to get healthy for the final stretch of the season.

They are not eliminated from the playoff just yet, but it would be a long shot with how the season has played out. Tennessee has missed the signature win it has had in recent years. Teams like Oklahoma, the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs have toppled them — leaving only the final game against the Vanderbilt Commodores as the lone opportunity to get a ranked win.

However, in this moment now, Tennessee has New Mexico State to play, and I would argue they handle them easily with some pent-up energy after the Oklahoma loss.

Vols win 48-13.

Fighting Irish roll over the Panthers

Very few teams play the game of football the “right” way anymore. However, one team that can still do that is Notre Dame.

Do not get me wrong, they can still sling it. Freshman quarterback CJ Carr has thrown for 2,275 yards and 19 touchdowns to just four interceptions — highly impressive for a freshman quarterback in a top program.

Carr takes a back seat, however, to the best running back in the nation — junior Jeremiyah Love. After a slow start to the season against Miami and Texas A&M, Love has been elite. Love has averaged 132.4 yards and 1.7 touchdowns per game since Week 2 and is the engine of this offense. And if he goes down, there is a spare engine — fellow junior running back Jadarian Price.

Price, behind Love, has been exceptional with 568 yards and nine touchdowns so far this season. Outstanding for a guy who has averaged just 10.5 carries per game.

On the other side of things, the Pittsburgh Panthers are having a special season. At 7-2 — the same record as Notre Dame — Pittsburgh has averaged nearly 40 points per game on the arm of freshman QB Mason Heintschel.

In five full games, Heintschel has thrown for 1,547 yards and 12 touchdowns to five interceptions. The stats are good for a freshman, but he has struggled at times, with four of his five interceptions coming from just two games.

When things start to go wrong for Heintschel, they go really wrong, and I expect the Notre Dame defense to be able to make things go wrong.

Notre Dame continues to roll on the ground and create havoc on defense.

Notre Dame wins 31-24