It's BCS Impact Saturday! Actually, it's not, but it is the kind of week that gets some TV network marketing type busy trying to think up clever-but-pointless names that their talking heads can spout all weekend long to remind us of just how big a week this is on the schedule.
After all, can we have enough hype for the Red River Shootout? Oklahoma and Texas meet in Dallas in a battle of top five teams that could go a long way toward deciding one of the participants in the BCS Championship Game. Texas is currently fifth in the polls, behind the Sooners and Missouri from the Longhorns' own league. It wouldn't be a big surprise, though, if Texas jumped straight to the top if it beat OU.
For the Sooners, this is the toughest test left before the Big 12 Championship Game, assuming they get there. Missouri is not on their regular season schedule, and Texas Tech has to go to Norman.
The Tigers have their own test this week when undefeated -- and not terribly respected -- Oklahoma State visits Columbia. Not much was expected of the Cowboys this year, but they are averaging almost 53 points per game so far. Of course, they haven't played anyone the caliber of Missouri yet, but the folks at Mizzou might want to have an engineer handy in case the two teams wear out the scoreboard.
In the SEC, LSU travels to Florida in what could be a BCS elimination game for the Gators. Since Florida blew its margin for error in a home loss to Ole Miss two weeks ago, losing again would dramatically change the team goals for this season. The Tigers have had an extra week to prepare for this game. Sometimes that's good, sometimes it's not.
Can Vanderbilt stand success? We'll find out this Saturday when it visits Mississippi State. This is a classic ambush game, with Vandy flying high off its big win over Auburn, and Georgia on the schedule next week. The Commodores can't be too fat and happy, and can't get caught looking ahead.
Penn State travels to Wisconsin, which is desperately trying to keep the wheels from falling off of its season. The Badgers have blown late leads in back-to-back weeks and now face the challenge of knocking off the Big Ten's last legitimate national title contender.
Northwestern is also undefeated, but not getting nearly the respect that the Nittany Lions are. That could change this week as the Wildcats host 5-1 Michigan State. The Spartans are actually the higher-rated team in the coaches' and Harris polls, so a win by NU could give it a nice push up the rankings.
Another team looking for a big push in the rankings is Notre Dame. The Irish are unranked for the first time ever with only one loss in its first five games. That is partly because all those wins came at home against ordinary -- or worse -- opposition and partly because nothing was expected of them. This week, Notre Dame is at North Carolina and a win by the Irish will have the folks in South Bend thinking seriously about a BCS berth.
