There are some very interesting games to watch on Saturday. No real barn burners that are guaranteed classics, but several that will teach us more than a little abut high profile teams. I won’t be watching any of them – I’ll be at the Breeders’ Cup watching Curlin run into history. At the very least you should watch some of the racing as you watch football. It will be worth it. Here are the games that stand out to me:
Texas Tech (+1) at Kansas – The Red Raiders need to keep winning to keep pace with Texas and give themselves a shot at an improbable Big 12 championship. Kansas can’t afford a loss if it wants to maintain any chance of conference relevance. The stakes are high. That always makes for a fun game.
Oklahoma State (+11.5) at Texas – It is no exaggeration to say that this is the biggest game in the history of the Oklahoma State program. A win here would be spectacular. There could be a chance of a letdown for Texas – this is the third straight week that they have played the biggest game of the weekend.
Georgia (+1) at LSU – Both teams have encountered speed bumps along the way, but if they keep winning they could be in position to pick up the pieces and end up in a very big bowl game. Neither team has been flawless at handling pressure, so they will have to show somethiing they haven’t been able to consistently.
Wyoming (+30.5) at TCU – TCU is coming off a dominating, shocking win against BYU last week. Now they play a team they can beat in their sleep. How they perform will be very illuminating – can the coach keep them focused, or will they be too busy reading the headlines to play as well as they have shown they can?
Colorado (+24) at Missouri – A couple of weeks ago Missouri looked as good as any team in the country. After two straight rough losses, though, they are reeling. Colorado showed against West Virginia that they can surprise a team that isn’t in top form. The Tigers badly need to rebound and make a strong statement.
Penn State (-2) at Ohio State – This is the biggest game that will be played in the Big Ten this year. The winner will almost certainly win the conference and head to the BCS. Penn State hasn’t been this competitive in a while, and they haven’t ever had real success in Columbus. This has to be close to the last year of the Joe Paterno era. There would be no better statement to make than putting the Buckeyes in their place.
