With Nebraska’s (6-2) win over Michigan last week they are in the driver’s seat in the Big 12 Leaders Division and while they do not face a ranked tam the rest of the season facing Michigan State (4-4) at home will be a tough test.
In what might be the most highly anticipated matchup of the entire 2012 season, the LSU Tigers are set to host the Alabama Crimson Tide in a rematch of last year’s BCS National Championship game. The No. 1 Tide and the No. 5 Tigers will have played three times in the last 365 days by the time this one is done.
The Washington Huskies and the California Golden Bears are playing for pride at this point in the year, as neither team has played as well as they’d hoped they would when the season began nearly two and a half months ago.
In what will be one of the marquee matchups in all of college football this weekend, the USC Trojans are set to host the No. 4 Oregon Ducks. The game doesn’t have the same flare that it had when the year started, as the Trojans are no longer BCS title contenders, but that doesn’t mean they’re not looking to spoil the Ducks’ season. Despite both teams being top-25 defensive squads, this game could feature a lot of points.
The Washington State Cougars will travel to Rice-Eccles Stadium this weekend to take on the Utah Utes, and while neither team has excelled this season, both squads are coming off promising performances, even though only one of them got the win. This matchup wasn’t made for prime time television, but those who like to see the ball fly through the air should tune in.
Going into last weekend, the Ohio Bobcats were unbeaten and in the top 25 for the first time in school history. The Bobcats lost a heart breaker 23-20 at Miami (Ohio) last weekend.
The Kansas State Wildcats were able to leapfrog the Oregon Ducks for the No. 3 spot in the BCS this week, and following a dominant performance against the once highly touted West Virginia Mountaineers, you have to assume this is one of the best teams in the NCAA on both sides of the ball.
The Florida State Seminoles may have fallen with their week-six loss to North Carolina State, but they are as dangerous as any team outside the top 10, and the Duke Blue Devils are going to find that out this weekend.
The USC Trojans seemingly lost their BCS title hopes when they lost to Stanford in their third matchup of the season, but in college football, it’s better to lose early than to lose late, and they’re making a push for national attention in the second half of the year.
Everbank Field in Jacksonville, Fla. plays host to the annual battle between the Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs, and this season it will be the site of one of the best contests in all of week nine. The No. 2 Gators and the No. 10 Bulldogs square off this Saturday, and with a win, Florida can clinch the SEC East.
The Texas Longhorns opened the season with three convincing wins against three teams they were supposed to beat. They then went on to struggle against tougher opponents, losing two of those four matchups.
The South Carolina Gamecocks were national title contenders just two weeks ago, but after losing two straight matchups against top-10 opponents, they find themselves trying to bounce back with their SEC title hopes essentially down the drain.
The Stanford Cardinal are currently ranked 17th in the BCS, and they are looking to stay in the hunt for a Pac-12 title this week against the Washington State Cougars. The team from Pullman, Wash. has just one road victory this season, and it won’t be easy to get No. 2 against a Cardinal team that has yet to lose at home.
The Oregon State Beavers are 6-0 for the first time in more than a century, and as a result, they’ve climbed the BCS rankings to the No. 7 spot heading into week nine of the college football season. The Beavers have exceeded expectations all year long, while the Washington Huskies have underperformed with a 3-4 record.
The Oregon Ducks fell one spot in the BCS this week to No. 4, but their play on their field has given many around the country reason to believe that they are one of the best two teams in all of college football.
Clemson is at 6-1 and they have won 3 straight games. However, their only loss has come against Florida State, who beat them in ACC play and if the Seminoles run the table in conference play the Tigers may be out of the BCS picture.
