1. -- Florida, Alabama and Texas already have spots in their respective conference championship games. It feels like months have past since they clinched. But each of them face a bitter rival during this holiday weekend, while walking a tightrope toward what they hope will be a BCS title. All three are huge favorites, but stranger things have happened. The Longhorns get things started tonight at Texas A&M. That’s followed by the Crimson Tide at Auburn in the “Iron Bowl” on Friday and the Gators hosting Florida State on Saturday in Tim Tebow’s final game in Gainesville.
2. -- There’s a familiar storyline attached to Bedlam once again. One team is fighting hard to stay in the BCS picture. The other plays the role of the spoiler and needs this game to build some momentum for next season. This time, however, the roles are reversed, with Oklahoma State being the one harboring BCS aspirations. Penn State and Iowa will be rooting hard for the Sooners, who are 10-point favorites.
3. -- Friday night’s “Backyard Brawl” in Morgantown should go the distance despite lots of haymakers landing. For some reason, this vicious rivalry between Pittsburgh and West Virginia seems like an “11" on the intensity meter, while the other big ones max out at “10.”
4. -- Georgia Tech and Clemson have a rendezvous set for the ACC Championship Game next Saturday, but each face a familiar non-conference foe to close out the regular season. It’ll be interesting to see how the Yellow Jackets handle the favorite’s role against Georgia, while the Tigers are gunning to beat South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier for the fourth time in the last five years.
5. -- If Nevada’s defense weren’t so bad, maybe quarterback Colin Kaepernick could lead the Wolf Pack to a stunning upset of Boise State. Nevada will never have as many fans as it’ll have on Friday night when several schools jockeying for position within the BCS at-large pool will be wanting to see the Broncos get bucked on the blue stuff.
6. -- Two coaches headed in opposite directions meet in Palo Alto as Charlie Weis coaches his last game with Notre Dame against Jim Harbaugh, who is one of the rising sideline stars in the country. Both teams will be dealing with a wide variety of emotions. Are the Irish done fighting? Can the Cardinal bounce back from last week’s heart-breaking loss to arch-rival Cal?
7. -- Tony Pike is back as Cincinnati’s starting quarterback. He only has Illinois to deal with, but it’ll be interesting to see how seamless the Bearcat attack will be with him under center and super-sub Zach Collaros back on the sidelines.