Sorry this is getting posted on a Friday evening, but hey, better late than never (busy week, real life, etc.)...
We've hit that part of the season where I'm pretty much on edge. We're 9-0 and have three games left before the SEC Championship Game. One of those games (Chattanooga) should be a win you can bank on. The other two games are against divisional rivals. We'll be favored in both of them, but we still have to go out and win them. Both of those games are on the road. Since the SEC title game is locked down in both east and west, I don't really care what goes on from here on out in the conference except for our games, Florida's games and Auburn's games. With that in mind, here's the five non Alabama games I'll be watching this weekend. Rankings are BCS rankings and all times are central:
WEST VIRGINIA (25) at CINCINNATI (5)
Friday, November 13th - 7:00 p.m. - ESPN2
Everybody's zeroed in on the Cincinnati vs. Pitt game on December 5th as the de facto Big East Championship Game. Fact of the matter is though that West Virginia, statistically, isn't eliminated from the race to be Big East champs. They've only lost one conference game and have Cincinnati and Pitt both on the schedule. If WVU wins out, they're BCS bound. It's highly unlikely, but hey, this is the Big East where weird stuff can and does happen.
FLORIDA (1) at SOUTH CAROLINA
Saturday, November 14th - 2:30 p.m. - CBS
I'm sure we'll here about 12 trillion comments about the return of Brandon Spikes, Tebow, Urban Meyer getting fined and the fact that Steve Spurrier is coaching against his old team. Oh well, turn the sound down and enjoy.
AUBURN at GEORGIA
Saturday, November 14th - 6:00 p.m. - ESPN2
Set your DVRs for Barn vs. Dawg on the deuce. As many others have noted, this one should be worth watching for the Malzahn vs. Martinez coordinator match-up.
UTAH (16) at TCU (4)
Saturday, November 14th - 6:30 p.m. - CBSC
Truthfully, this is the game of the week, or at least the one that has the most riding on it for several different teams. This game likely decides the conference winner and will either propel TCU into the BCS (their two remaining games are against hapless New Mexico and Wyoming, who have a combined record of 4-15 so far) or will pave the way for Boise to make their 2nd BCS appearance. Either way, a BCS bid is getting locked down for someone after this game.
ARIZONA STATE at OREGON (14)
Saturday, November 14th - 9:20 p.m. - ESPN
With our game starting at 6:00 p.m., you can't help but think the beginning of this one is going to be preempted. Anyway, the Ducks are back in Autzen and need to regroup after their up and down past two weeks. Please Ducks, for the love of all things good, get it together and win the Pac-10.