So Much Football. So Little Time!

This weekend features six matchups of teams in the Associated Press top 25.  Of those six games, three will certainly impact the National Championship Playoff race.

• #2 Ohio State hosts #9 Michigan State.  A win by the Buckeyes gives them at least a share of the Big Ten Eastern Division, while a Spartan win could potentially see the division in a three-way tie with OSU, MSU and Michigan.
• #10 Baylor travels to #4 Oklahoma State.  The Cowboys may be one of the biggest surprises of the season.  They survived a scare last week against Iowa State but control their own destiny with home games this weekend and next.
• Just 80 miles to the south, #7 Oklahoma takes on #11 Texas Christian.  Having suffered a loss earlier to Texas, the Sooners must win out over the next two weeks and hope for an upset or two among the teams ranked ahead of them to be included with the final top four teams and gain a playoff bid.

The other top-25 matchups are: #17 Louisiana State at #25 Mississippi, #20 Northwestern at #21 Wisconsin and #22 Southern California traveling to #23 Oregon.

There are also three traditional rivalries that will be played this weekend. 

• The “Holy War” between #5 Notre Dame and Boston College will be played at Fenway Park, the first football game held at the Red Sox home field since 1968.
• “The Big Game” between #15 Stanford and California will mark the 25^th anniversary of the “Payback Game” when celebrating Cal students resulted in a delay of game penalty which gave Stanford an opportunity to capitalize on an on-side kick that led to a last second game-winning score.
• Lastly the “Duel in the Desert” will match Arizona and Arizona State in Tempe as they will play for the Territorial Cup which is the oldest rivalry trophy (1899) in college football.