NCAA College Football: Best Weekend of the Season?

This could be it - the very best weekend of the 2009 NCAA College Football Season. Sure, some people point to the last weekend of the season when Ohio State and Michigan face off, alongside the Kansas/Missouri Border War and the Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West VA, but this is it, folks. With BCS rankings coming out on Sunday and a Heisman Trophy race heating up, life is getting mighty exciting at Division 1 college campuses across the country.

With the annual Red River Rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma pushed back by a week to the third weekend in October (as opposed to the second weekend as is it's customary date), it leads into a few other match-ups that I'm salivating over.

Let's start on Thursday night:

This is it, the Big East Game of the Year down in Tampa, between the South Florida Bulls and the conference-leading Cincinnati Bearcats. Tony Pike and the Bearcats have powered through the early weeks, and look a decent chance to go all the way, win the Big East and face off against an ACC opponent (Va Tech, you'd have to say) in the Orange Bowl. But the Bulls have been good, even with their biggest star, senior QB Matt Grothe, injured and out for the season. Make no mistake, these two teams are the class of the Big East field. Whoever wins this game, wins the conference, barring some crazy capitulation. While I don't want to beat against the Bearcats in this one, the Bulls will have a rabid home crowd in Raymond James Stadium and they may be ripe to pull the upset.

If Thursday was big, Saturday promises to be HUGE:

The Dallas State Fair is on again, and at the Cotton Bowl, two of college football's greatest and bitterest rivals, the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners will face off at Midday in a stadium split down the middle in terms of supporters in the stands. The Longhorns came from 14 back to beat Colorado on Saturday night in Austin and it was clear that they were thinking a week ahead. The Sooners got their senior QB/Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford back just in time, and he tuned up with an easy win over Baylor. Last year's game was an epic. OU took the early lead and had the early ascendancy, but Jordan Shipley's punt return for a TD ignited the crowd and the game in the second quarter and Texas dominated from there. This year, I think the Longhorns are the stronger team, and although Oklahoma's chances of reaching the National Championship Game are shaky at best, they can easily be the spoiler and throw a spanner into the Big 12 works with an upset victory in Big D. It should be an enthralling game. If Colt McCoy has a blinder, he'll vault clearly into the Heisman lead.

America's focus turns from Dallas to South Bend, Indiana for the renewal of what many people believe is college football's greatest inter sectional rivalry. The Trojans of Southern California are in town to face up against the white-hot Notre Dame Fighting Irish. I have some concerns about the Irish defense. They've given up a lot of big scores (including 30+ to the Washington Huskies last game out) while the USC D, despite losing a wealth of NFL talent at the end of last season, are playing good, hard football. They've conceded only 43 points all season, which is on par with what they did last year. USC will win this if Pete Carroll opens the playbook and lets Matt Barkley launch the ball. The prospect of having Ronald Johnson and Damian Williams outside must be tantalising for the freshman QB. I think the Irish can go with the Trojans on offense for a while, but will need a massive lift on defense - a lift I don't think they'll be able to get against a solid USC run game. Throw Barkley and his receivers into that mix, and it's a game-winning combination. Should be an entertaining shootout!

It's all about the Big 12 on Saturday night with a pair of intriguing games. You've gotta love the schedule makers, right? The Oklahoma State Cowboys meet the Missouri Tigers in Stillwater in a game where Missouri will be out to make amends for a fourth quarter meltdown against Nebraska the previous week. The had a 12-0 lead at 3 quarter time and ended up losing 25-12 as Nebraska exploded offensively in the last frame, having done precious little prior. The Cowpokes had a win without their stars Kendall Hunter and Dez Bryant. Hunter, the exciting running back, should return. Dez Bryant, the subject of a NCAA investigation after being ruled ineligible, won't be lining up for QB Zach Robinson. This hurts the Cowboys, but not enough to give Mizzou a legitimate chance at the win. That's not to say that Blaine Gabbert and Danario Alexander won't have a crack.

Meanwhile, the impressive Kansas Jayhawks and their senior QB Todd Reesing travel to take on the University of Colorado Buffaloes. After going up 14-3 last week against Texas, the Buffaloes imploded and had 34 points scored on them. Coach Dan Hawkins benched his son Cody in favour of sophomore Tyler Hansen. It had to happen sooner rather than later. Would Hawkins have survived this long if his papa wasn't head coach? Perhaps not. On the flip side, the Fighting Manginos are on fire. Todd Reesing set all sorts of personal records last game vs. Iowa State and came within 38 yards of the highest yardage total in KU history. Wide out Kerry Meier, who is #2 on the QB depth chart at Kansas, is also setting records, with 16 grabs and two scores. They'll be too good for Colorado and keep chasing the Nebraska Corn Huskers for the lead of the Big 12 North.

In a word:

Cincinnati Bearcats
Texas Longhorns
USC Trojans
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Kansas Jayhawks

Strap in! What a weekend of college ball it's going to be!!