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College Football: Week 10 Preview By Michael Rauch

Big East
The big game of the week pits #3 West Virginia against #5 Louisville on a nationally televised Thursday night game in Louisville. This game has huge national title implications as the winner has a very good chance of going through the regular season undefeated, although both must still face as-of-today unbeaten Rutgers. The loser is definitely out of the picture, so the only hope is to win.

The Mountaineers come in with a formidable rushing attack led by QB Pat White and RB Steve Slaton and averaging 319 yards per game on the ground. The Cardinals counter with a Brian Brohm led aerial attack putting up close to 500 yards per game in total offense.

Neither team has been challenged this season, however none of their opponents would strike fear in anyone. Louisville’s biggest victory to date has been a win over a Miami team going through some struggles. West Virginia’s claim to fame? A win at home over Maryland? Hardly the stuff to make a case with.

Atlantic Coast
Boston College travels to Wake Forest to battle for position atop the conference’s Atlantic division. The aforementioned Maryland travels to Clemson with the same stakes on the line. BC, Wake and Maryland all sit at 3-1 in conference at this point while Clemson is 4-2. If the Tigers pull out the victory at home, the winner of the BC/Wake contest has the upper hand in the battle for the division. That team would have one loss while the other three contenders would be saddled with two conference defeats.

In the Coastal division, Georgia Tech takes its one-game lead on the road to face North Carolina State. Virginia Tech, one game behind the Yellowjackets, must face Miami in the Orange Bowl to keep pace.

On a side note, wins by both Maryland and Miami over ranked opponents this weekend would help the case of the West Virginia/Louisville winner. In the eyes of the computers, at least.

Big 12
Fourth ranked Texas takes on upstart Oklahoma State in an effort to keep title hopes alive down in Austin. The Cowboys are fresh off an upset victory over Nebraska while the Longhorns survived a scare in Lubbock against Texas Tech last week. Also of note is the fact that in the past two meetings between the teams OSU has jumped out to large leads of 35-7 and 28-9 only to have their hopes shattered by Vince Young. If that happens again this year, Texas won’t have Young to bail them out. However, the Longhorns did spot the Red Raiders 21 points last week before coming back.

In the only conference game featuring two ranked teams, #18 Oklahoma travels to College Station to face #23 Texas A&M and the 12th man. Both teams trail the Longhorns by one game in the South division. The Sooners’ only conference loss came at the hands of Texas earlier in the season while the Aggies fell to Texas Tech. A&M still has a game left against Texas to close out the regular season.

Big 10
The Big Two continue on their collision course. Michigan takes on Ball State while Ohio State travels to Champaign to face Illinois. The Wolverines expect to get WR Mario Manningham back either this week or next week against Indiana. Just in time for a sputtering offense before the big battle in the Horseshoe. Without Manningham, Michigan in not the #2 team in the country as the past few weeks have proven.

In another Big 10 battle #17 Wisconsin entertains Penn State in Madison. The Badgers are coming off a scare at the hands of Illinois while Penn State and their juggernaut offense rolled Purdue 12-0.

Pac 10
USC looks to rebound from its defeat at the hands of Oregon State against what possibly could be one of the worst teams in the country at Stanford. Tenth ranked Cal hosts UCLA.

Southeastern Conference
In what should prove to be another SEC slobber knocker, #8 Tennessee hosts #13 LSU in Knoxville. Both teams need this game and help in order to reach the conference title game.

The Volunteers currently trail Florida in the East. Both teams have one conference loss, but the Gators hold the tiebreaker with their win over the Vols. Florida plays at Vanderbilt on Saturday.

LSU has two losses and trails both Arkansas and Auburn in the West. Auburn plays host to Arkansas State in a non-conference game. Arkansas, however, takes on South Carolina in Columbia in a 7:45pm kickoff. Arkansas has never beaten a Steve Spurrier coached team.

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