It's mid-October and the conference slates are starting to heat up with sold match ups across the country. There are only two match ups this weekend between ranked teams: 13th ranked Northwestern traveling to the Big House to take on 18th ranked Michigan, and 23rd ranked Cal traveling to 5th ranked Utah. Yet both games will go a long way to determining who the contenders are in both the Big 10 and Pac 12 conferences.
Thursday sees former Iowa State OC Tom Herman host Chad Morris and SMU (7 PM, ESPN2) and Washington traveling to USC (8 PM, ESPN).
In Big 12 action the Red River Shootout leads off Saturday at 11 AM from Dallas. Oklahoma is coming off a convincing win in Norman over West Virginia, and despite Texas' thrashing in Ft Worth last weekend this game could be closer than many expect. Baylor travels to Kansas (with a 44 point spread!).
Iowa State has a pivotal game in Lubbock with the Flying Kingsburys, and for the evening's entertainment Oklahoma State travels to Morgantown where the refs will struggle to find new ways to help the Cowboys. While TCU travels to Kansas State to fight Bill Snyder and his 30 quarterbacks.