Last season's Oklahoma St. vs. Texas Tech game in Stillwater was a thrilling game that the Cowboy's ended up winning 49-45; however, the only thing that anyone remembers from that game is Mike Gundy's wild tirade on an Oklahoma City sports writer. It made Gundy a YouTube sensation and completely overshadowed what was a great, high scoring back and forth ball game. This years game should be just as entertaining but with the stakes even higher.

You also might have heard about Nick Saban returning to Baton Rouge for the first time as Alabama coach. The great LSU blog, And the Valley Shook! gives a great breakdown on what Saban meant to the LSU program.

LSU vs. Alabama is the big SEC matchup of the day but the game that will get the national attention will be focused again the best conference in the country, the Big 12.

Onto my first picks on FanIQ:


Saturday 12pm ESPN2: 11 Ohio St. at 24 Northwestern [94% of FanIQ is picking Ohio St.]

Ohio St. heads west to Evanston looking to bounce back from their loss to Penn St. two weeks ago. Northwestern is coming off of a win last week over Minnesota off of a INT returned for a touchdown with a mere 19 seconds left. Northwestern will need a similar miracle to beat the Buckeye's. Ohio St. has won the last three meetings by a combined score of 160-24. Ohio St.'s defense is coming off that impressive showing against Penn St. where they only allowed 13 points but it was the offense that let them down by mustering only two field goals. Terrelle Pryor's play has improved this season with each game but he was able to only get 6 yards on the ground against Penn St. and had a costly fumble that set up Penn St.'s winning TD. Look for the Buckeyes to pound the ball on the ground and win a tight one. Ohio St. 24 Northwestern 10


Saturday 3:30pm CBS: 1 Alabama at 16 LSU [52% of FanIQ is picking Alabama]

The big SEC matchup of the weekend takes place in Death Valley as Nick Saban makes his triumphant return to the school he led to a National Title in 2003. With a victory on Saturday, the Crimson Tide would clinch the SEC West title and a place in the SEC championship game but LSU has won the previous five games in this series. Alabama is only favored by 3.5 and have won their two big games of the season by a combined total of 75-40, however those wins look a little less desirable since Clemson has fallen off the map and Georgia proved that it was overrated. A win here would leave on less hurdle left for the Tide to the National Championship game while a win by the Tigers would put them a game back in the SEC West and keep their major bowl odds in great shape. This game will be a defensive struggle and the madness of November will continue. Bayou Bengals 17 Crimson Tide 14


Saturday 8pm ABC Regional Coverage: 21 California at 7 USC [92% of FanIQ is picking USC]

The Trojans look to continue their dominant ways since losing to Oregon St. Since that loss on Sept. 25, the Trojans outscored their foes 214-20. Granted those teams were Oregon, Arizona St, Washington St, Arizona, and Washington, not exactly murders row. Cal will be looking to end Pete Carroll's dominance in the month of November. The Trojans are 24-0 in November under Carroll. A win here for the Bears would put them in the drivers seat for the Pac-10 championship while a win for the Trojans would keep them in a first place tie with Oregon St. The Trojans also tend to drop games to Pac-10 teams that they shouldn't but Carroll will have his troops ready for this prime time matchup of top 25 teams. USC 38 Cal 14


Saturday 8pm ABC Regional Coverage: 9 Oklahoma St. at 2 Texas Tech [73% of FanIQ is picking Texas Tech]

Texas Tech is coming off their biggest win in the program's history. The Red Raiders are hoping to avoid a letdown as Oklahoma St. and their top 10 ranking comes into Lubbock on another Saturday night game between two high powered offensives of the Big 12. This game is surely to be a shootout like last season's. Both teams are in the top 5 in scoring offensives in the country with Texas Tech averaging 47 points per game and Oklahoma St. averaging 45.3 points per game. Texas Tech also averages 565 yards of offense a game compared to Oklahoma St.'s 518 per game, both of them in the top 10 in that category. This game could very well come down to whichever team has the ball last or whoever can get a key stop during the game. I think Texas Tech will have the ball last and will get a field goal with 15 seconds remaining to win the game and vault into the number 1 spot in all the polls. Red Raiders 45 Cowboys 42

Upset Picks

Clemson over Florida St.
Cincinnati over West Virginia

Lock of the Week

Arizona (-41) over Washington St.

That spread could be 50 and I would still take Arizona and the points.The Cougars are terrible and if Arizona can't cover this spread, Mike Stoops should probably not be brought back next season.


Check out the full schedule for the week here.