Another Exciting Weekend in Store

And we thought there were some good games last weekend...

This weekend in college football has a number of what we hope to be dynamite games on the schedule. At least that's the way they shape up on paper but, as they say, "that's why they play the games."

Fortunately for me, I had the opportunity to watch parts of several games — probably the most college football I've watched in one day other than during bowl season in years. And did I ever pick a good weekend to see a bunch of exciting games: Notre Dame upsetting Michigan in the Big House, Oregon State holding off Boise State, South Carolina giving Georgia all it could handle, the classic in the Horseshoe between Ohio State and Texas, and LSU winning a close, emotional game at Arizona State. And those were just the games on TV in my area.

This week promises to be just as good as there appears to be 10 games that look to be barnburners, or at least have the potential to be. Here they are, in no particular order.

(1) Southern Cal vs. Arkansas — The Razorbacks are hungry to prove themselves after a disappointing loss to Vanderbilt last week. USC is coming off a bye and are 31-point favorites at home. Arkansas might be able to keep this one semi-close.

(5) Tennessee at (6) Florida — Two conference rivals both ranked in the top 10 always makes for a great game. This is a huge early season SEC matchup.

(8) Florida State at (17) Boston College — Welcome to the ACC, Eagles. The Seminoles moved to the front of the conference with its big win over Miami a couple of weeks ago, but BC would like to show that being a Big East castoff doesn't mean they're not that good.

(10) Notre Dame vs. Michigan State — Is Charlie Weis and the Irish for real? We'll find out as they play their first home game of the year against the team that's historically had the most success at Notre Dame Stadium. Plus, the Spartans are 2-0, even though it's against weak opponents.

(11) Louisville vs. Oregon State — This game should display some September fireworks as both teams sport high-powered offenses and little else. The Cardinals are two-touchdown favorites, but the Beavers actually have some semblance of a defense as they showed in stopping Boise State last week.

(13) Miami at (20) Clemson — Although this ACC matchup doesn't have the flair of the FSU/BC game, it will either thrust Miami back into the spotlight or insert the Tigers in their place. By the way, the Hurricanes are touchdown favorites on the road.

(21) Oklahoma at UCLA — The Sooners struggled for much of their game against Tulsa last week, and Adrian Peterson won't start because of academic problems. Is it any surprise that the unranked Bruins are favored by nearly a touchdown at home? A win for UCLA will go a long way toward building their confidence for a tough Pac-10 schedule.

(23) Fresno State at Oregon — The Ducks are 2-0, also against weak opponents, and are picked to win at always-tough Autzen Stadium. But the Bulldogs are on a mission to prove they're a front-runner in the WAC and they're national ranking is legit.

To round out the 10 best games this week, a pair of contests between unranked opponents look very interesting.

Alabama at South Carolina — This game is another key matchup in the SEC. The Crimson Tide are slightly favored on the road against the Gamecocks. Though 'Bama hasn't looked dominating in two wins over Middle Tennessee and Southern Miss, South Carolina is a very good 1-1 team, as was evident in their near upset of Georgia last week. Nonetheless, the Tide are favored by two on the road in their first conference game.

Wisconsin at North Carolina — The Badgers, who held off high-flying Bowling Green two weeks ago and slaughtered Temple last week, roll into Chapel Hill to face the 0-1 Tar Heels. Wisconsin gets its first real test of the season as UNC nearly pulled off the upset of fellow ACC member and nationally-ranked Georgia Tech last week. Wisconsin is favored by a field goal in its first road game of the year, but this one could go either way.

I probably won't be able to watch as many games this weekend as I did last weekend, but I'll be catching up with all the scores at the end of the day. And as I do, I really hope for the sake of college football fans everywhere that I've missed a bunch of good games.