Anticipation has been building up all season for the series of traditional rivalry games that will be played this weekend in college football. Most universities save their oldest and closest rivalries for the last game of the season.
Sometimes the games have conference or even national implications but sometimes the game is about nothing more than bragging rights and pride, and there will be a lot of pride on line the week down on the field.
Of course the big game this year has got to be the ‘Iron Bowl’ which will be played at Auburn, Alabama between the #1 ranked Crimson Tide of Alabama (-11) and the home team, then #4 ranked Auburn, Tigers this Saturday afternoon. Few sporting events in the country can rival this big football game for attendance and excitement.
Arkansas will travel down to Baton Rouge on Friday afternoon to take on #17 LSU in the annual ‘Battle for the Boot’ which is a big 6 foot tall trophy shaped like the boot formed by the states of Louisiana and Arkansas. While the game carries no national or even conference implications, it is still a matter of great pride between the two great universities and the game is always a good one.
Other traditional rivalries around the south include Ole Miss at Mississippi State at Starkville and the Georgia Bulldogs, without the services of quarterback Aaron Murry, will play in-state rival Georgia Tech while #10 South Carolina will entertain #6 Clemson in a game which could have national importance.
The two newcomers to the SEC, #19 Texas A&M and #5 ranked Missouri (-4) will clash at Mizzou with Johnny Manziel and company looking to get back on track after losing a tough one to LSU last week.
Number 2 ranked Florida State travels to Gainesville to take on a hapless Florida Gator team which seems to be in an unusual state of disarray this year.
Up in the mid-west, #3 ranked Ohio State (-12.5) goes up to Michigan for another traditional Big Ten rivalry game while the #25 Notre Dame ‘Fighting Irish’ travels all the way out to California to play the #8 ranked Stanford Cardinals.
But the big game of the week out on the West coast take place when the #23 ranked USC Trojans (-3.5) host the #22 ranked UCLA Bruins in a cross town rivalry game whose outcome could affect which teams go to which postseason bowl games.
