With both No. 1 Louisiana State University and No. 2 Alabama idle, college football's Halloween spotlight shines on the battle between No. 8 Kansas State and No. 9 Oklahoma in Manhattan, KS.. The Tigers and the Crimson Tide, both 8-0, rest this weekend in preparation for their long-awaited clash November 5.
Kansas State is still unbeaten (7-0 ), but Oklahoma (6-1) last weekend fell victim to the season's biggest upset and plunged from third to ninth in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) ratings. Wisconsin was also dropped from the list of unbeatens in a season that experienced few major upsets in its early weeks. Five teams in the Top 25 have been wiped off the unbeaten list in the last two weeks.
Previously unranked Texas Tech shocked Oklahoma, running up a 31-6 lead, then holding on to win 41-38 after a wild fourth quarter. The win moved Tech (5-2) from unranked to 20th place in the BCS rankings.
No Big 10 Team in Top Ten
Wisconsin was defeated by Big Ten rival Michigan State 37-31on a game-ending Hail Mary pass, dropping the Badgers from sixth to 15th in the BCS rankings and elevating the Spartans from 16th to 11th place. However, Michigan State faces No. 14 Nebraska (6-1) this weekend.
The Wisconsin loss left the once-dominant Big Ten Conference without a team in the Top Ten.
No. 3 Oklahoma State Cowboys (7-0), finally emerging out of Oklahoma's shadow, hosts an unranked, but high-scoring Baylor team (4-2) this week The Bears have averaged 44 points per game, including 35 in a one-point loss to Kansas State. They were walloped by Texas A&M 55-28 two weeks ago, but a week's rest may have them primed for an upset over Oklahoma State.
Clemson Takes on Georgia Tech
No. 4 Boise State is off this week. No. 5 Clemson (7-0) goes to Atlanta for a tough Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) match against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets won their first six games, then lost to Virginia and Miami in the last two weeks.
With the Oklahoma and Wisconsin losses this past week, No. 6 Stanford (7-0), is now considered by some to have a good shot at landing in the BCS championship game against either LSU or Alabama. However, the Cardinals must get by Southern Cal (6-1) this weekend and later Oregon and Notre Dame. USC, which is ineligible for bowl consideration this season, is in an excellent position to play spoiler. The Trojans defeated Notre Dame last weekend by two touchdowns.
No. 7 Oregon (6-1), which has been slowly climbing back from its season-opening loss to LSU, takes on Washington State this weekend. No. 10 Arkansas goes to Vanderbilt for a Southeastern Conference battle.
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