High hopes for Bama-Auburn and Ohio State-Michigan matchups

— -- The Thanksgiving weekend of 1971 is considered the gold standard of epic rivalry games: No. 1 Nebraska defeated No. 2 Oklahoma 35-31 in one of the earliest showdowns tagged as the Game of the Century, and No. 3 Alabama defeated No. 5 Auburn 31-7. Two weekends remain before we get to Thanksgiving, but already it appears as if the Ohio State-Michigan and Alabama-Auburn rivalry games this season will be important beyond their large and passionate fan bases. All four teams are in the top 10, and these two upcoming contests look like the only top-10 matchups remaining before Championship Saturday. Those of us who remember Thanksgiving 1971 are very excited.

4. Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News, spot on per usual, wrote Saturday night that LSU has "to solve the thorny problem of what you do when you make a game mean everything -- and then lose it." That seems to be an occupational hazard among Alabama's SEC opponents. Tennessee fell apart after losing to Alabama for the 10th consecutive year. Texas A&M lost at Mississippi State. Ole Miss is 1-3 in the league since blowing a 21-point lead against the Crimson Tide. I don't know whether it's the physical toll of playing Alabama or the mental one. But the Crimson Tide are casting a large shadow.

6. The Ducks (3-6) must win out to automatically qualify for their 12th consecutive bowl; although with a 967 APR, the Ducks might have a chance at a bowl bid, should they finish 5-7. There are 11 teams with bowl streaks of at least 11 seasons, and the only other one in danger of not getting to 12 is Georgia (5-4); the Dawgs have a game with Louisiana-Lafayette (3-6) between their rivalry games against Auburn and Georgia Tech. The team with the longest bowl streak? Florida State, which has extended it to 35 games. To explain how good that is, Virginia Tech, which has the second longest such streak, will be going to "only" its 24th straight bowl.