Arkansas fans have plenty to watch Saturday afternoon

Instead of fighting for a playoff spot, most had Oklahoma in line with half of college football looking for a new coach. However, Brent Venables has turned it around in Norman, and now these two face off in a high profile, old-fashioned Big 12 morning kick-off from back in the day.

While the Sooners have their coach locked in barring unforeseeable circumstances, there has quietly been a great deal of question as to whether this is one of the last times anyone will see Eli Drinkwitz roam the Mizzou sideline. If so, it is certain he wants to ride off to his new job on a hot streak with an upset of Oklahoma and his customary Battle Line win over Arkansas.

Should Miami avoid an upset by a Virginia Tech team looking to impress new head coach James Franklin and his assumed increased bags of NIL cash, the Hurricanes will watch closely to see if they finally get over the mysterious line. If so, they have been assured by Yurachek that the head-to-head will kick in and they will suddenly leap frog a Notre Dame team still looking for a signature win.

SMU has the head-to-head edge on a Miami team that also has more ACC losses. However, on top of knocking off a pesky Louisville team, the Mustangs need either Virginia or Georgia Tech to drop a conference game.

The Yellow Jackets face No. 4 Georgia next week, so this is the last weekend to get help there, but it won't matter either way if SMU doesn't get it done down in Dallas.

2:30 p.m.

The Trojans have wins over Michigan and Iowa, making them the program with more skins on the wall at this point. However, a 34-32 loss to Illinois shows Lincoln Riley's team can drop one at any point.

Oregon also owns a close win over Iowa, but got beat by Indiana, 30-20, at home in the Ducks' lone bid for a big win. Failing a second time against a relatively highly ranked opponent in Eugene would be catastrophic.

Oregon will again be without key wide receivers Dakorien Moore and Gary Bryant, Jr. However, history is on the Ducks' side as they have won five of the past six over USC, including a 36-27 win over the Trojans at home in 2023.

Unfortunately for Vanderbilt, Kentucky finally decided it has a football team. Mark Stoops' Wildcats have ripped off three in a row with SEC wins over Auburn and Florida.

Kentucky is coming off a pseudo bye-week against Tennessee Tech, allowing the Wildcats to rest up key players as needed. Kentucky get two shots at becoming bowl eligible, which may not mean a lot to most SEC fans, but it means the world to Stoops.

If he can gets wins over Vanderbilt and hated rival Louisville, plus sneak away with a meaningless bowl win to finish with eight wins, it will generate a huge turn in perception as to how the season has gone. However, Vandy quarterback Diego Pavia, surely out of seasons after presumably qualifying for social security during his time in Nashville, isn't keen on watching his dreams of a national championship fade at the hands of a basketball school.

6:30 p.m.

If the Yellow Jackets can come away with the win, they will secure one of the spots in the championship game as they will be done with their ACC schedule. Georgia Tech faces No. 4 Georgia next week in a repeat of the game that propelled Brent Key's team to a non-stop wave of momentum after going eight overtimes with the SEC champion Bulldogs before finally running out of juice.

Should the Panthers pull the upset, all bets are off in the ACC as chaos takes over. Fortunately for Yurachek, all he has to say is whomever rises out of the quagmire will represent the conference with no additional explanation needed.

7 p.m.

Right now, the Bearcats are in a massive tie for third with no losses to either of the top two teams. If Cincy can pull the upset, the Big 12 becomes a complicated mathematical equation not even Albert Einstein would want to tackle.

Suddenly five teams would be in the mix to take on Texas Tech in the championship game. That is unless West Virginia makes an even bigger mess of things by pulling the biggest upset of the season in the Red Raiders' regular season finale.