John Clay’s Sidelines

Thursday

• Oregon at Arizona (9:00, espn): Ducks hope to keep national title hopes alive, but Arizona is on a two-game win streak and has had 12 days to prepare.

Friday

• Hawaii at Nevada (11:00, espn2): Hawaii hopes to keep its BCS Bowl hopes alive, but Nevada is on a three-game win streak and has had two weeks to prepare.

Saturday

• Ohio State at Michigan (12:00, abc): Unfortunately, this game lost some of its cache when both the Wolverines and Buckeyes lost last week. Still, it’s one of, if not the best rivalry in college football. May also be Lloyd Carr’s final game as M’s head man.

• Northwestern at Illinois (12:00, espn): Illini’s Ron Zook might be in the running for national coach of the year after his team’s win over Ohio State last week. Northwestern scores just enough points to be dangerous.

• Connecticut at Syracuse (12:00, espn2): Despite loss to Cincinnati, UConn still leads the Big East by half-game over West Virginia. Syracuse has won just two games all year. One was at Louisville.

• Kentucky at Georgia (12:30, lfs): Can the Cats beat Georgia two years in a row? Can Georgia win a game without some sort of motivational ploy?

• Missouri at Kansas State (12:30, fsn): If Nebraska can score 73 points on the Kansas State defense, no telling how many Chase Daniel and Missouri might put up.

• Duke at Notre Dame (2:30, nbc): If you watch this game, you are either (a) huge fans of Tom Hammond and Pat Haden, or (b) someone who wants to brag he watched the worst televised college football matchup this year.

• Miami at Virginia Tech (3:30, espn or abc): Miami was embarrassed 48-0 last week in final game at the Orange Bowl. The ‘Canes won’t have it any easier in Blacksburg.

• Penn State at Michigan State (3:30, espn or abc): One of these days, Joe Paterno has to retire. Doesn’t he? Maybe not.

• LSU at Ole Miss (3:30, cbs): Must have been slim pickings for CBS to settle on this mis-match.

• Oklahoma State at Baylor (7:00, fsn): Follow the Guy Morriss farewell tour as the former Kentucky head coach coaches out the string at Baylor.

• West Virginia at Cincinnati (7:45, espn): Brian Kelly has performed a near-miracle at Cincinnati. Not the wins. He’s coaxed the Queen City into becoming interested in college football.

• Oklahoma at Texas Tech (8:00, abc): Imagine Mike Leach’s reaction when he finds out the head official is from Norman, Oklahoma. Just kidding. We think.

• Boston College at Clemson (8:00, espn2): Below the radar, Clemson coach Tommy Bowden has put together an impressive year with an 8-2 record and four straight wins.