Bronze pigs, bowl bids, titles and trophies on line

Bowl Championship Series bids and conference titles will be on the line today. As will bronze pigs, wooden buckets, various trophy cups and, of course, braggin’ rights on rivalry weekend.

Alabama-Auburn and Ohio State-Michigan are the headline games, but don’t try telling fans in Oregon, Northern California and South Carolina that the biggest game of the week isn’t being played in their state.

No. 8 Alabama and No. 11 Auburn meet for the 70th time, but for the first time since 1995 both teams are ranked. The winner can still be champion of the SEC West and earn a spot in the conference title game on Dec. 3 if LSU loses one of its final two games.

No. 9 Ohio State and No. 17 Michigan will be in a similar situation when they go at it for the 102nd time in Ann Arbor. The Buckeyes can earn a share of the Big Ten crown with a win, but if Penn State beats Michigan State later in the day, the Nittany Lions will get the conference’s BCS bid.

The Wolverines need a win and a Penn State loss to share the Big Ten title. If that happens, Michigan gets the BCS bid. Ohio State has won three of four against Big Blue since coach Jim Tressel took over.

In Oregon, the rivalry between the state’s biggest schools is dubbed the Civil War. No. 10 Oregon is a big favorite at home against Oregon State.

The Ducks hope finishing 10-1 can land them an at-large BCS bid, something the Beavers hope to deny.

No. 7 Virginia Tech plays at Virginia with the Commonwealth Cup and the Hokies’ hopes at stake.

Steve Spurrier gets his first taste of the South Carolina-Clemson rivalry. The Gamecocks take a five-game winning streak into the game, but they have lost seven of the last eight meetings.

Back in the Big Ten, Minnesota is at Iowa, where the winner takes home a bronze statue of a pig named Floyd of Rosedale. Over in Indiana, Purdue and IU play for the Old Oaken Bucket.

Stanford and California play the Big Game in Palo Alto, Calif. On the other side of the country, Harvard is at Yale for The Game.