Pivotal weekend for Sunshine State football powers
The state of football in Florida will become much clearer today.
Florida, Florida State and Miami each play pivotal conference games against nationally ranked opponents. Last season, for the first time since 1982, no team from the Sunshine State finished ranked among the nation’s top five. Florida’s Gators, FSU’s Seminoles and Miami’s Hurricanes are all back in the top 15, with a chance to show they deserve to be there this week.
The sixth-ranked Gators, with new coach Urban Meyer, open their Southeastern Conference season against No. 5 Tennessee. No. 8 Florida State faces No. 17 Boston College, welcoming the Eagles to the Atlantic Coast Conference. No. 13 Miami is at No. 20 Clemson, where coach Tommy Bowden has the Tigers off to a 2-0 start.
The Volunteers have won three of four against Florida in a series that consistently has gone a long way toward determining the SEC East title. The Vols had a week off to prepare for Meyer’s spread-option offense.
| The lineup | Time | TV |
| No. 1 Southern Cal vs. Arkansas | ||
| Pick: USC 50-16 | 7:15 | FSN |
| No. 2 Texas vs. Rice | ||
| Pick: UT 52-8 | 4 | FSN |
| No. 4 Virginia Tech vs. Ohio | ||
| Pick: VT 46-10 | 12:30 | |
| No. 5 Tennessee at No. 6 Florida | ||
| Pick: UT 24-21 | 5 | CBS |
| No. 7 Georgia vs. Louisiana-Monroe | ||
| Pick: UG 44-14 | 10 | |
| No. 8 Fla. St. at No. 17 Boston Col. | ||
| Pick: BC 20-16 | 4:45 | ESPN |
| No. 9 Ohio St. vs. San Diego St. | ||
| Pick: OSU 32-13 | 12:30 | |
| No. 10 Notre Dame vs. Mich. St. | ||
| Pick: UND 27-23 | 12:30 | NBC |
| No. 11 Louisville vs. Oregon St. | ||
| Pick: UL 52-24 | 9 | ESPN |
| No. 12 Purdue at Arizona | ||
| Pick: UA 20-18 | 7 | |
| No. 13 Miami at No. 20 Clemson | ||
| Pick: UM 23-17 | 12:30 | |
| No. 14 Michigan vs. E. Michigan | ||
| Pick: UM 48-16 | 9 | |
| No. 15 California vs. Illinois | ||
| Pick: Cal 44-20 | 2 | |
| No. 16 Georgia Tech vs. UConn | ||
| Pick: GT 38-21 | 3:45 | |
| No. 18 Arizona St. vs. Northwestern | ||
| Pick: ASU 40-28 | 7 | |
| No. 19 Texas Tech vs. Sam Houston | ||
| Pick: TTU 66-10 | 4 | |
| No. 21 Oklahoma at UCLA | ||
| Pick: UCLA 28-17 | 12:30 | ABC |
| No. 22 Iowa vs. Northern Iowa | ||
| Pick: UI 39-6 | 12:30 | |
| No. 23 Fresno St. at Oregon | ||
| Pick: UO 36-26 | 4 | TBS |
| No. 25 Virginia at Syracuse | ||
| Pick: UV 17-13 | 9 | ESPN2 |