Keep the chips and remote handy Saturday. This is the first regular-season weekend in three years that there are as many as six games matching teams in The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll.
Things got started right away as Arch Manning and No. 1 Texas visit No. 14 Tennessee for their first road game of the season and first meeting with the Volunteers since the 1969 Cotton Bowl. President Donald Trump was on hand, as was Arch's uncle, Peyton, who laid the foundation for his Pro Football Hall of Fame career on Rocky Top in the 1990s.
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There are three other Southeastern Conference games with major intrigue:
— No. 4 Mississippi, coming off its emotional win over LSU, was made a surprising underdog by oddsmakers for its game at No. 21 Florida.
— No. 19 Missouri visits No. 24 Mississippi State in a game featuring quarterbacks Austin Simmons of the Tigers and Kamario Taylor of the Bulldogs.
— No. 23 Texas A&M goes to No. 10 LSU for a game between teams in bounce-back mode. The Aggies are coming off a home loss to Kentucky and will be playing the Tigers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for the second year in a row. The Aggies won easily last year.
No. 20 Oregon, which entered the season No. 2 and a trendy pick to win its first national championship, finds itself in a near must-win situation on the road at No. 12 Southern California.
Oregon went to Oklahoma State two weeks ago and left with a shocking loss, and that was after the Ducks held off Boise State in their opener. The defense gave up a combined 66 points in those games and shaky offensive line play has led to seven sacks of Dante Moore so far.
The Trojans' defense also has had problems. USC shut out Fresno State in its second game but otherwise has been unimpressive. Last week, the Trojans didn’t put away winless Rutgers in a 42-35 win until the final four minutes.
The co-main event in the Big Ten has No. 17 Iowa at No. 18 Michigan. The Hawkeyes have the top defense in the nation and an offense that has put up uncharacteristic big numbers, albeit against light competition. Michigan is looking for a more complete performance after tussling with UTEP through the first half last week.
No. 16 Louisville hosts Wake Forest in the last of three straight home games following its season-opening loss to Mississippi in Nashville.
The Cardinals are looking like the second-best team in the ACC behind Miami after their 41-31 victory over SMU. After facing ACC passing leader Kevin Jennings last week, the Cardinals will go against the second-leading passer in Gio Lopez, who threw for 312 yards and three touchdowns in a home loss to Miami.
Kansas State has been better than expected under first-year coach Collin Klein. Now the Wildcats go on the road for the first time to play their first Power Four opponent and Big 12 opener against Cincinnati.
Avery Johnson is averaging 290 yards per game in total offense and the defense, second nationally, has held opposing passers to 44% accuracy, one touchdown and 86.7 yards per game.
Cincinnati had to make up a 21-point halftime deficit to beat Miami and get to 3-0 and would love to be 4-0 before playing back-to-back road games and then a slew of ranked opponents.
The key game among the Group of Six teams sends Boise State of the Pac-12 to Western Michigan of the Mid-American Conference.
Boise State played Oregon close on the road and picked up a solid victory over Memphis before surviving against South Dakota of the Championship Subdivision last week.
Western Michigan has beaten Monmouth and Rice since its heartbreaking and controversial loss at Michigan.
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