OPINION

By Matt Hayes

updated 8:44 p.m. ET Oct. 31, 2008

Matt Hayes

Time again to offer my weekly dose of 10 things to watch on Saturday:

1. Texas two-step
This is big, everyone. So big that it could be the biggest event in the history of West Texas — which, granted, isn't necessarily a large deal.

It's so big that flights in and out of Lubbock are sold out the entire weekend, and hotels are overbooked and overpriced. My pal Dave Curtis, bless his soul, is flying into Amarillo (can you fly into Amarillo?) and making the utterly desolate two-hour drive south on I-27.

Load up on the Mountain Dew and peanuts, Davey boy. Then buckle up for 100 passes and a four-hour game. And maybe, just maybe, the upset of the season.

Don't kid yourself, if Tech beats Texas it will be a huge upset considering the Red Raiders have yet to play a team with a pulse. And I'm including Nebraska and Kansas in that group.

But the big question: If Tech wins, does it vault all the way to No. 1?

Two ways to look at it:

• Of course not, Tech just happened to play Texas after the Longhorns endured three straight big games against Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State, and it was only a matter of time before the emotional tank ran dry.

• Of course they should. Tech is No. 7 in the BCS, and really, who would have a better win than Texas? Maybe Alabama (Georgia). At the very least, the Red Raiders should be No. 2 behind Alabama and ahead of Penn State (Texas is a better win than Ohio State).

2. Vote of confidence
So Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs says he supports coach Tommy Tuberville. Imagine that, the guy who has won six in a row over Alabama, the guy who graduates his players, whose players stay out of trouble, who has averaged nine wins a season going into 2008, has the "support" of his athletic director.

Look at Jacobs, everyone. He's so cute. He wants everyone to know that he is in control of the Auburn football team, gosh darnit.

Meanwhile, the Batphone will ring and our fearless leader (read: megalomaniac) will decide Tubs' fate. And Jacobs will say, "Yes, sir, Mr. Lowder."

How ironic that Ole Miss, the team Tubs left to hitch up with Auburn, the team Tubs said he wouldn't leave unless it was in a "pine box," has the power to push powerful trustee Bobby Lowder over the edge with one simple victory.

What goes around always comes around, doesn't it?

3. Amnesia, Gators style
Seriously, Florida fans are upset because Georgia showed poor sportsmanship during last year's World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party?

Let me reintroduce Florida fans to a guy named Spurrier.

In his 12 seasons as coach in Gainesville, Steve Spurrier — you remember him, right? The guy who built your program? — humiliated and emasculated Georgia in every possible way. Throwing in the end zone with a 30-point lead; running a reverse at the goal line with a 30-point lead; throwing in the fourth quarter, up by 30, in a rare game in Athens, to score the most points ever at Sanford Stadium. All different games.

And you're worried about a 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct? Here's a bigger concern: Protect your quarterback. Couldn't do it last year, won't be able to do it this year. I keep saying this, and I'll say it again: The 'Dawgs aren't out of the national title race.

4. Another step back
Gary Pinkel has it all figured out. He says his Missouri team is too distracted by outside influences: the Internet, newspapers, magazines, television. You know, all those things that make the popularity of the game what it is.

Here's how I know Missouri's uber-wideout Jeremy Maclin is ready for the NFL: He doesn't think the outside influences affect him, but he said, "It's bigger than me, we lost the games."

Yep, ready to go.

5. Remember me, Part II
Last week Houston Nutt rolled into Arkansas with his new team (Ole Miss) and beat his old team (Arkansas) amid 80,000 fans who acted like Nutt never accomplished a thing at the school. This week, another favorite son, Gus Malzahn, strolls into Fayetteville to take on the Hogs. A legendary high school coach in Springdale, Ark., and offensive coordinator at Arkansas for a season, Malzahn is the architect of the hottest offense in the game at Tulsa.

The difference between this week and last: Hog fans love Malzahn. Other than that, not much of a difference in the final outcome. Former coach wins, Arkie loses.

Don't feel too bad, Hogs. In a couple of years after Bobby Petrino gets the itch (again), and leaves for another job (again), Malzahn will be yours for the taking. That is, unless some athletic director gets smart first and hires the best offensive mind in the game.

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