JoePa isn’t looking down at you, he’s just, well, seated high above you
Penn State earns a trip to Pasadena for their 81-year-old head coach if they can defeat Michigan State (9-2) in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions, however, have failed to stuff big-time backs this season (Shonn Greene, 122 yards; Jacquizz Rodgers, 99) and the Spartans’ Javon Ringer may be the best they’ve faced.

Coach Paterno has made no overtures about retirement, but he moves about as well as Tony Sacca these days and, after all, he was born in the same year as Cloris Leachman. Might this be his final game coaching in Beaver Stadium?

Terror in Tucson
Last November, Oregon took its 8-1 record, its Rose Bowl (if not greater) aspirations and its Heisman-race quarterback, Dennis Dixon, to the desert to face a middling 4-6 Arizona team. Dixon tore his ACL, the Ducks lost and Oregon was relegated to the Sun Bowl.

This Saturday, their neighbors from Corvallis trek to the desert. The Wildcats at home in November are even more dangerous than Lute Olson’s ex-wife: In each of the past three seasons they have toppled a Top 10 visitor.

Oregon State (7-3) needs to win its final two games to play in the school’s first Rose Bowl since the 1964 season. And a win tonight sets up potentially the most anticipated Civil War since smooth-bore rifles were all the rage. But first the Beavers and freshman tailback Jacquizz Rodgers, the Pac-10’s leading rusher, must elude this Sonoran ambush.

The ABC Saturday Night Western
The Big 12 South has had a longer prime-time run this autumn than “My Own Worst Enemy” which, by the way, it sort of is. This Saturday night’s colossal clash pits No. 2 Texas Tech at No. 5 Oklahoma and I’ll make it as simple as possible: Should the Red Raiders win, they get to grapple with Missouri in the conference championship game and then it’s on to the national championship game. Should the Sooners prevail, expect President-elect Obama to issue his first executive order, as that will set up a three-way tie between Tech, OU and Texas that would be settled by the BCS standings.

In other words, it would hang on a whim and a prayer (oddly, only two of these three coaches vote in the coaches' poll).

Five items to bore your friends with as you wait for the ultimate seizure plate to arrive:

• Mike Stoops’ first offensive coordinator in Norman was Mike Leach.
• Oklahoma leads the nation in scoring offense (52.4 points per game), while Texas Tech leads it in passing offense (433.7 yards per game).
• Oklahoma’s best defensive player, middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds, is out for the rest of the year and is not married to Scarlett Johansson.
• Oklahoma leads the nation in turnover margin (+16 on the season) and red zone offensive efficiency. Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell is sacked once every 92 pass attempts.
• Red Raider quarterback Graham Harrell is the FBS career record holder in touchdown passes (125), while Sooner QB Sam Bradford leads the nation this season with 38. If Tech wideout Michael Crabtree, a red-shirt sophomore who will be eligible for the NFL draft come April, were to return for a junior year, he would likely break the FBS career records for receptions, TD receptions and receiving yards. Somewhere in this item I’ve just mentioned the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner, by the way.

So there you have it. Put your feet up, Alabama, Texas and USC (and your fans). We’ll miss you, but you’ll be able to watch the season’s most intriguing Saturday.

Also on NBCSports.com Howard: Look at what Agassi is now, not was PFT: Cowboys on rise in our power rankings NCAA FB: Ready for player exodus?  |    Top juniors   MLB blog: A look at the top 111 free agents Twitter: Follow us @nbc_sports

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