National spotlight

Three to watch

1) No. 1 Alabama at No. 5 LSU, 8 p.m. (CBS)

For the third time in 12 months, the SEC West rivals – with four BCS titles between them – will meet up. The Tigers (7-1) have regressed on offense, while the Tide (8-0) has seemingly hit full stride in all three phases of the game.

2) No. 2 Oregon at No. 18 USC, 7 p.m. (Fox)

The Trojans (6-2) tagged the Ducks with a rare home loss last year, which built up the hype for this year’s USC team. The Trojans have been a bust, with pair of uninspired Pac-12 losses, but could ruin Oregon’s BCS dreams.

3) No. 16 Texas A&M at No. 17 Mississippi State, noon (ESPN)

Alabama bounced the Bulldogs back to reality with a 38-7 clinic after a 7-0 start by Dan Mullen’s team. The Aggies (6-2) have two SEC losses by a combined eight points.

Inside the BCS

•  Steve Spurrier thinks Alabama could compete in the NFL. Las Vegas has the Tide as a double-digit road favorite at arguably the toughest place to play in America. Is the Tide really that good? We’ll find out Saturday night, because no one has been able to give Nick Saban’s team a game yet.

LSU, which has been awful on offense, should be sufficiently motivated after last year’s disastrous showing in the BCS title game.

•  Oregon keeps winning but dropping in the BCS standings because its best win to date is against Fresno State. Just getting to 13-0 might not be enough for Oregon to jump Kansas State or Notre Dame in the BCS standings, if either finishes unbeaten (a bigger “if” in K-State’s case). That means the Ducks not only have to win but they need to win big to impress voters.

Heisman watch

1) Collin Klein, QB, Kansas State: The Wildcats keep winning and Klein keeps racking up huge numbers: 634 rushing yards, 16 rushing TDs and 12 passing TDs.

2) Manti Te’o, LB, Notre Dame: The popular Notre Dame linebacker made his strongest case yet with 11 tackles and an interception against Oklahoma last week. He has 80 tackles and five interceptions to lead Notre Dame’s second-ranked scoring defense.

3) Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia: Easiest way for the early favorite to get back in the race is to put up another big game. His season totals – 26 TDs, 2,417 yards in seven games – are still pretty ridiculous.

Upset alert

Oklahoma State at No. 3 Kansas State, 8 p.m. (ABC)

The Wildcats (8-0) have won their first five Big 12 games by an average of 24.6, but November has a way of tightening up conference games. Just ask Oklahoma State (5-2), which lost out on a spot in the national championship game because of a Big 12 loss last November.

Number to know

35-1 LSU’s home record in night games under coach Les Miles.