Auburn and LSU played the last weekend of September and both coaches were under pressure. The ugly game had a bizarre ending. The next day LSU fired coach Les Miles, while Auburn and Gus Malzahn were feeling fortunate to be 2-2.Now its November and both SEC West Tigers are in the race not only for a conference championship, but perhaps a spot in the College Football Playoff.No. 15 LSU hosts No. 1 Alabama on Saturday for what amounts to an elimination game for the Tigers. Even with a victory, the Tigers would need help to win the West, an amazing prospect given the first month of the season.Snapping a five-game losing streak to the Crimson Tide would do wonders for interim coach Ed Orgeron as he tries to convince LSU to make him coach-for-good.No. 11 Auburn faces a much easier task Saturday with Vanderbilt at home. The Tigers have won five straight and if they get to the Iron Bowl without another loss, beating Alabama could earn them a trip to the SEC title game.How things have changed.The picks:THURSDAY NIGHTERSNo. 12 Oklahoma (minus 21) at Iowa StateThe Sooners are down to one scholarship tailback with Joe Mixon suspended and Samaje Perine injured ... OKLAHOMA 42-14.UCLA (plus 12) at No. 21 ColoradoThe Bruins season is crumbling ... COLORADO 24-10.FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTSSan Jose State (plus 29) at No. 24 Boise StateThe Broncos bounce back from the first loss of the season ... BOISE STATE 45-14.MARQUEE MATCHUPSNo. 1 Alabama (minus 7) at No. 15 LSUThe Tide held Leonard Fournette to 31 yards on 19 carries last season ... ALABAMA 28-23.No. 9 Nebraska (minus 17) at No. 6 Ohio StateThe Cornhuskers have not beaten a top-10 team on the road (0-9) since coach Tom Osborne led the Cornhuskers to a victory at Washington in 1997 ... OHIO STATE 31-20.UPSET ALERTNo. 8 Wisconsin (minus 6+) at NorthwesternThe Wildcats have won two straight against the Badgers and could find themselves in first place in the Big Ten West with another victory ... WISCONSIN 21-20.No. 10 Florida (minus 5+) at ArkansasThe Razorbacks will have had two weeks to stew over getting blown out by Auburn ... ARKANSAS 28-24, UPSET SPECIAL.PLAYOFF IMPLICATIONSMaryland (plus 31) at No. 2 MichiganJim Harbaugh faces former assistant DJ Durkin, who has done a solid job in his first season as Terps coach ... MICHIGAN 41-15.Syracuse (plus 26+) at No. 3 ClemsonThe worst defense in the ACC comes to Death Valley for Deshaun Watson to feast upon ... CLEMSON 52-21.No. 4 Washington (minus 17) at CaliforniaIf the Huskies were getting overconfident, the College Football Playoff selection committee likely knocked that right out of them ... WASHINGTON 49-28.No. 5 Louisville (minus 25) at Boston CollegeThe Cardinals need some blowouts ... LOUISVILLE 56-14.No. 7 Texas A&M (minus 13+) at Mississippi StateThe Aggies lost their last game in Starkville, but Dak Prescott doesnt player there anymore ... TEXAS A&M 38-21.CONFERENCE CALLSVanderbilt (plus 26) at No. 11 AuburnThe downside of playing Vandy? If the Tigers were to get into a three-way tie in the SEC West, the record of their non-divisional opponents could come into play ... AUBURN 42-10, BEST BET.TCU (plus 8) at No. 13 BaylorThe last three meetings include two decided by three points each and one -- last season -- went to overtime ... BAYLOR 35-28.Kansas (plus 34+) at No. 14 West VirginiaThe Jayhawks Big 12 losing streak is at 17 games ... WEST VIRGINIA 45-7.Georgia Tech (plus 10) at No. 18 North CarolinaThe Tar Heels have won two straight high-scoring games against the Yellow Jackets; combined score 86-74 ... NORTH CAROLINA 43-27.No. 19 Florida State (minus 5) at N.C. StateSeminoles RB Dalvin Cook is back in the Heisman Trophy discussion ... FLORIDA STATE 35-24.Iowa (plus 7+) at No. 20 Penn StateIf the Nittany Lions are truly on the upswing, this is a game they need to win ... PENN STATE 26-20.No. 22 Oklahoma State (plus 3) at Kansas StateWildcats Bill Snyder looking for victory No. 199 ... KANSAS STATE 24-21.No. 23 Virginia Tech (plus 10+) at DukeAfter years of futility against the Hokies, the Blue Devils have won two of the last three meetings and lost the other game by one point ... VIRGINIA TECH 31-23.Arizona (plus 17) at No. 25 Washington StateAfter 0-2 start, the Cougars are the biggest threat to Washington in the Pac-12 North ... WASHINGTON STATE 42-24.TWITTER REQUESTSTexas (minus 3+) at Texas Tech -- (at)4WallerOUThe Charlie Strong Referendum Tour pulls into Lubbock; the Longhorns had a six-game winning streak against the Red Raiders snapped last year in Austin ... TEXAS 50-42.Georgia (minus 2) at Kentucky -- (at)realBJPThe Wildcats have not beaten Georgia since 2009, but now is the season to do it ... KENTUCKY 28-23.Notre Dame (minus 6+) vs. Navy in Jacksonville, Florida -- (at)JeffiBelcherThe Irish didnt exactly look like a team about to salvage its season in beating Miami last week ... NOTRE DAME 35-31.Oregon (plus 17) at USC -- (at)mjbx101A couple of emerging quarterbacks in the Pac-12 in Sam Darnold of USC and Justin Herbert of Oregon ... USC 48-35.---Record: Last week 13-7 straight; 15-5 vs. points.Season: 129-52; 83-93-3.Upset specials: 2-7.Best bets: 1-8.---Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP---APs college football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org Cheap Air Max Free Shipping .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena. Nike Air Max 2019 . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. http://www.cheapairmaxshoesofficial.us/ . Meanwhile, there were huge victories for Sunderland and West Ham over fellow relegation rivals, leaving the battle to avoid the drop up for grabs with the bottom 11 teams separated by just six points. Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres scored second-half goals to seal a fourth straight victory for Chelsea, which climbed above Arsenal and Manchester City in the standings ahead of their games on Monday and Sunday respectively. Cheap Air Max . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. Cheap Air Max 2019 . -- Running backs Darren McFadden and Rashad Jennings were back at practice for the Oakland Raiders on Wednesday despite being hampered by hamstring injuries. LEXINGTON, Ohio -- Will Power knows exactly where he stands heading into the Honda Indy 200 on Sunday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.The winner of three of the last four races, Power is second in the season standings -- 47 points behind Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud, and 27 ahead of fellow teammate Helio Castroneves.Its step by step each week, just keep chipping away at it, said Power, coming off a victory in Toronto. After a bit of a slow start weve gotten ourselves into the championship fight, but its still a little early to be counting points. We just need to keep doing what we have been and let the points manage themselves.Power has six top-five finishes this year. The Australian won the 2014 series championship and finished second in 2010, 2011 and 2012.Hes racing really well now, Castroneves said. Its confidence. You can see it in the way hes been racing the past few weeks. He has it. Pagenaud had a god run earlier too. Hopefully, Mid-Ohio is a good place for me.Drivers will race 90 laps on the 13-turn, 2.258-mile course with tight turns and minimal opportunities to pass.Track position is the key so you have to qualify well, Power said.None of his 28 career wins have been at Mid-Ohio, where he has finished second once in seven starts.It is not a track that Ive won at before, so this would be a great time to do that and well need to work hard to accomplish that, he said.Power said he cant worry what his Penske teammates are doing during the race but obviously as much as he wants to knock them off, he doesnnt want to knock them out.ddddddddddddI leave the strategy up to the team, he said These guys have been doing a fantastic job. Theyve been making really good calls. I trust them.In order to win he may have to overcome the home-course advantage of Graham Rahal.The son of 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal grew up about an hour from Lexington in Columbus and won at Mid-Ohio for the first time in 2015.It was a special day for me definitely, Graham Rahal said. From a racing perspective at least, by far the greatest achievement of my life. It meant a lot to me.Rahal is coming off a 16th place at Toronto and is 11th in points.Another favorite would have to be Scott Dixon, who will be racing for the first time since Thursdays announcement that Target will leave IndyCar at the end of the season after 27 years with Chip Ganassi Racing.The partnership yielded 11 championships and four Indy 500 victories.I have no aggravation. I have nothing (bad) to say, Ganassi said Friday. Theyre the greatest sponsor in sports, greatest sponsor you could ever have.It doesnt say anything about IndyCar racing. It doesnt say anything about the sport. It doesnt say anything about the TV ratings. Its a business decision that Target made. Theres no sub-story here.Dixon, the reigning series champion, is fourth in the standings and looking for a sixth win at Mid-Ohio.Its a track that really feels at home to me, he said. ' ' '