SEC’s national title hopes ride on Alabama

The world of crazy rumors is in overdrive, but there are some very real and important football games being played this weekend.

Before diving into that, it should be noted that Nebraska is a good job but it isn’t Arkansas. They are very similar programs and both have diehard fans, but the Cornhuskers are in the Big Ten, which could be left out of the first College Football Playoff. The Razorbacks are part of the best football conference in the country.

What other team in the world of perspiring arts could be 6-6 and considered a threat to beat anyone on any Saturday? All six losses were quality losses to ranked teams.

Now for those important games, beginning tonight when Oregon and Arizona meet for the Pacific-14 championship and for the second time this season.

The Ducks are No. 2 and hoping to secure a spot in the playoffs, but the first time the teams met they gave up 495 yards to the Wildcats and lost 31-24 in Eugene, Ore.

Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, threw two touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass from Royce Freeman in the first meeting after a slow start.

The Ducks are a track team on grass and are focused on making the playoffs. It would take several losses by other teams for the No. 7 Wildcats to end up in the final four.

The first game Saturday holds little intrigue. TCU should destroy Iowa State and probably will since the selection committee has let it be known that style points count, and the Horned Frogs are determined to stay ahead of Baylor in the race for the playoffs.

The Bears can help themselves with a good victory over No. 9 Kansas State, which lost to TCU 41-20 in Fort Worth. Baylor, which beat TCU but trails the Frogs in the College Football Playoff poll (style points apparently mean more than head-to-head competition), might need a three-touchdown victory, but it should be noted that Bears quarterback Bryce Petty is coming off a concussion suffered last Saturday against Texas Tech.

Petty says he is playing, and the finalist for the Manning Award will.

If the Bears turn in a strong victory and the selection committee still picks TCU over Baylor, the committee is going to be questioned like it was involved in a Watergate hearing.

The committee has positioned Ohio State to move into the final four with a victory over No. 13 Wisconsin if any of the top four teams lose. That is the only way the Big Ten gets a team in the playoff, and the Buckeyes have lost their second quarterback of the season. Look for the Badgers to rain on everyone’s parade.

It seems everyone outside of the Tallahassee area is pulling against Jameis Winston and the Florida State Seminoles, who have been painted as an outlaw program by major news outlets, including the New York Times. Georgia Tech will need to find a way to protect a lead in the ACC Championship Game if it wants to eliminate the Seminoles from the national championship race.

Fans from Arkansas, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee should be shouting Roll Tide when Alabama meets Missouri. If the Crimson Tide lose, a six-victory team from the SEC could be knocked out of a bowl because it is unlikely Alabama would still make the final four.

If the SEC doesn’t get two teams in the contract bowls, then every team ratchets down one spot in the bowl priorities and someone might be left out, or a six-victory SEC team could land in the Heart of Dallas or Cactus bowls.

After a season of picking SEC and Arkansas State games and finishing with a record of 88-23, here is a guess at this weekend’s big games: Oregon 31, Arizona 21 TCU 54, Iowa State 24 Baylor 35, Kansas State 28 Florida State 28, Ga. Tech 27 Wisconsin 24, Ohio State 21 Alabama 35, Missouri 28