Alabama at Mississippi (+3) - 12:30pm Pacific Time
The Rebels take center stage in this game. They are 5-1 and off to their best start since 1990. The game is being televised nationally on CBS and head coach David Cutcliffe will be head coaching vs his alma matter for the first time ever. The Rebels should have beaten Alabama last year in Tuscaloosa as they had the ball in the red zone 7 times but managed to score only 17 points in a tough overtime loss. The Rebels return loads of talent from last year, no less than 18 starters. Junior QB Romaro Miller is having a great year, he has completed over 60% of his passes and has a 9-3 TD to interception ratio. RB's Joe Gunn and Deuce Mcallister are as good as any running back duo in the country. WR Cory Peterson is another offensive star. The defensive front 7 is one of the best in the country. Ole Miss is ranked 2nd in the nation in run defense (giving up 45 yards a game) and is also second in the nation in sacks with 23. The combination of strength and speed in their LB unit is outstanding. The secondary has been a little banged up this year but is fully in tact now. Alabama is coming off their big upset win over Florida two weeks ago and is facing another big game vs Tennessee next week which makes this a sandwich game for them. Leading tackler SS Marcus Spencer is banged up and will not start. The secondary is being reshuffled and true freshman Gerald Dixon is expected to start for the first time at cornerback. We have never been a big fan of Bama QB Andrew Zow. He put up good numbers last week but still has thrown 6 interceptions in 5 games. Lets not forget that only two games back everyone was calling for head coach Dubose's head. It would be hard to imagine that situation and off the field turmoil has entirely disappeared. Ole Miss showed a lot of character in their big overtime win at Auburn. They demonstrated the ability to rise to the occasion and win a big game. Alabama has won eight straight in this series which will make the Rebels victory here even sweeter. Mississippi  2 UNITS

Louisville (-2.5) at Memphis - 5:00pm Pacific
It is time to jump back on Louisville. We look for an inspired effort from the Cardinals in this game. Louisville with a favorable schedule was predicted by many to finish a perfect 11-0 this year but they have disappointingly already lost 3 games. They are coming off an embarrassing loss to Army on national television last Thursday. The Cardinals came out flat and fell behind big early. Their flex defense just was not working vs Army's triple option attack as the Cardinals only had 4 days in-between games to prepare. But Louisville did put on an incredible 2nd half rally to force overtime before finally losing. They do get an extra few days to prepare for Memphis and the Cardinals cannot afford another conference loss this early in the race. This was supposed to be a special year for 5th year senior Chris Redman and you would have to think that he is tired of losing. Redman has completed an incredible 67.7% of his passes this year and has already thrown 16 touchdowns. Last year Louisville racked up 613 total yards vs the Tigers and this year they have a much stronger running game with the emergence of RB Frank Moreau (881 yards, 6.6ypc, 14 TD's). Lousiville gets back WR Charles Sheffield this week from injury which returns their WR unit to full strength. Even though he is the #3 receiver, many feel he has been sorely missed. Memphis had their asses handed to them by Missouri two weeks ago before bouncing back with a surprisingly easy win over UAB last week. The Tiger defense has done well but lost their best cornerback senior Reginald Howard to injury last week. That was the last thing they needed right before facing Redman and the Cardinals. Louisville's offense is clearly one of the best in the nation. The defense is young but has some talent and really played well in the 2nd half when inspired vs Army last week. They will get some help with the return of a healthy CB Antonio Roundtree who was 1st team CUSA last year. The defense should have much better results against a plain and predictable Memphis offense. Memphis is dead last in CUSA in total offense, scoring offense, and sacks allowed. They have begun to play two different QB's and neither has done the job. We look for this to be the turning point in the season for Louisville. Head coach John L. Smith will have the Louisville ready. Cardinals outscore Tigers.  Louisville  1 UNIT