No. 4 Florida, 11th-ranked Georgia, No. 17 Auburn and No. 18 Arkansas all won openers last week. Tennessee - who managed to hang in the rankings despite losing to California.

The top game on the SEC lineup this weekend will be a clash between Top Ten teams in Baton Rouge, La., where the 1-0 Tigers host 1-0 Virginia Tech. LSU has won 13 straight games, while Tech has won its first road game for the last 14 seasons. One streak will have to be broken Saturday. LSU’s 12th man, the rowdy home crowd - especially in night games - will present a special challenge to the Hokies.

Conference games are always big games and there are two of them on this Saturday’s schedule - Alabama at Vanderbilt and South Carolina at Georgia. All four teams were winners in last weekend’s openers.

Vandy should prove to be a little tougher task for Nick Saban’s Tide, who bowled over little Western Carolina last week. The Commodores have over the years always played Alabama tight. Although the boys from Nashville have come up on the losing side most of the time (Bama leads the series 58-19-4 and has won the last 19 meetings), Vandy usually throws a scare into the Tide by keeping it close for a half or more before the Tide depth takes over.

The Vandy offense, with a passing game featuring wide receiver Earl Bennett, should test the young Bama defense. Bennett caught 13 passes in Vandy’s opening win over Richmond.

South Carolina-Georgia is an important game for the Ol’ Ball Coach, Steve Spurrier, in more ways than one. It is the first Eastern Division matchup for the Gamecocks and a win would put them smack in the middle of the race for the division title. Winning a league title at SC is one of Spurrier’s goals. Another is to turn South Carolina into a winning program. A win Saturday in Athens would pull the Gamecocks to at least dead even. South Carolina will even its all-time record at 517-517-44 with a victory.

An interesting intersectional matchup will take place in Knoxville, Tenn., where the 0-1 Vols host the 1-0 Southern Mississippi Eagles. Is California that good, or is the Tennessee defense that puny? The Eagles, who scored 35 points in their opening win over Tenn-Martin, will provide an answer. California’s 45 points against the Vols were the most scored against Tennessee since a 63-37 loss to Florida in 1995.

Mississippi State at Tulane is a question mark - for both teams. The Bulldogs looked terrible in their humiliating loss to LSU on national television. The Green Wave hasn’t played yet, Saturday’s contest its opener. A loss to Tulane will signal another dismal season in Starkville.

Florida, Kentucky and Auburn should have an easy time of it Saturday. The 1-0 Gators host poor Troy (0-1), who will be facing nationally ranked opponents on consecutive weeks for the first time in school history. Kentucky (1-0) hosts Kent State (1-0) and Auburn will take on Big East member South Florida. The Bulls are also 1-0, but their win last week was over Elon (who?)!

Ole Miss (1-0), a winner last week at Memphis as an underdog, will have to do it again if they want to be 2-0. The Rebs are picked to lose their home opener against Big 12 member Missouri, who defeated Illinois last Saturday.
This weekend’s college football TV schedule kicks off tonight, Friday, with Navy vs. Rutgers at 6 p.m. on ESPN.
The ever-expanding college TV schedule also features a pair of Monday contests - an ESPN afternoon-evening twinbill featuring Texas Tech at SMU at 3 p.m. and an ACC battle between Florida State and Clemson at 7 p.m.

Saturday’s weekend TV lineup, other than pay-for-view is as follows:
Miami at Oklahoma, 11 a.m., ABC
Duke at Virginia, 11 a.m., CW
Nebraska at Wake Forest, 11 a.m., ESPN
West Virginia at Marshall, 11 a.m., ESPN2
Alabama at Vanderbilt, 11:30 a.m., Lincoln Financial Sports
Rhode Island at Army, noon., ESPN Classic
Samford at Georgia Tech, 12:30 p.m., ESPNU
North Carolina State at Boston College, 1:30 p.m., ESPN2
Oregon at Michigan, 2:30 p.m., ABC
Chattanooga at Jacksonville St., 2:30 p.m., CSS
Fresno St. at Texas A&M, 2:30 p.m., FSN South
UAB at FSU, 4 p.m., ESPNU
South Carolina at Georgia, 4:45 p.m., ESPN2
Notre Dame at Penn State, 5 p.m., ESPN
BYU at UCLA, 5:30 p.m., VS
Mississippi St. at Tulane, 6 p.m., CSS
TCU at Texas, 6 p.m., FSN South
Jackson St. at Tennessee St., 6 p.m., SportSouth
Indiana at Western Michigan, 7 p.m., ESPNU
South Fla at Auburn, 8 p.m., ESPN2
Virginia Tech at LSU, 8:15 p.m., ESPN
Colorado at Arizona St, 9:15 p.m., FSN South