Texas and Oklahoma renew their Red River rivalry Saturday in the latest round of one of college football's most storied duels.
The two teams take the neutral Cotton Bowl field in Dallas ranked in the top five and 4-0, first time since 1984 that both are undefeated.
Oklahoma, the defending national champion, is ranked third this season with a 17-game winning streak. Texas, still smarting from the Sooners' 63-14 rout of the Longhorns last season, is ranked No. 5. Oddsmakers give Texas a three-point edge in the key Big 12 Conference confrontation.
Longhorn hopes are tied largely to quarterback Chris Simms, a junior in his first season as the permanent starter making believers of skeptics who thought him overrated. Son of former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms, he's getting his share of Heisman hype for his performances so far.
In the only other game between ranked teams, No. 2 Florida (4-0) takes on No. 20 LSU (2-1) at Baton Rouge with Gator quarterback Rex Grossman trying for his fifth straight 300-yard
passing game.
Florida's high-powered offense has been unstoppable, surpassing 500 yards in all four games. The Gators collected 640 yards last week in a win over Mississippi State, its highest total ever in an Southeastern Conference contest.
Saturday's schedule also will see Joe Paterno of Penn State make another attempt at tying Bear Bryant's all-time record for wins and No. 16 Northwestern try to end decades of frustration
against Ohio State.
Penn State hopes to avoid the first 0-4 start in the program's
storied history on Saturday when its hosts 15th-ranked Michigan
(3-1) in a Big Ten Conference contest. Paterno entered the season needing only one win to match Bryant's Division I-A mark of 323 coaching victories.
Northwestern hopes to snap a 21-game drought against Ohio State on Saturday in the first Big 10 Conference night game in the 79-year history of Ohio Stadium.
Top-ranked Miami (3-0) will prepare for next week's meeting with Florida State by hosting Troy State. The Hurricanes have a 12-game winning streak, the second-longest current streak behind Oklahoma. No. 14 Florida State (3-1) is off this week.
The third-longest streak in the nation belongs to No. 10
Washington (3-0), which takes an 11-game run into Saturday's
Pac-10 Conference date with Southern California.
Arizona has lost six straight Pac-10 games entering Saturday's game with No. 8 Oregon (4-0). No. 6 Virginia Tech (4-0) will visit West Virginia and No. 7 Tennessee (3-0) welcomes Georgia.
No. 12 South Carolina (4-0), which escaped with a one-point win over Alabama last week, will host Kentucky and No. 13 Kansas State tries to avoid back-to-back losses for the first time since 1998 when it hosts Colorado. Kansas State was a one-point loser at Oklahoma last week.
The first ranked team in action this weekend was No. 18 Brigham Young (4-0), which hosted Utah State on Friday night.
In other games Saturday, No. 17 Georgia Tech (3-1) visits Duke, No. 18 Purdue (3-0) hosts Iowa, No. 22 Texas A&M (4-0) welcomes Baylor, No. 23 Toledo (4-0) is at Ohio and No. 25 Maryland (4-0) hosts Virginia.
