Texas looks to return to winning ways at home; Holgorsen era begins at West Virginia
No. 14 TCU at Baylor (Friday at 8 p.m. on ESPN)
The Horned Frog defense will face a tough task in its first outing since January's historic Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin: stopping Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III. Griffin threw for 3,501 yards and 22 touchdowns last fall, and he ran for 635 yards and eight scores, as the Bears made their first bowl game since 1994.
TCU coach Gary Patterson said Griffin may be the fastest player he has ever coached against.
"When he has the kind of people he has at wideout and a big offensive line, he's a guy who can beat you," Patterson said. "He's an unbelievable athlete."
Rice at Texas (Saturday at 8 p.m. on The Longhorn Network)
After a disastrous 5-7 season that saw Texas lose five of seven games played at Darrell K. Royal Stadium in Austin, including all four of its Big 12 home games, UT coach Mack Brown said he is eager to get his Longhorns winning again at home to start 2011.
"We've got to start a win streak at home again and get back on track," Brown said. "There's no way in the world that you shouldn't play well at home if you're at the University of Texas and have 101,000 fans that are pulling for you."
Minnesota at No. 25 Southern California (Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on ABC/ESPN2)
New Minnesota coach Jerry Kill said he will learn a lot about his Golden Gophers, who are coming off a horrid 3-9 season, when they take on Southern Cal in Los Angeles.
"We don't get preseason games in college football, and so we don't get to say, well, we can do this or do that," Kill said. "We've got to do it from a winning and losing standpoint on game days. So we'll know a lot more about our team when we play USC and we'll know a lot more about it the next week, and we've got to make sure we get prepared for the Big Ten."
UCLA at Houston (Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Net)
Houston is widely considered a contender in Conference-USA because of the return of sixth-year quarterback Case Keenum and the prolific offensive attack he leads. UH coach Kevin Sumlin feels that his defense's transition from a 4-3 scheme to a 3-4 system is more important in the grand scheme of things if his Cougars are to win the league.
"Everything we do here goes towards winning Conference-USA and the West Division," Sumlin said. "We've got to be able to defend a spread attack team and formation teams. The flexibility of a 3-4 gives you that. It's really helped our flexibility on defense, gives us more blitz looks, added dimension and has helped our special teams."
Chattanooga at No. 10 Nebraska (Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on The Big Ten Network)
After losing the last two Big 12 title games in devastating fashion, Nebraska will try to chase down a conference championship in its new league, the Big Ten. Coach Bo Pelini made it clear that is his team's goal, and anything less is a failure.
"I don't ever look at it being a success if you don't win a championship," Pelini said. "That is our goal from the beginning. In this program, we are about winning championships. That's our goal. If we don't reach our goal, then we can't have success."
Marshall at No. 24 West Virginia (Sunday at 3:30 on ESPN)
After a tumultuous and embarrassing offseason for West Virginia football, new head coach Dana Holgorsen is finally about to coach his first game. When asked what it feels like as he prepares to lead the Mountaineers against rival Marshall in the Friends of Coal Bowl, Holgorsen said he had no good answer, as he had little time to reflect on the fact.
"It's about the game plan, setting the practice schedules and reaching our kids, practicing and getting good work, figuring out what we need to change and figuring out what the schedule is each weekend," he said. "I wish I had some good material for you. It's about routine and staying on task and focusing on the task at hand."
SMU at No. 8 Texas A&M (Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Net)
Texas A&M has informed the Big 12 it will withdraw next summer as long as it can secure membership in another conference (cough, SEC, cough). SMU President R. Gerald Turner recently told the Dallas Morning News his school, currently a member of Conference-USA, would like to replace A&M in the Big 12.
So, do the Mustangs feel pressure to upset the eighth-ranked Aggies and prove they should be considered for membership? Not according to SMU coach June Jones.
"I don't put any thought into that because that's not my deal," he said. "We treat it the same whether anything has been said or not. It's our game, it's our opponent and we have to go play them."
Miami at Maryland (Monday at 8 p.m. on ESPN)
It was announced Tuesday that eight Miami players, including quarterback Jacory Harris, will be suspended for the game against the Terrapins due to the Nevin Shapiro scandal. First-year Miami coach Al Golden isn't asking for sympathy though. He said his team will weather this storm because of its character.
"I really believe in my heart, and I know the staff does too, that if we didn't have a foundation and a culture that was built on core values and built on principles obviously to teach life skills and to create self-reliant and independent young people, I think we would be struggling right now," Golden told the Associated Press. "We would be sitting here and there would be a lot of things collapsing."