Pac-10 teams try to stay unbeaten

UCLA is poised to end the Pacific-10 Conference's national championship drought. So is Washington State.

The fourth-ranked Bruins and 14th-ranked Cougars are undefeated entering today's games, but both have formidable roads ahead in trying to reach the national title game at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 3.

UCLA (6-0, 4-0) travels to No. 20 Stanford (4-1, 3-1), and Washington State (7-0, 4-0) hosts No. 11 Oregon (6-1, 3-1). Should both win, the moment of truth arrives Nov. 3, when the Bruins visit the Cougars in Pullman, Wash.

If UCLA or Washington State are still unbeaten, there's no break the rest of the way. The Bruins still have Oregon at home, a visit to crosstown rival USC and Arizona State at home. The Cougars finish out at Arizona State and home to bitter rival Washington.

With scheduling like that, no wonder USC in 1972 was the last Pac-10 team to win The Associated Press national title.

"We've got a difficult three-game stretch," Bruins linebacker Robert Thomas said of the Stanford-Washington State-Oregon stretch. "Every game could mean the championship. We've been doing a good job of playing one game at a time."

On the biggest day of the season so far, six games involving 12 Top-25 teams -- No. 2 Oklahoma at No. 3 Nebraska is the headliner -- will narrow the field in the run to the national title.

Among the other top attractions today are No. 6 Florida (5-1, 3-1) vs. No. 15 Georgia (5-1, 4-1) at Jacksonville, and No. 12 South Carolina (6-1, 5-1) at No. 9 Tennessee (4-1, 3-1) in the Southeastern Conference; and No. 10 Maryland (7-0, 5-0) at No. 19 Florida State (4-2, 3-1) in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In other Top-25 games, it's Syracuse at No. 5 Virginia Tech, No. 7 Texas at Missouri, No. 8 Michigan at Iowa, No. 13 Washington at Arizona State, No. 16 BYU at San Diego State, No. 17 Auburn at Arkansas, Northwestern at No. 24 Purdue, and No. 25 Colorado at Oklahoma State.

The game of the day, dubbed the Game of the New Century, pits the best of the Big 12 in one of college football's great rivalries. Last year, the Sooners beat the Cornhuskers 31-14 in Norman, claimed the No. 1 ranking and went on for their first national title since 1985. The Huskers hope to turn the tables in Lincoln, and need a top effort from Heisman contender Eric Crouch to pull it off.

Crouch has run for 777 yards and 14 TDs, and has passed for 986 yards and seven scores.

Nebraska owns the longest home winning streak among major schools at 19 games, while Oklahoma brings its nation-best 20-game winning streak to Memorial Stadium.