The BCS Championship Game is the kind of girl that Mom warned you about. She flirts, she dangles her heart, and when you reach for it, it's not there. Ask Texas Tech.
The rivalry game is the kind of girl you can take home to Mom. Year in, year out, she will always be there. She may bring joy. She may stomp on your heart. But you can depend on her. She is frequently kind and she's suddenly cruel. She can do as she pleases -- oh wait, that's a Billy Joel song.
The point is, as the back half of the Rivalry Fortnight begins, four of the top five teams -- No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 4 Florida -- play in-state rivals this week, and the fifth, No. 5 USC, plays Notre Dame. All five games could have an impact on who plays for the crystal football. But even if they didn't, all five games would be charged with emotion.
That's the thing about rivalry games. It doesn't matter what the records are. Take Alabama, the last remaining unbeaten team among the six automatic-bid conferences. One week before the Crimson Tide play the Gators for the SEC championship in a game that has been billed as a BCS semifinal, Alabama must first play 5-6 Auburn.
If you have no knowledge of the Iron Bowl, you might think that the Tide could overlook its mediocre opponent. But the last time Alabama beat Auburn, in 2001, Dennis Franchione was the winning coach. It was so long ago that Alabama freshman receiver Julio Jones was in sixth grade. And let me be the first to tell you what you will hear dozens of times in the coming days: Alabama has never beaten Auburn in Tuscaloosa (they played there in 1895 and 1901, and not again until 1999).
