Utah

Heading into this Saturday it seemed like the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were well on their way to a seventh victory and a berth in either the Gator or Sun Bowl. All they had to do was beat Syracuse, playing for a recently dismissed head coach in Greg Robinson and dead last in the Big East. But while the Orange haven't played particularly well this season, you can't accuse this team of quitting. What ensued was one of the more stunning results of the day, with Syracuse stunning the Irish 24-23 on a late touchdown pass. Where do the Irish go from here?

Well Billy and I are back with three more big games to preview on "Rivalry Week", and the three games in this piece all have conference title implications. One of those game will have a direct impact on the national title hunt, while another is a rivalry marked by its hatred spiced up by a possible BCS berth on the line. The third game features the nation's largest rivalry trophy that can be carried (the Fremont Cannon between UNLV and Nevada has them beat) along with the stakes of a Rose Bowl berth.

Three games are on tap tonight, with two ranked teams looking to make a statement on a day dominated by the MLB playoffs and the vice presidential debate. Last night's game wasn't much of a test for #17 Boise State, as they extended their home win streak to fifteen games with a 38-3 pasting of Louisiana Tech. Hopefully the games tonight will offer more in the way of suspense, and I think they will.

Pittsburgh (3-1, 1-0 Big East) @ #10 USF (5-0, 0-0) 7:30 PM EST on ESPN