The West Division of the Southeast Conference took the lead on Saturday, with the league's first game in Alabama, Mississippi and No. 7 Auburn in 12th position.

The Crimson Tide defeated Ole Miss 66-3 last year and went to Oxford as a three-hit favorites. Do not write the rebels, not with Jordan Ta 'amu who launches the best receiver body in the country.

There are two non-conference games involving the top 25 teams. The No. 4 Ohio State plays No. 15 TCU at AT & T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and No. 17 Boise State goes to No. 24 Oklahoma State.

Five things to know about the third week of college football:

BEST GAME

LSU at Auburn.

The scene is set for another thriller. Two years ago, Auburn was hooked on the 18-13 win when the video review showed that LSU had not left the game, resulting in what would have been the winning touchdown before the end of time time. Last year, LSU cleared a 20-0 deficit to win 27-23.

LSU quarterback Joe Burrow, good but not very good, will have to deal with a raging crowd at the Jordan-Hare stadium and an Auburn-inspired defense. Quarterback Auburn Jarrett Stidham will be challenged by an LSU defense that feels like one of the country's top halfbacks in Greedy Williams. Whoever has the best game – LSU's Nick Brossette or Auburn's JaTarvious Whitlow – could decide on that one.

HEISMAN WATCH

Dwayne Haskins, QB, Ohio State

Haskins has earned an impressive number of unbalanced house wins over Oregon State and Rutgers. Now, let's see what he can do against one of the country's most defensive programs in TCU at AT & T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, just 14 miles from the Horned Frogs campus.

Haskins completed 79% of his passes and totaled 546 yards, nine touchdowns and one interception. If he plays at this level against TCU's defensive 4-2-5 and again in two weeks at Penn State, he will travel in October as a serious contender to Heisman.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

3: Cancellation of Games Involving VAC Teams Due to Hurricane Florence – East Carolina at Virginia Tech, West Virginia, in the State of North Carolina and Central Florida in North Carolina.

31: A match in which Virginia H-back's Olamide Zaccheaus has won a pass.

41: Wisconsin's consecutive non-home conference wins, the longest running series in the country and the fifth longest since 1946. The Badgers play BYU Saturday at Camp Randall.

200: Victories for Boise State since 2000 if the Broncos beat Oklahoma State. Boise State enters the game with the highest number of victories in the country during this period.

374: The record sequence of the NCAA in which Florida scored.

.915: The percentage of the series won by Oklahoma against Iowa State (74-6-2), the best by one FBS program against another with a minimum of 50 games played. One of the six Cyclone wins in the series was last year at Norman.

Off the radar

Fresno State at UCLA.

Chip Kelly is still looking for his first win as a Bruins coach. Will he get it before the opening of the Pac-12 in Colorado on September 28th? Real freshman Dorian Thompson-Robinson started as a quarterback against Oklahoma in place of Wilton Speight. Kelly has not announced his QB against Fresno State, who has won the last two meetings of the teams (2003, 2008).

It's also worth keeping an eye out for Missouri in Purdue and Houston Texas Tech.

HOT SEAT WATCH

This second loss in two years against Maryland and a touchdown victory over a bad Tulsa team left Texas coach Tom Herman in critical need of a big win. His opportunity comes at home against the 22nd position of Southern California. A defeat would make Herman 8-8 in two seasons before next week's match against the TCU.

Texas led in the last minute of regulation at the Los Angeles Coliseum last year. But Sam Darnold drove the Trojans for field placement in a tie to force the overtime, and Texas QB's Sam Ehlinger tapped into the second OT to prepare for the 27-24 win of the USC.

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