Click here for linkBy Tony Barnhart
CBSSports.com
Aug. 24, 2011
Your mission this day, should you decide to accept it, is to name 10 regular-season games that will play a role in deciding the BCS national championship. Also, you need to tell us why these games are potential stumbling blocks or building blocks along the road to New Orleans.
Arkansas at Alabama, Sept. 24: A little of the luster was taken off this game when Arkansas running back Knile Davis was lost for the season with an ankle injury. With Davis, who led all SEC running backs with 1,322 yards in 2010, I felt Arkansas had an outside shot to be this season's Auburn. The offense is that good. Don't get me wrong, Arkansas is still a really good team and there is still depth at running back with Ronnie Wingo and Dennis Johnson. But Davis was a difference maker. A year ago in Fayetteville, Arkansas had control of the game against the Crimson Tide and let it slip away with two fourth-quarter interceptions by Ryan Mallett. It was a bitter, bitter loss for coach Bobby Petrino and one he would love to avenge.
LSU at Alabama, Nov. 5: Since Nick Saban returned to college coaching at Alabama in 2007, this game has had some drama. Last season it was Les Miles reaching down to eat a piece of the Tiger Stadium turf just before yet another big gamble that worked in a 24-21 win by the Tigers. The four games between Saban and Miles have all been nail-biters and this one could be the best of the bunch. This season we face the possibility that both teams could be undefeated, ranked in the top three and with the SEC West championship on the line when they meet at Bryant-Denny Stadium. If both teams are unbeaten, this will be nothing less than a quarterfinal game for the national championship because the winner, we believe, will also take the SEC title on Dec. 3 and then advance to New Orleans.
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