It's finally here, the weekend we've waited for since August, an embarrassment of riches in the college football kingdom. In fact, there are too many compelling games Saturday. They can't all get the proper attention.

That said, it's probably impossible to top last week's wild orgy of overtimes, upsets, and narrow escapes. So many teams showed so much heart and produced so many epic games that ESPN Classic could stay in business for a decade replaying them.

In our office trailer on the quad in Tuscaloosa, we were riveted to four side by side TV screens for 12 hours, until Tennessee finally capped things in the sixth overtime. For me, the amazing marathon of instant classics was simply more proof why this sport is unequaled.

Who knows if this Saturday's games can match the hype surrounding them. Oklahoma-Texas rarely disappoints. This rivalry is now the best thing going in big-time college football. In the early 90s it was Miami-Florida State, and the Seminoles' clashes with Florida took over as the top rivalry in the mid-90s.

Now it's the Red River Rivalry and all its implications: the Big 12 and national title impact, awesome talent on the field, good, healthy tension between coaching staffs and the huge recruiting-turf battles. Sooners-Longhorns is about geography, history, current events and, yes, math. As in the BCS standings, due out soon. But we'll get to that sore subject later.

The setting is part of the fun. There are too few neutral-field rivalries in college football, and Georgia-Florida in Jacksonville and Grambling-Southern in New Orleans are also tremendous happenings. This one needs to stay at the Cotton Bowl. Rotating it to campus stadiums is a terrible idea.

Last year, just weeks after the September 11th attacks, the scene at the Texas State fair was understandably subdued. We knew war with the Taliban was imminent (it began the following Monday) and you could feel unease in the air, mixed with tremendous patriotism.

This time, I would expect the atmosphere to be more typically festive. Sure, it's only a football game, but they don't get any more compelling than this.

The coaches

	Bob Stoops has more than held his own against top 10 teams at OU.

Bob and Carol Stoops don't exchange Christmas cards with Mack and Sally Brown. The coaches don't want their relationship to ever seize the spotlight. That's admirable. This is not akin to the public and personal feud between Barry Switzer and Darrell Royal, but trust me, there is no love, either.

These two ultra-competitive, feisty staffs go at each other on the recruiting trail and nobody does it better. Stoops exudes an overwhelming confidence. He suffered the first truly humbling loss of his head coaching career last season against Oklahoma State, but his team still maintains a swagger that has served it well in big games. How about 8-1 versus top-10 opponents?

Brown has lost his last five against the top 10. Sure, he's a little defensive about that. You might be, too, if you were on your way to your seventh straight season with 9-plus wins (four straight at Texas) and helped build the program's season-ticket base from less than 40,000 to about 63,000.

Mack is not approaching Saturday's game like it's Armageddon. He's downplaying its significance, telling his guys that they can lose Saturday and still have a great season. True, that was the case last year. But the odds that the Red River loser will get to the Big 12 title game are always slim.

The Horns' players seem to be buying into Mack's mindset. Who knows, maybe they'll fare better against OU by not puckering up and playing a little looser.

The quarterbacks
Both Nate Hybl and Chris Simms have been booed and maligned by their own fans. Hybl because he followed a folk legend who quarterbacked a perfect championship season, Simms because impossible expectations followed him and he took the position away from a popular overachiever. Both have grown immensely and learned to handle the external pressures of the position very well.

There's no use hiding from it: Saturday is huge for both guys. Hybl was highly ineffective before getting knocked out by Texas last year, when Simms had the well-chronicled four-pick game. Chris left the Cotton Bowl in tears that day. This year, he's vowing not to carried away by the game's enormity. He won't let a loss in his final crack at the Sooners "ruin his life."

I admire Chris, I really do. He's a very impressive kid, very likable and very driven. You can't question his work ethic. He's taken a mountain of unfair blame. Otherwise apathetic folks go out of their way to root against him. That's sad, because he's no prima donna. He's never asked for the hype. And he's almost universally liked and respected by his teammates and that's more than enough for me.

He needs to exorcise the big game demons, though. For his own sake, not to quiet the critics or to reshape his legacy. No touchdown passes, 11 interceptions and a fumble in three career games against top 10 teams is not good. Sure, some of those turnovers were not his fault, but enough were. He's better than that and it's time to prove it. I think he will.

Hybl has thrown 148 passes without an interception, as streak stretching back to last November's loss to Okie State. He's been given the chance to redeem his legacy and he's performed admirably. But let's face it, Jason White is the guy the Sooner braintrust would much prefer to have healthy. Hybl is not much of a runner and has yet to show that he can threaten a defense downfield. Still, he is 13-1 as a starter, and that's got to count for plenty.

The real trouble is, OU is just one hit away from real trouble. Preseason fourth-stringer Paul Thompson is next in line after the sometimes-fragile Hybl. Paul has 14 career attempts in two mop-up appearances. Yikes. Don't think Texas won't go after Hybl aggressively.

It's going to be a defensive game. Neither guy will torch the stat sheet Saturday. But if I sound like an old softy when I say I hope they both play well, it's because I'm becoming an old softy.

The defenses
Oklahoma hasn't seamlessly replaced Rocky Calmus and Roy Williams, the two superheroes from last year's defense. Mike Stoops admits his crew has been inconsistent and the players point to youth. The Sooners' numbers are still great, as long as a mobile quarterback isn't shredding them. Missouri's Brad Smith had a coming out party against OU last week, creating 391 yards total offense and three TDs. But there's no panic in Norman and no tinkering necessary, say the Stoops boys.

Remember, Kansas State's Ell Roberson had similar stats (372 yards, four total TDs) against Oklahoma last year, and the following week the Sooners collapsed the pocket on Simms and smothered Texas' less-troublesome scheme. Unless Mack gets wacky and unveils true freshman Vincent Young's improvisational skills, Oklahoma won't be defending a running QB.

OU fully expects to stuff Cedric Benson. He's amped for this one, since he was on the field for exactly one snap in last year's loss, a quarterback sneak the play after Ivan Williams threw a shoe and had to come out. The Horns, you may recall, rushed for a grand total of 27 yards that day. Benson runs behind an O-line that has yet to get really physical, though. He's a great back, but tailbacks have rarely hurt the Sooners.

Mack will likely need his toy box of little-used offensive plays (we won't call them gadgets) to loosen things up. Offensive coordinator Greg Davis is an old-school play caller. We'll see if he can loosen up.

This time it is Oklahoma that features a young back. Kejaun Jones is a good one and leads OU with seven touchdowns, but he's a freshman. Freshmen are not rock solid every game. Witness Maurice Clarett's three fumbles at Northwestern in his first college road game. Jones has a big future, but Saturday the Sooners are counting on him to play like a vet. Maybe he will, maybe he won't

Texas' defense has been dominant against overmatched teams. The stats are awesome. The deep ball they allowed OSU last week, on a mind-blowing 99-yard drive that set up a potential game-tying two-point conversion, was troubling. But this group is very good and I can't see OU marching the ball much. Both sides are counting on some big plays. Heck, they'd even take some "medium" plays.

The kickers
Yuck. Here's the wildcard in a series in which almost half of the last dozen games have been decided by a field goal or less: neither side is comfortable kicking field goals. Stoops passed on a 31-yarder while trailing in the final seven minutes against Mizzou, opting for a fake thrown by a 17-year-old holder to a ham-handed reserve tight end. The players couldn't believe he called it. Some on the sideline couldn't watch. Veteran Trent Smith says he was shaking as he lined up. The gutsy gamble fooled none of the Tigers but still worked, thanks to a perfect pitch-and-catch.

Stoops was blaming high grass for true freshman Trey DiCarlo's one for three night. I guess the kid needs a perfect lie for his approach shots. But DiCarlo's struggles are mild compared to those of Dusty Mangum. The Horns' kicker is a woeful 2-for-7 beyond 30 yards this season. That's not good for Pop Warner ball. He is under .500 (10-for-21) from longer than 30 yards in his career. Mack may need to contemplate some fakes this week.

Red River did you knows