The program that should be playing for a Big 12 Championship at Kansas State on Saturday is just a spoiler.

The other team, with the athletic budget one-third the size of its opponent, with an even smaller fraction of elite recruits, is shaking off the disappointment of losing after a 10-0 start to the season. Instead, it will be going for just a conference championship, an 11-win season and a BCS bowl bid.

By all measures, Texas should never be looking up at Kansas State, but that's exactly the position the Longhorns are in.

Texas is 8-3, and the only regular-season opponent left for 10-1 Kansas State, which would clinch a Big 12 title with the win. The Wildcats overcame plenty of obstacles to get to this point.

According to Sports Business Daily, Kansas State operates with the second-smallest athletic budget in the Big 12, at $51.5 million for the 2012 fiscal year. Texas finds that in their pants pocket before every laundry day. The Longhorns' budget is a massive $153.5 million.

Recr

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Before the season, nobody knew what to expect from Missouri or Texas A&M; in their first SEC seasons, but the experts did expect a little more from the Tigers.

It sounds odd now, but Missouri had higher expectations. In the SEC preseason media poll, Missouri was picked to finish fourth in the Eastern Division, with two first-place votes. Texas A&M; was picked to finish fifth in the Western Division.

Instead, Texas A&M; looks like it was meant to be in the SEC, and Missouri has had a very tough season.

Missouri is 5-6, needing to beat Texas A&M; on Saturday to get bowl eligible. The Tigers made a bowl in each of their last seven Big 12 seasons. The Tigers are 2-5 in the SEC, and both teams they beat have fired their coaches already.

This isn't how it was supposed to go. Quarterback James Franklin was among the many good Tigers players coming back. The top recruit in the nation, receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, chose Missouri, which was surely a sign that the Tigers were going to recru

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Yale football is having a rough time lately.

Going back to last year, when a coach and a player were involved in strange incidents involving Rhodes Scholarships, not much has gone right.

The school had to hire a new coach after Tom Williams resigned during an investigation about whether he lied about being a Rhodes Scholarship finalist on his resume. Yale has gone 2-7 this season while dealing with a crazy rash of injuries. If that wasn't enough, Hurricane Sandy affected many alums still on the East Coast.

But, there's always one last chance to turn everything around: The Game.

Harvard and Yale have played 128 times in one of the most heated rivalries in college football. It doesn't take a national stage like Ohio State-Michigan, but Yale and Harvard defines the season for fans of those Ivy League teams.

Harvard is on the upswing. The Crimson is 7-2. Probably more importantly, they have won five in a row against Yale, and 10 of 11.

Mother Nature is piling on Yale too. According to a

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This is the type of week that will make Texas A&M;'s move to the SEC worthwhile.

Texas A&M; might not beat No. 1 Alabama. In fact, it probably won't. Alabama is favored by almost two touchdowns. The Crimson Tide will be very hard to beat at Tuscaloosa. Yet, in the big picture, that's not the most important thing.

Texas A&M; and Alabama will play in the coveted 3:30 p.m. ET slot on CBS on Saturday. That might be the best game in college football this week. Even if it's not, there's a good chance it will be the most watched.

These kinds of games will set Texas A&M; on a new path.

The Aggies haven't won a national championship since 1939. Continuing to do the same things wasn't going to get them over that hump.

[Watch: Can Texas A&M; stop the Tide?]

Texas A&M; had to compete with Texas and Oklahoma, and even Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, for top recruits. The Aggies were pretty much selling the same thing as those other Big 12 schools. Now they can sell something unique: The opportunity to

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It's a fun time to be a Louisiana Tech fan.

Way down the list of the BCS standings, all the way at the bottom at No. 25, is a team that has never been on that list before. The Bulldogs are also climbing up the AP poll (22nd) and USA Today coaches poll (23rd). Last week Louisiana Tech got its first win in school history as a ranked team.

The attention that eluded the school early in the season is finally coming.

"I have never gotten use to waking up the next morning to look at the polls and seeing your team up there," safety Chad Boyd said. "It has been kind of good the last couple of weeks. It is a great feeling."

Not only are the Bulldogs good this season, at 7-1 going into a game against Texas-San Antonio, they are one of the most exciting teams in the country too.

The Bulldogs are averaging 52.6 points per game, which is second in the nation behind Oregon. The country got a taste of how fun Louisiana Tech is to watch when it played a high-profile game against Texas A&M; on Oct. 13.

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