ESPN College Football

Houston vs. Rice

Pay for: Bayou Bucket
Never before has the battle for the Bayou Bucket between Houston and Rice meant more than it does this year.

The two rivals, whose stadiums are a mere six miles apart (the closest of any rivals), not only have braggin' rights on the line, but also a Conference USA West title.

If Houston wins, the Cougars are the C-USA West champions. If Rice wins, it needs Tulsa to lose to Marshall to claim the crown and play for its first Conference USA title.

"It's a great and exciting time for the University of Houston and for the city of Houston," said first-year Houston coach Kevin Sumlin. "The Bayou Bucket game is coming up, and it's great. It's the last game of the year and a rivalry game, and it should come down to a game that has a lot of different things on the line and a lot of implications. Both teams have played very well this year and have put themselves in position to have a lot to play for."

In the previous 34 meetings between these two teams, there have been crazy plays and unbelievable finishes.

In 2006, Houston scored 17 straight second-half points to pull out a 31-30 win, but this game means something special for both Rice coach David Bailiff and Sumlin, who have their teams on the verge of C-USA prominence.

The rivalry hasn't exactly gone well for the Owls, who haven't had the Bucket since 2004. Houston holds a 25-9 edge in the rivalry, but the past two games have been decided by nine points total.

"It's the map of a perfect senior year," said Owls senior receiver Jarett Dillard. "You want that game to be the last home game at Rice. This is exactly what you live for. For this last UH game to be at the pedestal that it's on now -- it could be the Conference USA championship. It could be so many things, that it really intensifies practice this week."

USC vs. Notre Dame

Play for: The Jeweled Shillelagh
The rivalry between USC and Notre Dame has been so one-sided for so long that the word rivalry doesn't really apply.

How about dominance?

The Irish haven't defeated USC since 2001 and are 2-6 against the Trojans this decade. There have been close games -- the Bush Push in 2005 comes to mind -- and there have been beatdowns like last year's 38-0 USC win.

"In almost every series like this, there's been streaks where a team will win for a while, then the other team will win for a while," Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said. "You know, that's the way it goes. We still considered it a rivalry in a streak where Notre Dame won about 10 in a row, too. When you play year in and year out, there are periods where one team gets the best of the other. But, you know, at the end of the day, it usually ends up settling out."

The chances of Notre Dame recapturing the glory of yesteryear are slim to none. ND, a team that's fresh off a 24-23 loss to Syracuse, comes to Los Angeles to face a USC team that has had two weeks to prepare and a BCS game for which to play. The Irish are playing for their bowl hopes as well, but the Sun Bowl or Gator Bowl seems like a pipe dream against the No. 5 team in the country.

"The fact that we get to do it here, you know, at this time of the year, it happens to be the last game for these seniors at home, all of that stuff just adds to the excitement and the buildup of it. So it's a big, big matchup for us," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "Notre Dame, you know, coming off a really tough loss to Syracuse. I know they're determined to do something about it, end their season on a big note. … We're going to anticipate that they're going to bring great energy in a matchup for us that is going to make us work really hard to get done what we want to get done."

Florida Atlantic vs. Florida International

Play For: Don Shula Award
One of the lesser-known rivalries going on this week is the Shula Bowl between Florida Atlantic and Florida International. It's called the Shula Bowl because each team's first coach had ties to Don Shula. FAU's head coach Howard Schnellenberger was an assistant on Shula's staff in the 1970s and FIU's former head coach Don Strock played for Shula in the 1970s and 1980s.

In the past, this game has been nothing more than window dressing, but this year both teams are fighting for bowl eligibility. FAU has just this game to stay in the hunt for a bowl, and FIU needs to win Saturday and next week against Western Kentucky for bowl eligibility.

"I don't care if FIU is 0-10 or 10-0," FAU linebacker Frantz Joseph told The Palm Beach Post. "That's FIU against FAU. The Shula Bowl, baby. Let's ride."

These two programs have met just six times prior to Saturday. FAU owns a 5-1 edge, but FIU doesn't recognize games, records or results that were played from 2003 to 2005 because of scholarship losses as a result of major NCAA infractions in several sports.

Of the games that FIU does count, the results have been lopsided. FAU won 31-0 in 2006 and 55-23 last season, a game that actually gave FIU its 23rd consecutive loss.

But FIU has since come out of that funk and should put up a better fight this season. The Golden Panthers are 4-6 this year with wins over Middle Tennessee and Arkansas State.

"With them gaining momentum, us gaining momentum, I think it's a couple of special places being built here," FIU coach Mario Cristobal said. "And it's become a very, very intense game."

Army vs. Navy

Play for: Commander In Chief's Trophy
The Army-Navy game might not be for another week, but it's already getting a ton of press because it is the most storied rivalry in all of college football.

The game on Dec. 6 will be the 109th meeting between the two programs, but recently the game hasn't been much of a rivalry.

Navy has won nine of the past 11 meetings. The Midshipmen have won the Commander In Chief's Trophy each of the past five years and would win it again with a win over the Black Knights. And that's what's expected.

Navy is 7-4 and just beat Northern Illinois 16-0 to notch their first shutout in five years. Navy has won at least eight games in each of the past five seasons and could make it nine with a win over the Black Knights.

Army, on the other hand, has been hot and cold this year. It lost its first four games, but rallied to win three of the next four, including a victory over Louisiana Tech. But the wheels have fallen off since and the Black Knights carry a three-game losing streak into next week's game.

The rivalry, though not always competitive, is intense. Even the mascots have been known to engage in some tomfoolery. The weight plates in the Navy weight room are stamped with "Beat Army" and each cadet is trained to dislike their military brethren on the football field.

But there's also a mutual respect, especially for the seniors, since upon graduation most are deployed to various places around the world. And at the end of the game, both teams stand side by side as they sing the alma maters. The losing team's alma mater is sung first to the losing team's students and then the alma mater of the winning team to the winning team's students.

Graham Watson is an ESPN.com football blogger. She can be reached at gwatson.espn@gmail.com.