Thanksgiving weekend got off to a significant start with No. 1 LSU hosting No. 3 Arkansas in a battle for SEC supremacy. LSU fell behind 14-0 early, but bounced back with a strong close to the second quarter and a dominant second half en route to a 41-17 victory. The Tigers used strong special teams, a dominant rushing effort and great defense to take home the victory.
The Tigers wrapped up their berth in the SEC title game, and likely locked up a spot in the BCS national title game. LSU is the undisputed number one team in the country and even if they lose to Georgia next weekend, they likely would still get a spot in the national title game. They have a perfect BCS ranking heading into that game and given that they will have beaten the number two team in the BCS (Alabama, assuming they beat Auburn), it is unlikely they fall behind them with a loss to Georgia.
Given how dominant LSU is looking, Stanford's BCS bowl chances benefited from the Tigers win over Arkansas. Stanford is currently ranked sixth in the BCS rankings and if they can climb into the top four, they would garner an automatic BCS bowl bid if the third ranked team was a conference champion. Arkansas' loss doesn't guarantee they will drop behind Stanford, but if the Cardinal beat Notre Dame, there is a decent chance it will be enough to get Stanford up to No. 5 for now.
The big game for Stanford on Saturday is the Civil War between Oregon and Oregon State. If Oregon State could grab the monster upset, Stanford would clinch the Pac-12 North. Beyond the Civil War, Stanford will be rooting for Virginia against Virginia Tech. A Cavaliers win would move Stanford ahead of Virginia Tech and might get them into that money number four spot.