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What to Watch: Time to sort out some division races

The second half of the season is officially beginning and this is when the conference races start to sort themselves out. There are several games on this week’s slate that will impact the winners and losers of divisions, especially in the SEC West and the Pac-12 South.

Here’s a look at what to watch in Week 8:

Game of the week:
No. 6 Texas A&M at No. 1 Alabama, 3:30 p.m. ET

Alabama is taking on its third ranked opponent in as many weeks, but Texas A&M might be the most formidable of the trio.

Like Alabama, Texas A&M is undefeated but it hasn’t played a team nearly as talented as the Tide, especially on defense. Alabama has scored eight touchdowns on interception and fumble recovery returns and has three punt returns for touchdowns. The 11 non-offensive touchdowns are more than the Tide had all of last year.

That’s not good news for A&M quarterback Trevor Knight, who struggles with his accuracy. Also not good news, the fact that the Tide lead the nation in rush defense, which is where the Aggies offense excels. Running back Trayveon Williams is averaging about 117 yards per game and Knight is averaging 84. Knight also leads the team in rushing touchdowns with nine.

For Alabama, freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts has shined. He’s throwing for 198 yards per game with nine touchdowns and just three interceptions. He’s also second on the team in rushing and leads the team with eight rushing touchdowns.

The Alabama offense will have a challenge against an A&M defense that has taken on a bend-but-don’t-break persona. The Aggies are allowing more than 437 yards per game, but no opponent has scored more than 20 points on them this year.

So far this season, both programs have defeated the challenges in their path and the winner of this game will likely have the edge on the SEC West crown.

Game to watch:
No. 17 Arkansas at No. 21 Auburn, 6 p.m. ET

Auburn heads into this pivotal SEC West game against Arkansas riding a three-game winning streak and the Tigers are doing it by getting back to their roots. Thanks to offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, who took over the playcalling from coach Gus Malzahn, the Tigers are back to their run-first mentality and it’s paying dividends. The one-two punch of Kamryn Pettway and Kerryon Johnson has led the offense during the streak, and the Tigers currently rank 12th in the nation in rushing offense with 262.8 yards per game.

Arkansas comes in fresh off their first SEC win of the season after losing to Texas A&M and Alabama. Similar to Auburn, Arkansas makes its offensive magic with its ground game behind running back Rawleigh Williams, who had 27 carries for 180 yards against Ole Miss last week. However, the Razorbacks also have a strong passing game with quarterback Austin Allen, who is completing 63 percent of his passes for 1,861 yards, 18 touchdowns and just six interceptions.

Auburn is still in play for the SEC West title despite losing to Texas A&M earlier in the season. However, the Tigers would have to run the table.

Also check out …
No. 19 Utah at UCLA, 4 p.m. ET

This game is interesting because it could officially knock UCLA out of the race for the Pac-12 South title. UCLA was the media’s pick to win the division, but the Bruins have started 1-3 for the first time in coach Jim Mora’s tenure, and come into the Utah game with an ailing quarterback. Josh Rosen suffered leg and shoulder injuries against Arizona State two weeks ago and missed last week’s loss to Washington State. However, it’s not the health of the quarterback that’s been troubling the Bruins’ offense this season, it’s the disappearance of its running game. UCLA is averaging 91.1 rushing yards per game this season, which is third-worst in the country. In the past two games, the Bruins have rushed 48 times for 42 yards. And it won’t get much better against a Utah defense that’s ranked 27th nationally allowing just 130.1 yards per game.

Utah knows all about issues with the running game. Several Utah running backs have been injured this season and the depth was so depleted that coach Kyle Whittingham had to call Joe Williams to ask him to come back to the team. Williams had retired from the game 27 days earlier because of a lack of desire to play. Williams actually had his best game of his season by rushing 34 times for 179 yards against Oregon State.

Utah is currently sitting atop the Pac-12 South with conference surprise Colorado. The Utes need to keep winning because it doesn’t look like Colorado plans to fade any time soon.

Channel surf through …

No. 10 Wisconsin at Iowa, noon ET — This game was a much more interesting contest at the beginning of the season, but it’s still important for both teams to remain in their respective division races. Wisconsin already has lost two straight and can’t afford a third loss. Iowa has won two straight, but is entering a tough stretch to stay in the Big Ten West title hunt.

NC State at Louisville, noon ET — NC State was within a missed field goal of knocking off Clemson last week and now will have a chance at another ranked team when it heads to Louisville. The key for NC State will be to whittle down the clock and keep Louisville star quarterback Lamar Jackson on the sidelines. Oh, and making field goals would be nice, too.

Memphis at No. 24 Navy, 3:30 p.m. ET — This game is for first place in the American Athletic Conference West Division and the winner controls its own destiny for the title game. Memphis is making its first-ever trip to Annapolis where the Midshipmen are riding a 13-game winning streak.

TCU at No. 12 West Virginia, 3:30 ET — West Virginia is getting noticed for its defense after holding Texas Tech, which was averaging 55.2 points per game, to just 17 points in a dominating win. TCU comes in with a similarly tough offense, but quarterback Kenny Hill has struggled with interceptions; his eight are the most in the Big 12.

No. 2 Ohio State at Penn State, 8 p.m. ET — Ohio State is coming off a tight win against Wisconsin and now heads into another hostile environment against Penn State. Shockingly, the Buckeyes have won 20 straight road games, but will be challenged in Happy Valley. Last time Ohio State was in Happy Valley, quarterback J.T. Barrett sprained his MCL, but still led the Buckeyes to a double-overtime win.

No. 23 Ole Miss at No. 25 LSU, 9 p.m. ET — After all that has gone on at LSU, the Tigers still find themselves in the picture for the SEC West title. It’s an uphill climb, but it starts with taking out an Ole Miss team that is a disappointing .500 after having West title aspirations of its own. Once again, the Tigers will be without running back Leonard Fournette, but that hasn’t slowed this offense.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!