UCLA at Stanford is the Bay Area showdown to watch

Tension mounts for the important Bay Area game featuring two three-win teams, a rookie quarterback, a quarterback named Kevin and one of the nation's leading rushers.

Everyone, except for Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach, is all atwitter.

USC at California?

OK, that one also features two three-win teams, a rookie quarterback, a quarterback named Kevin and one of the nation's leading rushers.

We were thinking UCLA at Stanford, which only days ago was unthinkable.

It's funny sometimes what happens when you play out the schedule.

USC at Cal on Oct. 3 has been circled on calendars for months as a possible pivot point in deciding this year's Bowl Championship Series title. And it still has implications. Trojans title hopes took a hit when they lost at unranked Washington two weeks ago, USC skidding from No. 3 to No. 12 in the polls.

However, four losses suffered by top-10 schools last weekend allowed USC to parlay a shaky win over Washington State into a five-spot jump back to No. 7.

Remember: How you win or lose in the BCS is often not as important as when.

Cal lost by 39 at Oregon and got trapdoor treatment in the Associated Press media poll, falling from No. 6 to 24.

USC and Cal enter Saturday's games as flawed products. USC has been hampered by injuries -- the latest to Stafon Johnson only the most freakish -- and lack of production by its offense.

Cal has been felled again by the big bad bear of expectations.

"The older guys who've been through it will talk to young guys and tell them to just forget about it," fourth-year junior quarterback Kevin Riley said of the latest rollback. "You learn from it, you move on. That's all that you can do."

Given that the Trojans and Bears started ranked No. 4 and No. 12 in the AP poll, the loser of Saturday's game instantly becomes one of this year's early flops.

By contrast, how many people even knew UCLA was playing at Stanford on the same day?

The Trojans and Bruins don't make a habit of sharing Bay Area playing quarters, although it's not unprecedented. On Nov. 4, 2006, the locals ventured north and switched dance partners. No. 9 USC routed Stanford, 42-0; No. 10 Cal beat the Bruins in Berkeley, 38-24.

This year, you could argue, UCLA at Stanford is the better game. UCLA is the Pacific 10 Conference's only undefeated team. Stanford is 2-0 in league and 3-1 overall, the Cardinal's defeat coming at Wake Forest in the last two seconds, the only two seconds Stanford has trailed all year.