College Football | No. 1 Alabama needs a breakthrough

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It's the topic Alabama players can't escape.

The top-ranked Crimson Tide's fans want to know when Alabama will reclaim the state. Six consecutive losses to Auburn have meant six long years of enduring gleeful jibes around the office and on T-shirts and bumper stickers.

"Everybody, all they say is, 'You've got to beat Auburn this year,' " Tide quarterback John Parker Wilson said, as if he didn't already know that. "If you're an Alabama fan, you have to beat Auburn. If you're an Auburn fan, they talk about the streak. To me, it's fun. We've got a chance to go out and do something that not anybody has done here in a long time."

Alabama (11-0, 7-0) is more accustomed to being on the other side of this kind of streak. Bear Bryant's teams won nine in a row from 1973-81 and went 19-6 over a quarter century of domination.

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville says there's no reason to bring up the current streak to his players.

"This is one game that you've got to win," Tuberville said. "You want to give your fans the opportunity to have that ability to walk into a restaurant, go into a Wal-Mart, go into their business or place of work and be able to brag about the game."

Pressure is on Longhorns

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas coach Mack Brown embraces pressure.

The pressure to beat rival Texas A&M on Thanksgiving night for the first time in three years. The pressure to keep winning to stay in the race for the Big 12 and national championships.

Bring it on, Brown says. His players are ready.

"People will be watching [quarterback] Colt [McCoy] for the Heisman and will be watching our team to see how good we are," said Brown, who is also pursuing win No. 200. "It's time that we play great."

The No. 4 Longhorns (10-1) have been anything but great against their biggest in-state rivals the last two years.

In 2006, the Aggies (4-7) knocked Texas out of the Big 12 title game with an 12-7 upset, then pulled off another last season with a 38-30 win in Dennis Franchione's last game at A&M.

An Aggie win tonight would be an even bigger stunner, as Texas A&M is a 34-point underdog.

"You play for pride," Aggie quarterback Jerrod Johnson said. "That's pretty much all we can play for now."

Notes

• Is Charlie Weis' job as Notre Dame coach safe because of the size of his contract buyout? A person with knowledge of Weis' contract told ESPN's Joe Schad that the amount Notre Dame would have to pay Weis is greater than $4 million to $5 million, which was reported earlier Wednesday by the Chicago Tribune.

The source told Schad that the buyout, which is specified in the contract, is "stupefying."

• Despite reports that Tennessee had offered its coaching job to former Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin, Vols athletic director Mike Hamilton says any report of a job offer is "incorrect information" and that the search process is ongoing. He added he hopes to name a coach soon.

• Florida State freshmen Bert Reed and Cameron Wade, both 20, have been arrested on misdemeanor battery charges stemming from a fight in the student union two weeks ago. The receivers turned themselves in Wednesday at the Leon County Jail and were released after posting bond.

• Yale coach Jack Siedlecki announced he is retiring after 12 years and two Ivy League championships, but he'll be staying at the university to become assistant AD.