College Football | No. 3 Alabama to host No. 9 LSU in SEC showdown Saturday

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Just another game. Or a Top 10 showdown that could help set up a one-game playoff with Florida for a berth in the BCS National Championship Game.

The next one. Or an our-coach-is-better-than-yours statement game.

Take your pick, even some participants don't seem quite sure how to treat Saturday's game between the No. 3 Crimson Tide (8-0 overall, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) and No. 9 Louisiana State that might be the next-best thing to an Alabama-Florida championship game.

Alabama coach Nick Saban meets his old team in a game that could send his current one to the SEC championship game. The Tide can secure a spot with a victory.

Or visiting LSU (7-1, 4-1) could win and take control of the SEC West.

No. 1 Florida has already walked away with the East.

Saban scolded a reporter who asked whether he would treat this game any differently. "If you've listened to anything I've said," Saban said, "you would not even ask the question."

LSU coach Les Miles doesn't shy from discussing the game's magnitude.

"Since I've been here, this team enjoys playing big games," Miles said. "It only counts one, but it's a very important one. We always want to honor our best opponent with our best effort.

"Every time we play Alabama, home or on the road, we realize that it's going to be a very competitive game. It matches two of the best college football programs in the country."

Notes

• Florida will be without standout linebacker Brandon Spikes for the first half of Saturday's game against Vanderbilt. Gators coach Urban Meyer suspended Spikes, two days after the defensive captain apparently attempted to gouge the eyes of Georgia running back Washaun Ealey in a 41-17 victory.

"I don't condone that," Meyer said. "I understand what goes on on the football [field], but there's no place for that. We're going to suspend Brandon for the first half of the Vanderbilt game. I spoke with him. That's not who he is. That's not who we are."

Spikes issued a statement of apology with the phrase "there is no excuse for my actions."

• No. 21 Arizona likely will be without two of its top tailbacks when it plays host to Washington State on Saturday. Starting tailback Nic Grigsby and third-stringer Greg Nwoko have shoulder sprains and Wildcats coach Mike Stoops said "both would be very questionable for this week."

Sophomore Keola Antolin is Grigsby's backup.

• Syracuse's Mike Williams, the Big East's leading receiver, quit the team. He had 49 receptions for 746 yards and six touchdowns this season.

"He walked up to me and voluntarily took himself off the team. That's it," said Orange coach Doug Marrone. "I'm not going to discuss the conversation from my end."